The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support research projects designed to solve specific problems and paradoxes in cancer research identified by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Provocative Questions Initiative. These problems and paradoxes phrased as questions are not intended to represent the full range of NCI's priorities in cancer research. Rather, they are meant to challenge researchers to think about and elucidate specific problems in key areas of cancer research that are deemed important but have not received sufficient attention.
Some of these "Provocative Questions" (PQs) stem from intriguing but older, neglected observations that have never been adequately explored. Other PQs are built on more recent findings that are perplexing or paradoxical, revealing important gaps in current knowledge. Finally, some PQs reflect problems that traditionally have been thought to be intractable but that now may be open to investigations using new strategies and recent technical advances.
The current issuance of the PQ Initiative includes an updated set of 9 PQs. Each research project proposed in response to this FOA must be focused on addressing the research problems defined by a specific PQ selected from the list. Projects proposed to address PQs may use strategies that incorporate ideas and approaches from multiple disciplines, as appropriate. Transdisciplinary projects are encouraged if they serve the scientific focus of the selected PQ.