Director, USAMRAA, 820 Chandler St, Fort Detrick, MD 21702-5014

A -- BREAST CANCER RESEARCH PROGRAM SOL CBD&&&-9902-0007 POC Craig D. Lebo, Contracting Officer The Fiscal Year (FY) 1999 Defense Appropriations Act provides funds to continue the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) administered by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. Approximately $110 million will be available to fund breast cancer research. The central theme of the BCRP is the support of peer-reviewed innovative research working towards the goal of eradicating breast cancer. Proposals are sought across all areas of laboratory, clinical, behavioral, and epidemiological breast cancer research. Research proposals that address the needs of minority, elderly, low-income, rural, and other under-represented and/or medically under-served populations are encouraged. The programmatic strategy for the FY99 BCRP is to fund proposals in two categories: Research Awards and Training/Recruitment Awards. Research Awards include Idea Awards and two types of Clinical Translational Research (CTR) Awards. The intent of Idea Awards is to stimulate and reward creative researchideas that may be viewed as speculative, but also have the potential for high payoff. The CTR Awards are intended to support projects that apply promising, well-founded laboratory or other pre-clinical research to the clinical care of patients with breast cancer, or populations at high risk for breast cancer, through a clinical trial or study. Unlike the other proposal categories, investigators interested in applying for a CTR Award will submit a short pre-proposal. The pre-proposals will be screened and selected investigators will be invited to submit a full proposal. Training/Recruitment Awards include Pre-doctoral Traineeships, Post-doctoral Traineeships, Institutional Training Grants,and Career Development Awards. The intent of these awards is to prepare new scientists for careers in breast cancer research, as well as to enhance the expertise of current breast cancer researchers. Training Award proposals are encouraged from minority investigators and investigators of any ethnicity working at HistoricallyBlack Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI). This year's program specifically emphasizes collaborations between HBCU/MI and established research institutions through a Minority Population Focused Training Award and through HBCU/MI Partnership Training Awards. Significant execution milestones for this year's program include: Release of the BCRP Announcement -- early March, 1999 CTR pre-proposal receipt -- early April, 1999 Proposal receipt (for all categories except CTR) -- early June, 1999 CTR proposal receipt -- mid July, 1999 Notification of awards -- beginning in January 2000 Award negotiations completed by September 30, 2000 The BRCP Announcement can be downloaded from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs web site, <http://cdmrp.army.mil/&;gt; after its release date. The announcement can also be requested by fax, at (301) 682-5521, or by phone, at (301) 682-5517, ext. 101. Posted 03/02/99 (W-SN303667). (0061)

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