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Breast Cancer Research Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards

Breast Cancer Research Foundation

Grant Amount$150,000 USD

Grant Term2 Years

Start of Grant TermJuly 1, 2026

Letter of Intent DeadlineDecember 16, 2025 1:00 PM (ET)

Letter of Intent Notification DateFebruary 2026

Application DeadlineApril 7, 2026 1:00 PM (ET)

Decision DateJune 2026

Additional InformationAdditional details regarding this grant can be found in the Program Guidelines and Competitive Letter of Intent Instructions. Final determinations of eligibility will not be completed until the AACR is in receipt of the submitted Competitive Letter of Intent.

Description

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards represent a joint effort to promote and support innovative research led by early-career investigators. The proposed project may be basic, translational, clinical, or population-based research in nature and must have direct applicability and relevance to breast cancer.

The grants provide $150,000 over two years for expenses related to the research project, which may include salary and benefits of the grant recipient and any collaborator, postdoctoral or clinical research fellows, graduate students (including tuition costs associated with graduate students’ education and training), research assistants; research/laboratory supplies; equipment; publication charges for manuscripts that pertain directly to the funded project; and other research expenses.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

✅ 1. Direct clinical relevance to breast cancer

A major, consistent pattern:

treatment resistance

metastasis biology

recurrence mechanisms

clinical biomarkers

survivorship & toxicity

Projects that cannot be tied clearly to clinical breast cancer outcomes underperform.

✅ 2. Translational trajectory (bench → bedside → population)

Even mechanistic work must articulate:

biomarker deployment

therapy optimization

druggability

risk stratification

“Interesting biology” without translation is a known review risk.

✅ 3. Precision medicine framing

High success patterns include:

molecular subtyping

single-cell and spatial profiling

genomic risk predictors

treatment tailoring

Personalization language scores well.

✅ 4. Metastasis and recurrence focus

BCRF portfolios consistently prioritize:

brain metastasis

bone tropism

dormancy

circulating tumor cells

Metastatic relevance = strong scoring anchor.

✅ 5. Treatment resistance mechanisms

Reviewers favor:

endocrine resistance

CDK4/6 resistance

HER2 inhibitor escape

immune evasion

Resistance themes recur year after year.

✅ 6. Survivorship, late toxicity, and quality of life

Highly valued:

cardiotoxicity mitigation

treatment-related cognitive impairment

endocrine therapy symptom burdens

(NCI and BCRF both trend toward survivorship importance.)

✅ 7. Human tissue anchoring

Projects that include:

patient-derived organoids

patient-matched xenografts (PDX)

spatial transcriptomics on human lesions

…score better than purely murine systems.

✅ 8. Strong preliminary data

While BCRF tolerates risk, successful proposals usually:

demonstrate feasibility

show early mechanistic signals

present pilot patient data

Weak preliminary evidence draws reviewer skepticism.

✅ 9. Established productivity track record

Awardees disproportionately have:

sustained publication output

demonstrated continuity in breast cancer subject matter

prior funding momentum

Trajectory cohesion matters.

✅ 10. Collaboration & network integration

BCRF likes:

multi-investigator synergy

multi-site validation

clinical path alignment

Solo siloed proposals are weaker.

✅ 11. Diversity, disparity, and inclusion framing

Emerging strong predictor:

racial/ethnic outcome disparities

genomic ancestry considerations

access-to-care differentials

The funder increasingly cares about equitable outcomes.

🔬 Favored methodological fingerprints

Historically successful approaches:

single-cell multi-omics

spatial profiling of tumor–stroma interface

immune microenvironment analysis

PDX + CRISPR combinatorial perturbation

ctDNA minimal residual disease detection

These appear repeatedly in award abstracts.

🧠 Mechanistic focus patterns

High scoring when focused on:

lineage plasticity

dormancy reactivation signals

estrogen receptor (ER) signaling rewiring

DNA repair vulnerabilities (BRCA pathway)

metabolic rewiring in metastasis

Common loser: generalized cancer-agnostic biology.

🏥 Clinical trial adjacency

BCRF considers it a strength when:

hypotheses derive from patient trial results

biomarkers guide trial stratification

correlative science is embedded

tissue is from ongoing cohorts

It’s not mandatory, but powerful.

📉 Common Reviewer Critiques (predictors of failure)

✘ unclear link to breast cancer specifically
✘ biological phenomenon shown only in vitro
✘ insufficient translational anchor
✘ too broad for 1-year annual renewal cycles
✘ unrealistic recruitment/biopsy assumptions
✘ lack of patient benefit timeline

🔍 Soft cultural rules (unwritten behaviors)

BCRF panels respond to:

continuity of focus (not topic hopping)

patient practicality

clean, well-articulated aims

a plausible clinical path in <5 years

It’s a patient-impact culture, not just innovation.

👩‍🔬 Investigator profile trends

Awardees frequently exhibit:

breast cancer–specific publication record

senior mentorship for early investigators

clear niche ownership

collaborative footprint (consortium participation)

BCRF is loyal to productive investigators.

🧵 Successful Aim Structure (meta-pattern)

Aim 1: Define mechanism / identify vulnerability
Aim 2: Validate in patient-derived tissue / in vivo
Aim 3: Therapeutic/pathway exploitation + biomarker readout

Three tightly linked aims > two broad aims.

🧱 Condensed Success Fingerprint

A competitive BCRF proposal is:

✅ breast cancer–specific
✅ translationally actionable
✅ mechanistically grounded
✅ feasibility demonstrated
✅ clinically adjacent (patients/tissues/trials)
✅ productivity-supported
✅ recurrence/metastasis/resistance oriented

Specialties

Cancer

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must have a doctoral degree (including PhD, MD, MD/PhD, or equivalent) in a related field and not currently be a candidate for a further doctoral or professional degree.

At the start of the grant term on July 1, 2026, applicants must:

Hold a faculty position with the title of assistant professor, instructor, research assistant professor, or the equivalent
- If eligibility is based on a future position, the position must be confirmed at the time of application and CANNOT be contingent upon receiving this grant.
- If the future position is at a different institution than the applicant’s current institution, the applicant must contact the AACR’s Research and Grants Administration Department (RGA) at grants@aacr.org before submitting their application for information on additional verification materials/signatures that may be required.
Have started their first independent faculty position within the past 6 years from the grant start date (i.e. cannot have held an independent faculty position before July 1, 2020).
Have independent laboratory space as confirmed by their institution.
Work at an academic, medical, or research institution anywhere in the world.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: Breast Cancer Research Foundation

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: 615 Chestnut St., 17th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19106-4404 USA Telephone: 215-440-9300 Email: aacr@aacr.org

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