Cancer Research New Funding Opportunities

Grants for Pediatric Brain Cancer

Application Deadline: June 1, 2026

Budget: $100,000 

Award: Funds translational, clinical, basic and delivery projects that further efforts in pediatric brain cancer. Focus is on diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), diffuse midline glioma (DMG) and Medulloblastoma.

Please contact Alex Hood, Associate director foundation relations at alex.hood@bcm.edu with any questions.

Bio-Therapeutics Impact Grant

Application Deadline: June 9, 2026

Amount: Up to $1.8 million over 3 years ($600k/year) – indirect costs not allowed

Award: The ALSF Bio-Therapeutics Impact Award provides funding to support investigator-initiated clinical trials using biologic therapies, including but not limited to immunotherapy (including cell therapies), gene therapy, and small molecules. This grant category was initiated to accelerate the development of clinical trials for promising biologic approaches to treat childhood cancers.

Please contact Mary Nunciato, Senior Director of Foundation Relations, at mary.hall@bcm.edu with any questions.

2026 Scholars Program

Deadline: June 30, 2026

Amount: $400,00 over 4 years

Award: The MMRF Scholars program is intended for early-career scientists and clinicians. They should propose a clinical or laboratory project relevant to the field of multiple myeloma. All applicants must have a mentor (associate professor or higher) with established research in multiple myeloma or related fields such as genomics, cancer immunology, or bioinformatics.

Please contact Tiffany Gardner, Associate Director, Foundation Relations, at Tiffany.Gardner@bcm.edu with any questions.

SWOG Early Exploration and Development Fund

Application Deadline: July 1, 2026

Budget: $50,000 (direct costs) over 1- or 2-years

Award: Awards to encourage preliminary research that will potentially translate to future clinical trials or trial-associated projects (translational medicine studies) within SWOG and the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN). These awards may assist investigators with projects that support the following types of studies: pre-clinical data, secondary data analysis from clinical trials, pilot and feasibility studies (including early-stage clinical trials), small, self-contained research projects, or development of research methodology/technology. Direct application to future SWOG research, larger in scope, is critical and will be a metric of success for this funding program. Another metric of success will be the ability to obtain extramural funding based on studies done during the tenure of the support of this grant. Any SWOG member investigator eligible for NIH funding is encouraged to submit to this program.

Please contact Alex Hood, Associate Director, Foundation Relations, at alex.hood@bcm.edu for additional information.

Community Grants

Application Deadline: Ongoing until funds are used.

Budget: $20,000-$40,000, for one year.

Award: The Colon Cancer Coalition seeks to provide funds to liked-minded partners advancing colon cancer research. Funds must be used on programs that will benefit individuals in and around the event city where the money is raised. Priority will be given to programs working to increase screening for adults over 50 to reach the national goal of 80%, patient screening navigation, or addressing young adult-onset colorectal cancer.

Contact: Please contact Lyndsie Whitehead, Assistant Director of Foundation Relations, at lyndsie.whitehead@bcm.edu for additional information.

Open Proposals Program

Application Deadline: Funding is available on a rolling basis, and new grants are awarded frequently.

Budget: $50,000 - $828,027, from 6 months to 36 months (average $224,000 for 2 years). NTAP supports indirect costs at a maximum of 10% of direct costs.  

Award: The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – Neurofibromatosis Therapeutic Acceleration Program (NTAP) supports research projects designed to accelerate the development of effective treatments for NF1-associated peripheral nerve sheath tumors. NTAP’s Open Proposal program is open to any stage of drug development.  However, the proposal must focus on the peripheral nerve tumors of NF1 (Cutaneous, Plexiform and Atypical).

Please contact Lyndsie Whitehead, Assistant Director of Foundation Relations, for additional information.