Mission and Goals

Mission

The Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) Program is aimed at the inception, development, integration, and application of novel and emerging technologies in the support of cancer research, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention. The IMAT Program is part of a broader technology development initiative within the NCI to harness specific technologies in the fight against cancer. This initiative underscores the desire of NCI to develop and integrate novel and emerging technologies in support of cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment. In the research continuum of discovery, development, and delivery, the IMAT Program accelerates development and delivery. This specific program will therefore serve as the discovery tool of a larger NCI technology initiative by soliciting and funding highly innovative, high-risk and cancer-relevant technology development projects associated with the molecular analysis of cancer.

Technologies supported through the IMAT Program include those that:

Detect alterations and instabilities of genomic DNA
Measure the expression of genes and gene products
Analyze and detect gene and/or cellular products including post-translational modification and function of proteins
Involve drug delivery technologies and approaches to enable faster and more accurate delivery of molecular and cellular labels and drugs to and within cells for research and treatment with the overall goals being speed, accuracy, and biocompatibility
Assay or interrogate the function of major genes, proteins, and signal transduction networks involved in cancer

Please note that the examples given above are not intended to be all-inclusive, but rather are illustrative of the types of technologies that are of interest.

Goals

The IMAT Program was designed with three objectives:

To focus innovative technology development efforts on the field of cancer
To solicit highly innovative technology development projects from the scientific and medical communities
To accelerate the maturation of meritorious technologies from feasibility through to development and/or commercialization

The intended purpose of the IMAT Program is to solicit and fund highly innovative, high-risk, cancer-relevant technology development projects in order to achieve the aforementioned objectives. The Program has capitalized on the success of the original IMAT Program in bringing together a multidisciplinary group of scientists and engineers to work on cancer and the expansion of technology development interests across the NCI and NIH.