Funding Opportunities
Seed Projects
Introduction
The Convergent Science Cancer Consortium for Immune Cell Engineering, funded by the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP), will support up to four seed projects that will contribute to the career development of junior faculty members and postdoctoral trainees at UT MD Anderson, the University of Houston and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, as well as other institutions outside this consortium. The Seed Project Program focuses on identifying, recruiting and mentoring both lab-based scientists and physician-scientists interested in the translational development of novel adoptive cell therapy approaches against hematological malignancies and solid tumors with an unmet clinical need. This goal will be accomplished by a scientific research plan, educational opportunities, and a defined individualized mentoring program that enables awardees to become active members of our Convergent Science Cancer Consortium.
To be considered for this seed grant funding mechanism, applications must not address research in melanoma, glioblastoma or cancers originating in the breast, pancreas, prostate, ovary, kidney or lung. Research in any of the following FY24 Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) Topic Areas is acceptable:
- Bladder cancer
- Blood cancers
- Brain cancer (excluding glioblastoma)
- Colorectal cancer
- Endometrial cancer
- Esophageal cancer
- Germ cell cancers
- Liver cancer
- Lymphoma
- Mesothelioma
- Metastatic cancers
- Myeloma
- Neuroblastoma
- Pediatric, adolescent and young adult cancers
- Pediatric brain tumors
- Stomach cancer
- Sarcoma
- Thyroid cancer
Eligibility
Candidates for this award must:
- have an M.D. and/or a Ph.D.
- be a junior faculty member at Assistant Professor or Instructor Level or a trainee (postdoctoral fellow or clinical fellow) who has a commitment for an institutional faculty position at an Assistant Professor or Instructor level
Candidates who are a postdoctoral fellow at UT MD Anderson must follow Trainee as Principal Investigator on Grants and PI Eligibility guidelines since the Seed Projects are considered an independent research grant (which are open to both faculty and postdoctoral fellows) and not considered a postdoctoral fellowship award. These guidelines may be found on the UT MD Anderson Intranet.
- Postdoctoral fellows should request approval to submit at time of submitting the Seed Project application
- Postdoctoral fellows may only apply to one research grant per fiscal year. For example, a postdoctoral fellow may apply for a DoD Seed Project but would not be allowed to also submit an application for CPRIT MIRA Pilot Project or other research grant during FY26.
Application
The following must be included:
- Face Page
- Research Plan (5-page limit) to include:
- Specific Aims (1 page)
- Career Development Plan (1 page)
- Research Strategy (3 pages) to include:
- Significance
- Innovation
- Relevance to military health
- Approach
- Bibliography and References Cited (no page limit)
- Protection of Human Subjects (no page limit) following the NIH guidelines regarding Human Subjects
- Vertebrate Animals (no page limit) following the NIH guidelines regarding Vertebrate Animals
- Facilities and Other Resources (no page limit)
- Budget & Budget Justification: The application must include a detailed budget for one year and a budget justification using the NIH form Page 4. Each award consists of a maximum of $50,000 for one year, with consideration of a second year of funding based on achieving progress toward established milestones.
- Biographical Sketch (5-page maximum, each) in either DoD- or NIH-specified format for applicant and mentor(s)
- Letters: One letter of support from each mentor(s)
Submission information
Submit your application (as a single attachment) by email to Alison Woo, consortium administrator, at AWoo@MDAnderson.org no later than May 1, 2026, at 5 p.m. Central Time.
Key dates
Request for Applications Release Date: April 1, 2026
Full Application Due: May 1, 2026, 5 p.m. CT
Anticipated Award Notification: July 1, 2026
Seed Project Awardees
2025–2026
Lawrence Dooling, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, University of Houston
“Optimizing Efferocytosis in CAR-T Therapy” integrates multiplexed biosensors with a triculture platform consisting of macrophages, CAR T cells and cancer cells to resolve efferocytosis versus phagoptosis in real time during CAR T‑cell–mediated killing, with the aim to apply molecular and cellular engineering approaches to advance cancer immunotherapy.
Abhay Kotnala, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor, University of Houston
”Label-Free Single Extracellular Vesicle Profiling to Quantify CAR T Cell Secretome and Predict Functional Potency” will develop and validate an extracellular vesicle (EV)-based potency and quality-control framework for adoptive cell therapy (ACT), including CAR T and TIL products, by leveraging plasmonic label-free imaging integrated with fluorescence co-imaging at single-cell/single-vesicle resolution.
Ke Pan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, UT MD Anderson
“Innovative Immunotherapy for Chordoma: Engineering Brachyury-Specific TGF-β–Resistant T Cells” tests the hypothesis that Bra-TβRIIΔ T cells will not only kill chordoma cells by targeting chordoma specific antigen to prevent the “off-target” effect, but also resist the immuno-suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) contained high level of TGF-β to exert the durable anti-tumor effects.
Hind Rafei, M.D.
Assistant Professor, UT MD Anderson
“Non-Invasive Imaging of Engineered Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Trafficking in Solid Tumors” will develop and apply a multimodal imaging workflow to quantify trafficking, biodistribution, persistence and antitumor activity of engineered human chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in orthotopic solid tumor models.
Inquiries
Alison Woo, M.S.
Consortium Administrator
UT MD Anderson
713-563-3432
awoo@mdanderson.org
Kyung Hee Chang, Ph.D.
Consortium Administrator
UT MD Anderson
kchang6@mdanderson.org