Abstract
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) invites applications for cooperative agreement (U54) awards to establish a Specialized Research Resource Center that will participate as a member of a network of inter-disciplinary, inter-institutional research teams for the purpose of supporting translational research in optical imaging and/or spectroscopy in vivo. The network is to be named the “Network for Translational Research: Optical Imaging” (NTROI) and will operate under the guidance of a Steering Committee (SC). The goal of this request for applications (RFA) is to organize a consortium with flexibility in scope, funding, and incentives to encourage inter- and intra-team collaborations on translational cancer research. The objective is to accelerate the pace of translational research by developing a consensus process to improve methods for system integration, optimization and validation of next-generation in vivo optical imaging and/or spectroscopy methods and technologies, including contrast agents. Investigators are encouraged to include in vivo molecular imaging methods that give information about molecular events in cells or the extra-cellular milieu. The research scope includes feasibility studies for the detection of pre-cancerous lesions, cancer detection and diagnosis, and measurement or prediction of response to therapy.