Deadline: June 1, 2012; pre-proposals

The Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award provides support for the next generation of exceptionally creative thinkers with “high-risk/high-reward” ideas that have the potential to significantly impact our understanding of and/or approaches to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This award is specifically designed to provide funding for extraordinary early career researchers who have an innovative, new idea but lack sufficient preliminary data to obtain traditional funding. The research supported by the award must be novel, exceptionally creative and, if successful, have the strong potential for high impact in the cancer field.

Eligible applicants (including non-U.S. citizens) must be conducting independent research at a U.S. institution. Institutional nominations are not required and there is no limit to the number of applications that can be received from a particular institution. Basic and translational/clinical projects will be considered and individuals with a background in multiple disciplines are especially encouraged to apply. The awards will provide $450,000 in direct costs during a three year award term. A complete award program description and application guidelines are available on our website. Pre-proposals are due June 1, 2012.

Please feel free to contact the Foundation at 212.455.0520 or with any questions.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation wants to emphasize that applications for the Innovation Award will be accepted from all scientific disciplines (e.g., Chemistry, Computer Sciences, Mathematics, Engineering, Physics–not just biomedical) provided that the proposed research meets the selection criteria. Please distribute this notice to all appropriate departments in your Institution and encourage eligible candidates to apply.