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UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Developmental Pilot Program

Proposal Due Dates: May 1, 2025 at 5 p.m. ET 

The UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Developmental Pilot Program is intended to support the development of cancer research led by Hillman members and to stimulate new applications for extramural funding from government agencies and foundations. All UPMC Hillman Cancer Center members are encouraged to apply.

Please review directions carefully.

  • This program funds pilot awards, up to $50,000 for one year.
  • All Hillman faculty members are encouraged to apply.
  • For the general RFA, proposals on any cancer-relevant topic will be accepted in the following science tracks:
    • Basic Science
    • Clinical/Translational Science
    • Population Science
  • In addition to the general RFA, there is a targeted research RFA focused on (1) catchment area (CA) research and a targeted research RFA focused on (2) tumor immunology & microenvironment research to catalyze new research collaborations between immunologists and non-immunologists (see below for details). 
  • The Hillman Developmental Pilot Program has incorporated the NCI priority areas of inter & intra-programmatic collaboration. While not a requirement for funding, collaborations will be taken into consideration during second-tier review.
  • The signature of the relevant departmental/divisional administrator must also appear on the title page to acknowledge that effort is required of the PI and that this effort must be counted when determining the PI’s total effort to ensure that he/she does not exceed 100% effort when all activities are considered.
  • Awards have an expected start date of July 1, 2025.

Please direct any questions to Moira Hitchens at hitchensm2@upmc.edu.

Terms of the Award

  • Funds should be expended within one year of receipt.
  • Contact Moira Hitchens (hitchensm2@upmc.edu) for requests to change the start date or extend the funding period (no-cost extension).
  • A report summarizing financial expenditures and scientific outcomes of the project will be required after the end of funding or earlier if warranted.
  • When requested, all awardees will be expected to provide updates of publications and long-term grant support that originated from the award.
  • Residual funds will revert back to UPMC Hillman Cancer Center at the end of the grant period/No-cost RFA.
  • Faculty awardees may be asked to participate in the review process for four future rounds (two years).

Eligibility

Principal Investigators must have a University of Pittsburgh faculty appointment and be a Hillman Cancer Center member. Membership requires going through an application process that can be found on the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Membership webpage. If you are unsure about whether you are a current Hillman Cancer Center member, please send an inquiry to hccmembership@upmc.edu.

Applicants can be PI or MPI on only one proposal per cycle but can be named on other proposals as a Co-Investigator.

Individuals currently receiving Hillman Developmental Pilot Program funding as a PI or MPI are not eligible to apply.

Criteria

Proposals will be judged by the following criteria:
  • Scientific merit
  • Innovation
  • Cancer relevance
  • Qualifications, experience and productivity of the applicant(s)
  • Project feasibility given facilities, budget, time, and other resources available
  • Potential for future publications and external funding from either government agencies or foundations
  • Budget

Review

Proposal review committees will be chaired by a Hillman senior leader and be composed of Hillman members. The review committees will be made up of both former awardees and ad hoc experts, chosen based on the applications received. Applications will be assigned to two reviewers having the appropriate expertise. Reviewers will score applications according to the criteria listed above, using the NIH scale of 1-9 (best to worst). Final funding decisions will be made by Hillman senior leadership based on the scientific review and programmatic needs. A brief summary statement will be provided to the applicant.

Restrictions

Projects must be completed within the designated period of the grant proposal, which is one year for all awards. Clinical applicants or others with time-consuming protocol requirements may apply for a change in start/end dates. No-cost extensions must be formally requested.

Funds may be requested for any of the standard NIH budget categories and for purposes deemed necessary for the successful execution of the proposed project. However, restrictions and additional scrutiny apply:

  1. Personnel: HCC pilot awards may not be used for salary support for the Principal Investigator or any other faculty-level personnel. However, Principal Investigator effort (minimum of 1%) must be reflected on the budget page and must be cost shared by the department or other entity that will support such an effort. Funds can be used for the salary of lab personnel, such as trainees and staff, but a budget > 25% for personnel will require a comprehensive justification and will be heavily scrutinized.
  2. Travel: Requests for travel support (for example, to conferences) are not permitted.
  3. Equipment: Requests for equipment should be limited to funds directly related to project performance. For example, a laptop for a research assistant to use in the clinic to collect data would be appropriate.

