Background

In order to meet the challenge goal of greatly reducing suffering and death due to cancer, the NCI must continue to support the development of creative methods and tools by which to understand, prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer. In the past several decades, basic discovery research has revealed that cancer is a complex disease involving myriad molecular and cellular processes, and that cancers arise as the result of the gradual accumulation of genetic changes in specific cells. Identifying which subset of the genes encoded within the human genome can contribute to the development of cancer remains a challenge. Even more challenging is the subsequent understanding of the roles of nucleic acids, proteins, and other cellular factors and modifications.

The identification and characterization of these cancer genes and their associated gene products remains a high priority in cancer research. New technologies and approaches not only address specific questions in basic research and clinical practice, but are also beneficial in uncovering and developing new directions and paradigms in cancer research. Therefore, technological advances play critical roles throughout the NCI's mission as the ability to understand, prevent, treat, accurately diagnose, and ultimately cure cancer is directly related to the technologies available to clinicians and researchers for this purpose.

Through solicitation, outreach, and communication with the investigator community, the IMAT Program has been successful in promoting cancer-relevant applications of a diverse spectrum of new and emerging technologies. The Program has focused on both the inception and development of cancer-related technologies. Some of the technologies originally generated with IMAT funding have been put in use to facilitate the acquisition of basic knowledge about cancer, which feeds the discovery pipeline. Other IMAT-supported technologies have been applied to questions of clinical importance.

Funding opportunity announcements comprising the IMAT Program are intended to support the development of molecular analysis tools that will not only allow for the more in-depth examination of the molecular basis of cancer but will also provide the ability to identify individual molecular characteristics that are pertinent to the pathological progression of cancer and its prognosis. Such tools are anticipated to facilitate the identification of genetic factors that influence an individual's risk of developing cancer as well as his or her ability to respond to adverse external/environmental factors such as radiation, carcinogens, and therapeutic agents.

In order to better understand the neoplastic process and individual molecular responses to cancer, it will be critical to not only acquire relevant knowledge at the DNA level, but also to improve our understanding of the impact of aberrant genetic information on cellular functions. Current discoveries indicate that alterations in many of the cellular processes, pathways, and/or networks may contribute to the genesis of cancer and that these alterations could be exploited for therapeutic or preventive intervention. Therefore, it is important to invoke technologies that can detect molecular changes in the cell without preconceived ideas as to what specific markers might be the most valuable to monitor.

In the discovery phase, the emphasis will be on highly multiplexed technologies that can effectively detect structural variations or functional changes in many (ultimately in all) members of the populations of DNA, RNA, protein, and other cellular factors and modifications present in cells. Current technologies for the multiplexed analysis of macromolecular species are at a stage where the greatest utility exists for the analysis of large numbers of relatively homogeneous cell populations that can be assayed in vitro. While many of the existing technologies have relatively sophisticated multiplexing capabilities in the assay format, none are comprehensive for any particular type of macromolecular species (DNA, RNA, or protein).

Therefore, there is a need for further development to ensure that the resulting technologies provide enhanced assay potential, adequate sensitivity and specificity, robust data analysis tools, and easy adaptation to the basic, preclinical, and clinical research settings. The intended purpose of the IMAT Program is thus to solicit and fund highly innovative, high-risk, cancer-relevant technology development projects in order to achieve the aforementioned objectives.