IPPRA / Grant Monitor

2026-11-05
← Board

Limited Competition: Biospecimen Banks to support NCI National Clinical Trials Network Biospecimen Banks (NCTN Biobanks) and the NCI Early-Phase and Experimental Clinical Trials Biospecimen Bank (EET Biobank) (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

RFA-CA-28-004 · National Institutes of Health

biomedical clinical public health ai data science computing communications Health

Closes
2027-02-11 · 98 d
Award ceiling
—
Award floor
—
Program funding
$19,000,000
Expected awards
6
Cost sharing
No
Posted
2026-10-15
Instrument
Cooperative Agreement
Characterization · gpt-5.4-mini · 2026-10-16

This limited-competition NIH cooperative agreement funds continuation of existing NCI biospecimen bank awardees to collect, process, store, and distribute human biospecimens from specified NCI clinical trials for translational cancer research.

Funds
data infrastructure
University
ineligible
physical sciences
minor
engineering
minor
life biomedical
central
computational data
substantial

RESTRICTED TO: SINGLE NAMED INSTITUTION

⚑ Limited competition: only existing NCTN biobank or EET Biobank recipients from the specified prior awards may apply · Foreign organizations and foreign components are not allowed · Clinical Trial Not Allowed · Cooperative agreement mechanism (substantial NIH program involvement likely)

Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules

IPPRA 5 none limited competition — a named institution holds this
Tom Love Innovation Hub 5 none not openly competed
Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) 5 none limited competition — a named institution holds this

Description

This is a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for a Limited Competition that will invite application(s) from eligible organization(s) to apply. Please see Section III. Eligibility for additional information. In accordance with NIH standard peer-review processes, the application(s) will be peer-reviewed, and only meritorious application(s) will be considered for funding. Through this limited competition Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) solicits applications to support continuation of two biospecimen banking resources.

The National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) Biospecimen Banks (NCTN Biobanks) support the NCI-funded NCTN and the Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), and The Early-Phase and Experimental Clinical Trials Biospecimen Bank (EET Biobank) supports the Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN) and other NCI-supported early phase and experimental clinical trials.

The objective is to maintain these national resources for the collection, processing, storage, and distribution of high-quality, clinically annotated human biospecimens. The goal of these resources is to ensure the availability of biospecimens from participants in NCI-funded clinical trials focused on treatment, prevention, and cancer control studies to enable translational cancer research.

The NCTN Biobanks support biomarker development and validation, secondary correlative studies, and broader scientific discovery using biospecimens collected through harmonized protocols and linked to clinical outcome data from large multi-site clinical trials.

The EET Biobank supports biospecimen banking for ETCTN and other early-phase and experimental therapeutic clinical trials involving investigational agents. Biospecimens collected through these studies support biomarker assay development, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analyses, investigation of drug response and resistance mechanisms, patient stratification, and translational research supporting development of novel cancer therapies. In accordance with NIH standard peer-review processes, the application(s) will be peer-reviewed, and only meritorious application(s) will be considered for funding.

Eligibility

Refer to Section III. Eligibility Information in the NOFO for additional information on eligibility.Eligibility is limited to an institution/entity that is the recipient of an existing NCTN biobank of human biospecimens from NCI clinical trials funded under RFA-CA-20-002 or an existing EET Biobank of human specimens under RFA-CA-20-003.Foreign Organizations/International Collaborations:Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations) are not eligible to apply.Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply.Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed.

Apply

View on Grants.gov → CONTACT: National Institutes of Health <NCICDPNOFO@mail.nih.gov>

Proposal brief SEE AN EXAMPLE →

A one-page internal memo: fit assessment, submission requirements, document scaffold, and next steps dated back from the deadline — tailored to your project idea if you add one.

ONE LLM CALL (~1¢) · CACHED · REQUIRES STAFF KEY

Proposal shell · National Institutes of Health conventions SEE AN NIH EXAMPLE →

Funder-faithful document skeletons — National Institutes of Health's document set with section headings, page limits, reviewer guidance, and writing prompts; add a project idea to get [DRAFT] starter bullets. Download as .md for Word or Overleaf.

ONE LLM CALL (~2-3¢) · CACHED · SCAFFOLDING, NOT GHOSTWRITING