BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The Gray Foundation has a dual mission: to transform the lives of individuals born with BRCA mutations by accelerating research into BRCA-associated cancers, and to improve the lives of low-income youth in New York City by ensuring access to higher education and quality healthcare. Since 2012, Mindy and Jon Gray have donated $160M towards research, treatment, and awareness of BRCA-related cancers.

The mission of this new grant cycle is to fund research projects that bring together the best minds in cancer research to study BRCA-associated precancer and early cancerous lesions in order to develop new prevention, early detection, and interception approaches.

The funding will be for a period of 3 years with a budget of up to $1 million/year. The Foundation plans to award multiple grants and is willing to consider multiple applications from the same institution. The Gray Foundation is committed to health equity and values diversity and inclusion in its funded research programs.

ELIGIBILITY AND REVIEW CRITERIA

• Investigators must hold a medical or other doctoral degree and have a faculty appointment at an academic, medical, or research institution equivalent to an Assistant Professor, or higher.
• Applicants must be academic, medical, or research institutions anywhere in the world.
• For-profit enterprises are not eligible to apply, but may be listed as Collaborators. However, no grant funds may be directed to collaborators working within a for-profit entity.
• Questions about eligibility should be sent to the Gray Foundation (grants@grayfoundation.org) prior to submitting a Letter of Intent (LOI).

REVIEW PROCESS

The Gray Foundation will review all LOIs submitted and will invite selected applicants to submit full proposals. Decisions on LOIs will be provided by March 3, 2023 and more details regarding full proposal submission and deadlines will be provided at that time.  Invited full proposals will be reviewed by the Gray Foundation Scientific Committee, which will provide recommendations for funding.

The following criteria will be considered for each application (see details in program guidelines):

• Innovation
• Significance
• Approach
• Clinical/Translational Potential
• Investigators/Team/Environment

LOI SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Letters of Intent (LOI) are due by 12:00 pm (noon) United States Eastern Time on February 1, 2023.

Please submit proposals to: grants@grayfoundation.org. Confirmation of receipt will be emailed within 1 business day. Please contact us if you do not receive a confirmation.

A complete LOI must include:

• Investigator Information/Signature Form (see below)
• Project Description Form (see below, 2 pages, 12pt font). Must include: title, lay summary, background and rationale, specific aims, research design and methods, innovation, Team description
• References (1 page)
• NIH Biosketches

Each component is described in more detail on the LOI PDF attached below