Academic-Industrial Partnerships to Translate and Validate in vivo Cancer Imaging Systems (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) | PAR 18 009

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 18 009

The NIH funding opportunity titled "Academic-Industrial Partnerships to Translate and Validate in vivo Cancer Imaging Systems (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" (Funding Opportunity Number PAR-18-009) supports research projects aimed at moving promising cancer imaging or spectroscopic technologies from discovery and engineering development into practical, validated methods or tools that can be used in real biomedical and clinical contexts. The central idea is translation: taking advances in imaging systems, devices, or spectroscopic approaches and pushing them toward demonstrable usefulness for cancer-related needs, such as understanding cancer biology, assessing risk of developing cancer, improving diagnosis, guiding or evaluating treatment, and monitoring disease status over time. This is framed as an R01 grant, which generally implies a substantial, multi-year research project with clear milestones, rigorous evaluation, and a strong plan for validation.

A defining requirement of this opportunity is that each application must be built around an academic-industrial partnership. This is not presented as a casual collaboration but as a strategic alliance where academic investigators and industry partners work as true partners to identify a cancer-related problem and translate a technological solution that addresses it. In practice, this means the proposed work should reflect complementary contributions: academics may bring novel scientific concepts, access to specialized research environments, and deep domain expertise in cancer biology or imaging science, while industry partners may contribute engineering know-how, design-for-use considerations, manufacturing or product development experience, quality systems thinking, regulatory perspective, and pathways to broader dissemination. The partnership itself is treated as an essential mechanism for reducing the common gap between prototype-level innovation and validated, deployable imaging systems that can function reliably in vivo.

The technical scope covers imaging and spectroscopic technologies intended for in vivo use, with an emphasis on translation and validation rather than purely exploratory proof-of-concept work. Projects are expected to show how the technology will be advanced and tested in ways that directly relate to cancer challenges. The aim can include, for example, improving visualization of tumors or tumor microenvironment features, enhancing detection sensitivity or specificity, enabling earlier diagnosis, supporting image-guided interventions, measuring treatment response, or providing noninvasive indicators of disease progression or recurrence. Because the announcement explicitly references both imaging and spectroscopic technologies, it can accommodate a range of modalities and system types, as long as the work stays grounded in the goal of producing a method or tool that is meaningfully validated for cancer applications in living systems.

The FOA is labeled "Clinical Trial Optional," which signals that proposing a clinical trial is allowed but not required. Applicants can pursue rigorous preclinical translation and validation, and they may also include clinical study components if appropriate and well-justified for the maturity of the technology and the scientific question. The key expectation is that the project design matches the stage of development and provides credible evidence that the imaging system can address the targeted cancer problem, with the academic and industrial partners jointly driving that translation plan.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of organizations that might participate in imaging translation efforts. Eligible applicants listed include state, county, and city governments; special districts; independent school districts; public and state-controlled universities; private higher education institutions; federally recognized tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The opportunity also highlights additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISI institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and non-U.S. (foreign) entities. Taken together, this breadth is consistent with the partnership-driven theme: the NIH is signaling that strong teams can be formed across many sectors and institution types, as long as the application is responsive to the cancer-focused translation and validation goals.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is a discretionary grant under the NIH, with activity categories spanning education, food and nutrition, and health, and it is associated with CFDA numbers 93.394, 93.395, 93.396, and 93.847. The source data indicates an original closing date of November 5, 2019, and a creation date of November 1, 2017. While those dates matter for historical context, the core program concept is clearly oriented around accelerating the path from innovative in vivo cancer imaging technology to a validated system that can credibly impact cancer research and, where applicable, patient care, using the structure and incentives of a well-integrated academic-industry partnership.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Academic-Industrial Partnerships to Translate and Validate in vivo Cancer Imaging Systems (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.394, 93.395, 93.396, 93.847.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-11-01.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-11-05. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for PAR 18 009

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