Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates: January 11, 2027 (Submission opens) | February 11, 2027 (Application)
Funding Amounts: Up to $3 million in direct costs annually for 6 years; $19 million total program funding
Summary: Supports continuation of NCI clinical trials biospecimen banks providing clinically annotated human specimens for translational cancer research.
Key Information: Limited to existing NCTN Biobank recipients under RFA-CA-20-002 or EET Biobank recipients under RFA-CA-20-003.
Description
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) supports continuation of two national biospecimen banking resources through this limited-competition U24 cooperative agreement. NCTN Biobanks serve the National Clinical Trials Network and NCI Community Oncology Research Program. The Early-Phase and Experimental Clinical Trials Biospecimen Bank (EET Biobank) serves the Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network and other NCI-supported early-phase and experimental trials.
The program maintains collection, processing, storage, and distribution of high-quality human biospecimens linked to clinical and outcome data. NCTN collections enable biomarker development and validation, secondary correlative studies, and broader discovery. EET collections support biomarker assays, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analyses, drug-response and resistance research, patient stratification, and development of novel cancer therapies. Priorities include continuity of operations, harmonized procedures, quality assurance, and interoperable specimen-tracking systems.
