DoD Melanoma, Technology Development Partnership Award | W81XWH 20 MRP TDPA

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 20 MRP TDPA

The DoD Melanoma Technology Development Partnership Award (TDPA) is a FY20 Melanoma Research Program funding opportunity from the Department of Defense (USAMRAA) designed to accelerate practical, technology-driven advances that improve how melanoma is detected, diagnosed, prognosed, and ultimately treated. The program is specifically aimed at projects that bring emerging technologies into the melanoma space, with an emphasis on translating those advances toward real-world clinical use or other actionable outcomes rather than staying purely exploratory or basic.

A central feature of this opportunity is that it is built around true cross-disciplinary collaboration between biomedical sciences and physical sciences. Each application must include two principal investigators: an Initiating PI and a Partnering PI. One of these investigators must come from the biomedical sciences (such as cancer biology, dermatology, pathology, immunology, or clinical research), and the other must come from a physical sciences-oriented field (such as bioengineering, computational science, imaging science, or bioinformatics). The expectation is not a symbolic partnership; the proposal must make it obvious that both investigators are essential, that the work depends on the combination of disciplines, and that each perspective materially strengthens the approach to understanding melanoma initiation and progression or to improving patient-relevant outcomes.

The TDPA encourages development and maturation of technology-forward solutions, including computational approaches, bioinformatics methods, devices, and other technology-enabled tools. It also explicitly welcomes "knowledge products," defined here as non-materiel deliverables that meet an identified need in melanoma care, are grounded in current evidence and research, and are intended to transition into medical practice. These knowledge products can include clinical or training tools, decision support resources, implementation materials, or other outputs that educate providers or patients and influence behavior across the continuum of care, including prevention of negative outcomes. In other words, the opportunity is not limited to building hardware; it also supports evidence-based products that can change practice, improve training, guide decision-making, or enable future medical solutions.

Scientifically, applicants are required to choose and address one focus area within melanoma using bioengineering-oriented approaches to close gaps in research or patient outcomes. The opportunity highlights needs in diagnostics, identification of high-risk markers, tumor dormancy, and tumor spread/metastasis. Competitive projects are expected to use a convergent methodology where the physical science contribution is not incidental, but directly enhances biological understanding or clinical capability, for example by improving measurement, modeling, imaging, prediction, classification, or other technology-enabled insight into melanoma development and progression. Proposals must also clearly align with and respond to the FY20 Melanoma Research Program Challenge Statement, which serves as the organizing problem the DoD wants applicants to tackle.

From an administrative and award-structure standpoint, the Initiating PI leads most submission-related tasks and coordination. However, both PIs are expected to meaningfully co-develop the core application pieces, including the project narrative and the statement of work. If selected for funding, each PI is named on an individual award within their organization, reflecting the partnership structure rather than a single-investigator grant with a subcontractor.

Programmatically, this is a discretionary DoD research funding opportunity that uses grant and cooperative agreement instruments under CFDA 12.420. Eligibility is described as unrestricted (open to any entity type, subject to any clarifications in the full announcement). The funding opportunity number is W81XWH-20-MRP-TDPA. The posting indicates an expected two awards, with an award ceiling listed as 0 in the source data (typically meaning the ceiling is not specified in that particular listing and would need to be confirmed in the full solicitation). The original application closing date was September 24, 2020, and the opportunity was created April 21, 2020.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Melanoma, Technology Development Partnership Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 21, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Sep 24, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for W81XWH 20 MRP TDPA

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