Requirements

  • Prior to funding, all awarded projects that involve animals or human subjects must be reviewed and approved in accordance with Hillman’s general assurances and HIPAA. Reviews and approvals may be “Just in Time” and are not required for registration/application. Projects involving human subjects must be submitted to an Institutional Review Board (IRB). All investigators and all persons named on the budget page must have certification of training in the protection of human subjects. Appropriate animal forms must also be filed and approved.
  • A summary progress report must be submitted after the end date of support or earlier if warranted. The summary progress report should give a financial accounting of funds used for the project, and reference all research products planned or generated, including abstracts submitted/published, peer-reviewed articles submitted/published, grant applications submitted/funded, and potential/actual intellectual property (reports of invention, etc.).
  • PIs will provide updates on publications, grants, and patents after the end of funding when asked.
  • Where applicable, progress reports should identify the Hillman catchment area counties and any minority or medically underserved populations that are involved or affected.
  • All manuscripts, abstracts, posters, and presentations should acknowledge support from UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Developmental Funds, e.g., “This project was supported by NIH grant P30CA047904 awarded to UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.” If a Hillman CCSG-supported shared resource provided data, please also include the following statement: “This project used the Hillman Cancer Center [insert name(s) of shared resource(s)] that [is/are] supported in part by award P30CA047904.” Funded investigators that fail to adhere to this policy may be barred from future submissions to the Developmental Pilot Program for a period of one year.
  • Awards co-funded by multiple sources will also adhere to reporting and other requirements established by those sources.
  • Faculty awardees may be asked to serve on review committees.

Application

Note- all applicants who submit grants through UPMC Hillman Cancer Center must complete the UPMC Hillman Proposal Intake Form. Please select Internal Pilot/CEP/DRP as the proposal type:

UPMC Hillman Proposal Intake Form (UPMC)

UPMC Hillman Proposal Intake Form (PITT)

Application Format (in this order)

All proposals must be submitted as a single PDF and include the following components in the order indicated:

  1. A Title Page that includes the following items. Please note that submitting online does not automatically create this title page.
    1. Title of the proposal
    2. PI’s name, research program, faculty rank, and contact information
    3. Science track (basic, clinical/translational, or population science)
    4. Total budget requested
    5. The signature of the relevant departmental/divisional administrator must also appear to acknowledge that effort is required of the PI and that this effort must be counted when determining the investigator’s total effort to ensure that he/she does not exceed 100% effort when all activities are considered
    6. Which RFA the proposal is in response to (general, CA-focused research, tumor immunology & microenvironment)
  2. Scientific Abstract: The abstract summary of the proposal. For use by review committee members and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center (250-word maximum).
  3. Lay Abstract: A brief summary of the proposal, written for the general public (100-word maximum).
  4. Impact Statement: (half a page maximum)
    1. For general RFA and Tumor Immunology & Microenvironment RFA: In lay terms, describe how the proposed work will impact cancer research and/or patient care.
    2. For CA-focused RFA: In lay terms, describe how the proposed work will impact the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center catchment area. Include the populations and/or geographic locations the research targets.
  5. Introduction: If your proposal was not funded, you may submit the same idea again, one time. For re-submission, include a ½ page response to the previous critique.
  6. Research Plan (3-page limit, including tables and figures):
    1. Specific Aims
    2. Innovation
    3. Cancer Relevance
    4. Approach
    5. Proposal Timeline and Plan for Future Grant Submission
  7. Budget: Use PHS 398 Form Page Download
  8. Budget Justification: The Budget Justification should include sufficient detail for reviewers to assess whether appropriate resources have been requested (no page limit).
  9. NIH Biosketches for the key members of the research team.
  10. Human and/or Animal Subjects: Although Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval is not required prior to submission, briefly describe any human and/or animal subject issues (no page limit):
    1. If human subjects will be involved in the research, provide a description of their involvement and characteristics, specific risks to subjects who participate, and protection against those risks. Describe the sources of materials that will be obtained from human subjects as part of their study participation. Provide assurance that the project will be reviewed and approved by the Hillman IRB and comply with HIPAA. 
    2. If vertebrate animals are to be used, describe the proposed use of the animals in the work outlined and procedures for ensuring that discomfort, distress, pain and injury will be limited. Projects involving animal subjects must be reviewed and approved by IACUC.

