Melanoma Research Alliance: Special Opportunity Team Science Awards Grant

The Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) is dedicated to eradicating melanoma through innovative research and collaboration. The Special Opportunity Team Science Awards invite proposals for impactful studies focused on pediatric melanoma and neoadjuvant translational research. With funding of up to $300,000 per year for three years, MRA aims to support groundbreaking advancements in prevention, detection, and treatment of melanoma, emphasizing the translation of scientific findings into clinical practice.

MRA Mission
The mission of the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) is to end suffering and death due to melanoma by collaborating with all stakeholders to accelerate powerful research, advance cures for all patients, and prevent more melanomas.
Request for Proposals
The Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) is pleased to announce a Request for Proposals (RFP) for pre- clinical, translational, and early clinical research with the potential to produce unusually high impact, near-term advancements in melanoma prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment.
Objective: Emphasis on Translational and Clinical Science
MRA is soliciting proposals that address the gap in translational science (i.e., turning scientific discoveries into tools and/or treatments for high-risk individuals and patients with melanoma). Successful proposals have the potential of applying important basic and preclinical discoveries to the near-term development of clinical trials and studies impacting melanoma detection, prevention, diagnosis, and/or treatment.
Proposals for clinical studies testing well-defined and clearly articulated hypotheses are welcome and should be accompanied by a brief protocol synopsis and timeline with milestones. IRB approval is not required at the time of application but is required before initial payments are made.
MRA welcomes proposals in the following areas:
Prevention: Elucidation of environmental, epidemiological, and biological factors in melanomagenesis that lead to improved strategies for melanoma prevention.Detection and Diagnosis: Development of innovative detection and diagnostic methodologies; identification and validation of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.Treatment: Projects emphasizing the translation of scientific findings to new treatments for patients with melanoma. Examples include, but are not limited to, studies of melanoma immunotherapy, therapeutic applications based on molecular mechanisms involved in melanoma formation and/or progression, treatments that target the tumor microenvironment or microbiome, combination therapies, and development of novel biomarkers of response to therapy.
Special Opportunity Team Science Awards: Pediatric Melanoma or Neoadjuvant Translational Research OnlyTeam Science Awards are designed to foster a collaborative research process and promote transformational melanoma research advances with the potential for rapid clinical translation. Evidence of prior collaboration among team members is encouraged, but not required. For the 2024-2025 review cycle, Team Science proposals will ONLY be accepted for the two special opportunities announced in this RFP: Pediatric Melanoma or Neoadjuvant Translational Research..
Amount
Up to $300,000 per year for three years (up to $900,000 total)