RFA: 2025 Yosemite-American Cancer Society Award
The 2025 Yosemite-American Cancer Society (ACS) Award supports innovative research aiming to develop methodologies, establish feasibility, and/or pilot high risk/high reward projects to advance the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of cancer as outlined below in either Topic #1 or #2.
Applications do not require preliminary data.
Priority will be given to projects that are highly innovative, feasible within a 2-year maximum timeframe, and poised to positively impact on cancer prevention, treatment, and healthcare delivery by demonstrating a plan for translation to the clinic.
Mark Your Calendar
Applications Available: March 1
Applications Deadline: June 1
Peer Review: August
Selections Confirmed: September 15
Grant Start Date: November 1
Questions: Yosemite@cancer.org
Applications that demonstrate a plan for translation to the clinic will be given priority.
Topic #1
In recent years, treatment approaches involving targeted toxins such as antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) and radiopharmaceuticals have become vital therapeutic modalities for cancer treatment, leading to a wave of FDA drug approvals to treat multiple tumor types.
Despite cancer cell-specific toxins showing great potential to achieve better clinical efficacies, key challenges to be addressed include toxicity, a lack of thoughtful approaches to payload/linker/antigen/indication selections, and treatment resistance. Innovative research addressing specific challenges will unlock insights to overcome some of the current cancer clinical hurdles of targeted toxins.
Project proposals should broadly fit into these categories:
- Novel payloads, including molecules with new pathways or modalities
- Approaches to address resistance, tumor specificity, and/or penetration
- Novel targets
- Tactics to broaden the therapeutic window for targeted approaches
Topic #2
Significant advancement has been observed in the field of cancer vaccines, especially for solid tumors. Further innovation in non-cell-based cancer vaccines for solid tumors, encompassing both therapeutic and prophylactic treatment strategies, would greatly aid in pushing the field forward. Approaches to make vaccines more efficacious and/or more accessible at scale for patients will be considered.
Further innovation in non-cell-based cancer vaccines for solid tumors has the potential to advance the field even more than it has already.
Project proposals should broadly fit into these categories:
- Combination therapies
- Immune adjuvants
- Innovative delivery systems
- Novel targets
- Optimizing neoantigen recognition/engagement
Eligibility
Investigators at any cancer stage with a full-time faculty (or equivalent) appointment at one of the invited institutions are eligible to apply.
Term and Budget
Yosemite-American Cancer Society Award grantees are funded at up to $300,000 direct costs for 1- or 2-year projects plus 10% indirect costs. The maximum allowable budget is $330,000 total costs. Budgets submitted must be realistic estimates of the funds required for the proposed research. These grants are not renewable or transferable to a different institution.
Applications should not exceed 6 pages (including 1 page for Specific Aims); this page limit does not include biosketches or references.
Apply
Applications must be submitted via ProposalCentral. To request the application link and instructions, please contact Yosemite@cancer.org.
| Invited Institutions | |
| California Institute of Technology | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center |
| Cambridge University | The Rockefeller University |
| Columbia University | Stanford University |
| Cornell University | Technion-Israel Institute of Technology |
| Dartmouth College | Tel Aviv University |
| Duke University | University of California at Berkeley |
| Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center | University of California at San Francisco |
| Harvard University | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| Institute of Protein Design of the University of Washington | University of Oxford |
| Johns Hopkins University | University of Pennsylvania |
| MD Anderson Cancer Center | Washington University, St. Louis |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Weizmann Institute of Science |
| Mayo Clinic | Yale University |
