Introduction
The California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) presents the outcome of our Cycle 11 2005 grant application review and funding process. We are pleased to announce the funding of 53 new research grants that will advance our knowledge about the causes, prevention, sociocultural aspects, biology, detection, and treatment of breast cancer. With these new awards we are investing over $7.7 million for research projects being performed at 24 institutions across the state, including universities both public (e.g., University of California campuses) and private (e.g., Stanford University); national laboratories (e.g., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory); research institutes (e.g., The Scripps Research Institute); medical centers (e.g., John Wayne Cancer Institute); and community organizations (e.g., Women's Cancer Resource Center).
The CBCRP supports breast cancer research in California from funds obtained through:
• A portion of a 2 cents per pack State cigarette tax
• Contributions from individuals using the State's income tax check-off option
• Donations from concerned community members dedicated to defeating breast cancer
The CBCRP is administered by the University of California, Office of the President, in Oakland. Our overall objectives, strategies, and priorities are developed with the assistance of a volunteer advisory council, which also makes recommendations on the applications to be funded. The council consists of 16 members: five are representatives of breast cancer survivor/advocacy groups; five are scientists/clinicians; two are members from nonprofit health organizations, one is a practicing breast cancer medical specialist, two are members from private industry, and one is an ex officio member from the DHS breast cancer early detection program, Every Woman Counts.
Below and in the sections to follow are summaries, discussions, and listings of newly funded CBCRP grants for 2005 including:
• Grant applications and new awards shown by CBCRP research topics and award types
• Highlights of 2005 funding
• A portfolio summary and list of grants for our research priority issues
• Funded California institutions
• Description of the review process and review committee membership lists
The full abstracts of these newly funded grants, as well as those from previous CBCRP funding cycles, can be found on our website: www.cbcrp.org.
The Goals of Our Research Funding
“The mission of the CBCRP is to eliminate breast cancer by leading innovation in research, communication, and collaboration in the California scientific and lay communities.”
The CBCRP seeks to fund a unique grant portfolio that does not overlap with other research agencies. To establish the CBCRP’s priorities and advance our mission, our advisory council identified these key criteria for the research CBCRP funds:
• Nurture collaboration and synergy between California scientists, clinicians, advocates, community members, and others
• Recruit, retain, and develop high-quality California-based investigators who focus on breast cancer research
• Foster innovative ideas (i.e., new drugs, new strategies and new paradigms)
• Address the public health outcomes of prevention, earliest detection, effective treatments, and quality of life
• Translate research to more effective products, technologies, or interventions and their application/delivery to Californians
• Drive policy in both the private and public sectors on breast cancer in California
• Reduce disparities and/or address the needs of the underserved in California
• Complement, build on, and/or feed into, but do not duplicate the research programs of other funding agencies interested in breast cancer
• Respond to feedback on breast cancer research needs and expectations of the CBCRP as identified by scientists and the public in California
We are constantly evaluating our granting efforts to better meet the needs of both the research and the breast cancer advocacy communities in California.
CBCRP Funding Changes for 2005
In order to maximize our impact and build on our strengths, the CBCRP and our advisory council instituted substantial changes to our research program starting in 2005. We decided to pursue two paths to support critical breast cancer research in California. The CBCRP is launching a new initiative to address the following critical research topics: (1) defining the influence of the environment and lifestyle on breast cancer and (2) uncovering the reasons for the unequal burden (disparities) of breast cancer. We are setting aside 30 percent of our research funding to support this initiative, which will take shape in the next 1-2 years. Through the work of external experts, we will determine how CBCRP’s resources can be leveraged to make the biggest leaps forward in tackling these issues.
