National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences - Cures Acceleration Network

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences' (NCATS') mission is to turn research observations into health solutions through translational science. We work to develop or enhance the development, testing, and implementation of diagnostics

The functions of the Cures Acceleration Network (CAN) are to (1) conduct and support revolutionary advances in basic research, translating scientific discoveries from bench to bedside; (2) award grants and contracts to eligible entities to accelerate the development of high need cures; (3) provide the resources necessary for government agencies, independent investigators, research organizations, biotechnology companies, academic research institutions, and other entities to develop high need cures; (4) reduce the barriers between laboratory discoveries and clinical trials for new therapies; and (5) facilitate review in the Food and Drug Administration for the high need cures funded by the CAN.

NCATS is all about getting more treatments to all patients more quickly. A novel drug, device or intervention can take 14 years and $2 billion to develop, with a failure rate exceeding 95%. NCATS is directly addressing this problem by discovering new technologies and other approaches that could greatly accelerate the process of developing and deploying solutions that can be used by all translational researchers. NCATS supports expansion of the target landscape for therapeutic development by supporting pilot studies on druggable proteins that have largely been neglected by the research community, but are associated with rare diseases. It also supports strategies that will enable targeting biologic entities that cannot be modulated with traditional drug development of biologic strategies. In cases where a potential therapeutic has been identified for a rare disease, and a model system for testing the treatment has already been established, NCATS will support proof of concept studies to advance development of the candidate treatment. NCATS also supports early-stage development projects for generalizable translational science technologies. Through Translator, NCATS will integrate existing biomedical data to help reveal new relationships within those data and also identify novel opportunities for research. The Tissue Chip program funds bioengineered devices to improve the process of predicting whether drugs will be safe or toxic in humans. The bioprinting program will generate high throughput screenable assay models of human tissues for drug discovery. Quantum Biomedical Innovations and Technologies (Qu-BIT) Program aims to generate innovative quantum-enabled sensing technologies and quantum computing approaches to provide novel capabilities in early disease detection, improving diagnostic approaches, and therapeutic strategies. The NCATS ASPIRE Program develops technology platform for improving drug discovery and pre-clinical testing of new and safer treatments.

The major elements in evaluating proposals include assessments of: (1) The scientific merit and general significance of the proposed study and its objectives; (2) the technical adequacy of the experimental design and approach; (3) the competency of the proposed investigator or group to successfully pursue the project; (4) the adequacy of the available and proposed facilities and resources; (5) the necessity of the budget components requested in relation to the proposed project; and (6) the relevance and importance to announced program objectives and (7) the availability of funds.

The initial review of applications from eligible institutions is conducted by committees comprised of authorities in various fields of biomedical research and science education, as appropriate. Each application is given a peer evaluation for merit. Recommendations for award are forwarded to the NCATS Advisory Council for the second level of review and recommendation for award.

From 15 to 30 days. Principal investigators (P.I.) may question the substantive or procedural aspects of the review of their applications by communicating with the NCATS staff. A description of the NIH Peer Review Appeal procedures is available on the NIH home page http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-11-064.html