Pilot Award in Precision Imaging of Cancer and Therapy
The purpose of these grants is to support pilot studies in Precision Imaging in cancer research including pre-clinical, clinical and translational.
Projects should involve new, high-risk, high-reward collaborative research between a member of Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC) and a member of the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (RBI) who have not previously collaborated on cancer imaging or who are establishing a new collaboration in one of the following three focus areas: (a) creating a precision ‘imageome’ that reflects other tumor ‘omics’, (b) developing imaging approaches for monitoring immunotherapy, and (c) advancing the development of novel theranostic agents. Applications incorporating the use of precision guided irradiation and using the new core-based microCT-guided irradiator are also encouraged. The application should aim to gather preliminary data for a future grant effort. Junior faculty members are encouraged to apply. The pilot project will have a budget of up to $50,000.
View RFA, eligibility, and application details.
Projects Awarded in Previous RAP Cycles
Fall 2020
Robert Flavell, MD, PhD. & Bin Liu, PhD.
“Treatment of Prostate Cancer using a Novel Radioligand Therapy Method”
Fall 2019
Robert Bok, MD, PhD & Robert Blelloch, MD, PhD.
“Exosome Enhanced Immunotherapy & Imaging of of Prostate Cancer Response with Hyperpolarized 13C-MRI”
Robert Flavell, MD, PhD. & Rahul Aggarwal, MD.
“Clinical translation of a theranostic immunoPET agent targeting CD46 in men with castration resistant prostate cancer”
Charalambos Andreadis, MD, & Miguel Hernandez Pampaloni, MD.
“Hypoxia-specific imaging to predict outcomes of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy”
Spring 2019
Michael Evans, PhD. & Kevin Leung, PhD.
“New theranostic technologies targeting the cancer antigen CUB domain containing protein 1”
Roland Krug, PhD. & Michelle Melisko, MD, PhD.
"Impact of breast cancer treatment on joint health, cartilage composition and bone structure in the knee”
Spring 2018
Javier Villanueva-Meyer, MD & Steve Braunstein, MD, PhD
"18F-FMISO PET/MR-directed radiotherapy for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma"
Spring 2017
Yan Li, PhD & Jennie Taylor, MD
"Evaluation of Immunotherapy in low grade glioma using multi-parametric advanced MR"
Fall 2016
Principal Investigators: Zhen Wang, MD & Valerie Weaver, PhD
"MR Elastrography in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer"
Principal Investigators: Adam Renslo, PhD & Michael Evans, PhD
"A Novel PET Reagent for Imaging Metastases and as a Companion Diagnostic Agent"
This pilot resulted in subsequent funding from Department of Defense office of Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).
For other opportunities, please see the Cancer Center's Funding Opportunities page.