Coordinating Center for Canine Cancer Immunotherapy Network (K9CIN; U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA CA 21 051

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA CA 21 051

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), under the National Institutes of Health (NIH), released this funding opportunity (RFA-CA-21-051) to support a single Coordinating Center for the Canine Cancer Immunotherapy Network (K9CIN). The basic idea is that NCI is already funding multiple research sites through companion U01 awards (referenced under RFA-CA-21-050) to run immunotherapy studies in pet dogs that naturally develop cancer (spontaneous tumors). This U24 award is meant to sit above those U01 projects and make the whole network run like a unified program rather than a set of disconnected trials. Although the title includes "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," that label applies to the coordinating center itself; the center is not supposed to be the entity conducting the clinical trials, but instead enabling, harmonizing, and supporting the trials carried out by the U01-funded teams.

A major focus of the Coordinating Center is operational leadership and coordination across the K9CIN network. The awardee is expected to help administer and support a Steering Committee that includes the U01 project directors/principal investigators, NCI Comparative Oncology Program (COP) representatives from NCI's Center for Cancer Research, and additional NCI project collaborators and other needed experts (both from within and outside the network). The Steering Committee structure is central because K9CIN is designed as a cooperative program where NCI and the awardees collectively guide priorities, standards, and implementation decisions to ensure the network hits shared goals.

Functionally, the Coordinating Center is responsible for the infrastructure that makes multi-site comparative oncology immunotherapy trials feasible and consistent. That includes providing administrative support for the network, helping develop and standardize clinical trial protocols, and supporting the design and consistent implementation of correlative laboratory assays tied to the trials (for example, immune monitoring tests and other translational endpoints). The center is also expected to help with real-world execution of studies, including trials of immunotherapy agents and immunotherapy combinations, and to support trial accrual activities across sites (meaning helping sites enroll appropriate canine patients efficiently and consistently). Another core responsibility is statistical support, which typically includes helping with study design input, data quality expectations, analysis planning, and network-level reporting that allows results to be interpreted across multiple sites and studies.

Another big piece of the work is facilitating resource and data sharing across the network. The Coordinating Center is expected to help coordinate the sharing of agents (such as investigational immunotherapies), specimens (biospecimens collected from enrolled dogs), and data. Because different clinical sites can collect data in different ways, the FOA emphasizes harmonization of clinical data, meaning the Coordinating Center should drive common data elements, consistent definitions, shared formats, and procedures that make it possible to combine and compare datasets. The opportunity also calls out a specific endpoint for data stewardship: submission of both clinical data and correlative laboratory data to the Integrated Canine Data Commons, which is the intended centralized repository to support broader access and reuse.

From an administrative standpoint, this opportunity is a cooperative agreement (U24), which signals substantial programmatic involvement from NIH/NCI compared with a standard research grant. The activity category is listed under Education/Health, and it is associated with CFDA numbers 93.393, 93.394, and 93.395. The award ceiling is listed as $375,000. The posting indicates an original closing date of 2021-09-27 and a creation date of 2021-07-27.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations and government entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The FOA also explicitly highlights categories such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs), as well as faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, the FOA draws a firm boundary around foreign involvement: non-U.S. entities are not eligible to apply, non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components (as NIH defines them) are not allowed.

In practical terms, the grant is about building the connective tissue for a national comparative oncology immunotherapy network: common protocols, standardized lab correlates, coordinated operations, shared statistical and data management support, and disciplined data submission to a central commons. The Coordinating Center is expected to help the U01 trial sites function as one coherent program in close partnership with NCI's Comparative Oncology Program, with the ultimate goal of producing higher-quality, comparable, and more actionable immunotherapy evidence from naturally occurring cancers in pet dogs.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Coordinating Center for Canine Cancer Immunotherapy Network (K9CIN; U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.393, 93.394, 93.395.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-07-27.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-09-27. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $375,000.00 in funding.
• 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 RFA CA 21 051

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