The remaining 70 percent of our research funding continues to support traditional grants. We are focusing our core funding efforts in the areas of innovative research, career development, and community participation. The CBCRP award types now include four categories:
• Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowship career development awards
• IDEAs (innovative, developmental, exploratory awards). We offer a competitive renewal for the most promising projects, and junior investigators are strongly encouraged to apply under this award type
• Community Research Collaboration (CRC) awards
• Joining Forces Conference Awards
A number of previous CBCRP award types (RFA, TRC, SPRC, New Investigator, Training Program, Career Enrichment, and Mentored Scholar) were eliminated. An additional change for 2005 was to eliminate the distinction between “primary” and. “complementary” award types and priority issues (research topics). Thus, in 2005 all applications competed equally for funding.
As a result of these changes, we reduced our application volume in Cycle 11 by 10 percent (223 in 2004 vs. 201 in 2005). However, because we eliminated many of our more expensive award types (e.g., RFAs), we were able to fund a higher percentage and greater number of applications.
The CBCRP Funding Process
In January-February 2005 we received 199 grant applications in response to our Call for new research on breast cancer. These applications were reviewed and scored by our out-of-state scientific and advocate reviewers. Our review committee membership lists and the review process are described at the end of this booklet.
After the peer review, those applications having sufficient scientific merit were rated by our advisory council for responsiveness to stated CBCRP programmatic criteria. The end result is that the CBCRP’s advisory council balances the scientific merit and programmatic ratings to arrive at a funding recommendation for each application. Thus, the successful applicant has responded both in terms of presenting a high quality research project and by meeting the interests of CBCRP stakeholders. An additional two applications were submitted under our Joining Forces Conference award mechanism. These were reviewed directly by our advisory council and both were funded.
Overall CBCRP Funding in 2005
Applications received and reviewed = 201
Applications offered and accepting funding = 53
Overall Success rate = 26.4%
Amount awarded in 2005 = $7,738,540
2005 Cycle 11 Funding Highlights
• Seven awards to community groups collaborating with traditional researchers to address issues important to the community, such as end-of-life issues, patient decision-making, and health access.
• Eight awards focus on etiology and prevention, including chemoprevention, hormone receptors, and a project targeting lymphedema.
• Two grants investigate the underlying reasons behind racial and ethnic disparities associated with breast cancer.
• Eight awards deal with sociocultural/psychological issues, including studies on underserved populations and ethnic minorities.
• Twenty-four grants further our understanding of tumor biology, especially the process of metastasis and the role of stem cells.
• Nine projects explore novel methods to detect breast cancer and develop novel approaches for treatment.
• Four new awards focus on health policy and services including reducing disparities, new avenues of communication, and cost effectiveness issues.
• Twenty-three projects are for innovative, exploratory, and high-risk/high reward research projects to push boundaries, challenge existing paradigms, and initiate new research programs.
• Two awards were for competitive renewals of previous innovative awards in the topics of BRCA1 gene function and the detection of circulating cancer cells.
• Nineteen awards provide opportunities in career development at the levels of graduate and postdoctoral training. These researchers bring fresh thinking to their respective disciplines.
•Five awards are of special interest, because they are funded, in part, by revenue from the California State Income Tax Check-off.
• Faith Fancher Research Award
Faith Fancher was a long-time television news anchor and personality with KTVU (Oakland) who was taken from us in October 2003 after a six-year struggle with breast cancer. In her honor, and to commemorate all that she did for breast cancer education and research, we have created this award. The recipients in 2005 are Beverly Burns, M.S., L.Ac., at the Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic in Oakland and Shelley Adler, Ph.D., from the University of California, San Francisco, for their project, Underserved Women with Breast Cancer at End of Life.
2005 Applications and Grants by CBCRP Priority Issue
Priority Issues: |
Number of Applications |
Grants Awarded (success rate) |
Amount Awarded |
Percentage of total Funding |
| Community Impact | 29 |
12 (41%) |
$1,178,444 |
15.2% |
| Etiology & Prevention | 26 |
8 (31%) |
$1,151,051 |
14.9% |
| Biology of the Breast Cell | 82 |
24 (29%) |
$3,996,716 |
51.6% |
| Detection, Prognosis & Treatment | 64 |
9 (14%) |
$1,412,329 |
18.3% |