This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) represents the continuation of an NCI program to facilitate the transition of investigators in mentored, non-independent cancer research positions to independent faculty cancer research positions. This goal is achieved by providing protected time through salary and research support for the initial 3 years of the first independent tenure-track faculty position, or its equivalent, beginning at the time when the candidate starts a tenure-track faculty position.
This FOA is designed specifically for basic science experimental studies involving humans, referred to in NOT-OD-18-212 as “prospective basic science studies involving human participants.” These studies fall within the NIH definition of a clinical trial and also meet the definition of basic research. Types of studies that should submit under this FOA include studies that prospectively assign human participants to conditions (i.e., experimentally manipulate independent variables) and that assess biomedical or behavioral outcomes in humans for the purpose of understanding the fundamental aspects of phenomena without specific application towards processes or products in mind. Applicants planning studies with specific application toward processes or products in mind should submit under the "Independent Clinical Trial Required" companion FOA (PAR-21-111). Applicants not planning an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or a separate ancillary clinical trial or independent basic experimental study with humans, must apply to the "Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed" companion FOA (PAR-21-128).