The Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation (SWCRF), and Alan B. Slifka Foundation (ABSF) are pleased to issue a joint Request for Applications (RFA) for collaborative proposals focused on fusion-positive pediatric sarcomas. Projects must involve collaboration between two research groups — one in North America and one in Israel — with different but complementary expertise. Proposals must justify the partnership through synergistic scientific aims.
One successful collaborative project will be awarded $150,000 per year for two years, or a total of $300,000, with each university-based research group receiving $75,000 per year ($150,000 total).
Proposals will be prioritized for funding based on their potential to contribute to understanding, preventing and effectively treating pediatric sarcomas, with an emphasis on Ewing sarcoma. Appropriate research topics will include, but are not limited to:
- Metastatic disease and how to prevent or treat metastasis
- Relapsed disease and how to prevent metastasis
- The Ewing oncoprotein EWS/FLI and its roles in tumor development
- Discovery of new pathways, targets and biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment
- Development of improved technologies for delivery of therapies to tumor cells
To encourage applications from highly-qualified Israeli investigators, applications for this program will be accepted from investigators simultaneously applying for other specific categories of ICRF grants (Professorships, Project Grants, Acceleration Grants), and from investigators currently funded by specific categories of ICRF grants (Project Grants, Acceleration Grants, Career Development Awards). However, investigators may not hold two different ICRF grants at the same time, and successful applicants with other ICRF funding will be required to forfeit that other funding when this new funding initiates.
To streamline the application and review process, potential applicants must submit a one-page structured letter of intent (LOI). LOIs will be reviewed by a panel of experts from ICRF, SWCRF and ABSF, and selected proposals will be invited to submit a full application. Funding decisions will be based on peer review by a committee representing the SWCRF Scientific Advisory Board and ICRF.