Other Requirements/Notes:

  • References do not count towards the three-page limit
  • Use single spacing, font no smaller than Arial 11, and half-inch margins
  • Letters of support may be beyond the three-page limit
  • All of the above must be included in the single PDF proposal
  • No appendices

Submission

Applications are due by 5 p.m. ET on May 1, 2025.

PLEASE NOTE: To be eligible for review, each applicant must adhere to the following:

  • All applicants must submit their proposals through the online form on this site.
    The online form must be completed in one session; it does not save partially entered information and you cannot return to it at a later date to finish your submission.
  • Submission must be completed by 5:00 p.m. ET on the deadline date.
  • Investigators must submit (upload) their entire application as a single PDF.
  • The file name must include the PI’s last name.
  • Applications missing one or more of the required components (uploaded single PDF with the PI’s name in the file name) will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed.
  • Extensions of the deadline will not be granted. Supplementary or additional materials will not be accepted after the submission deadline.

Questions? Email Moira Hitchens, PhD, at hitchensm2@upmc.edu.

Targeted Research Area: CA-focused Research

Proposals submitted in response to this RFA must be focused on catchment area-relevant cancer research. This includes research related to cancers with higher incidence (breast, prostate, colorectal, lung) or mortality (lung, breast prostate) in our catchment, catchment area risk behaviors (obesity, tobacco use, low cancer screening rates, low HPV vaccination rates) and/or research research to ensure the best outcomes for all communities within our 29-county catchment area, or research that targets patients in Hillman network sites. In addition, pancreatic cancer has emerged as an area of concern within our CA and as such pilots focused on pancreatic cancer will be considered responsive to this RFA. 

The NCI requires that all research programs within Comprehensive Cancer Centers include research relevant to their catchment areas. Thus, the overarching goal of this funding opportunity is to support studies that focus on reducing cancer burden for those who reside in the 29 counties that make up the western half of Pennsylvania, particularly communities experiencing greater cancer incidence and mortality. For data relating to specific cancer burdens and cancer disparities in the catchment area, please reach out to the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement using the following REDCap form:  https://redcap-std.hs.pitt.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=DPAXXTFCAML3HKLP. If you need confirmation that your project is related to the catchment area, please contact Moira Hitchens (hitchens2m@upmc.edu).

Targeted Research Area: Tumor & Microenvironment Research

As part of the development of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center’s (HCC) strategic plan for 2025-2030, HCC will fund Pilot Awards of up to $50,000 for 1 year to foster highly innovative and collaborative research related to Tumor Immunity & Microenvironment, which was identified as a cross-disciplinary program theme and priority through the strategic planning process. This award is intended to promote a holistic understanding of the interaction between cancer and the immune system and to catalyze new research collaborations between immunologists and cancer biologists, informaticians, or clinician/clinician-scientists that do not have an existing project/collaboration. A currently funded clinician/scientist pair taking on a new or adjacent research direction would be ineligible for this funding.

Each proposal must have two Principal Investigators (PI) that contribute equally to the project and combine expertise in immunology and another cancer-related research or clinical area. Projects are intended to support the development of new cancer research related to tumor immunity and the microenvironment and to stimulate new applications for extramural funding.

Some examples of potential collaborative projects intended to be supported by this mechanism include:

  • A head and neck cancer surgical oncologist with access to HPV+ tissue and an immunologist who studies the response to oncogenic viruses.
  • A pancreatic cancer biologist who found immunologic genes of interest related to natural killer cell function and an immunologist whose research focuses on these cells.
  • A bioinformatician who has developed cell atlases across tumor progression and an immunologist who studies immune evasion.

Click here to access the online application form.