At the end of June, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) announced the launch of the AACR NextGen Grants for Transformative Cancer Research, a new funding initiative to stimulate highly innovative research from young investigators.

This new grant mechanism is intended to promote and support creative, paradigm-shifting cancer research that, because of its very nature, might not otherwise be funded through existing channels. It is expected that these grants will catalyze significant scientific discoveries and help talented young investigators gain scientific independence.

“The AACR NextGen Grants for Transformative Cancer Research represent an exciting new initiative to provide funding to young investigators who are working on projects that have the potential to lead to major breakthroughs in the field of cancer research,” said Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, AACR immediate past-president, and the Donna S. Hall chair in breast cancer research and director of the Center for Cancer Targeted Therapies at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. “Young investigators are vital to our future progress against cancer because they are the source of many of the most novel, ambitious, and transformative ideas in cancer research. We at the AACR are proud to be able to offer them this mechanism of support.”

Eligibility will be limited to junior faculty who, at the start of the grant term, have held a full-time, tenure-track appointment as an assistant professor for no more than three years. The proposed research must represent a highly innovative approach to a major contemporary challenge in cancer research. The funded projects must have the potential to lead to groundbreaking discoveries in the field, and transform our understanding of the tumorigenesis process and/or our ability to treat, detect, or prevent cancer. The research can be in any area of basic, translational, or clinical science.

The grants will provide a total of $450,000 over a period of three years, beginning July 1, 2016. The recipients will formally accept the grants at the AACR Annual Meeting 2016, held April 16-20, in New Orleans.

Further details are available online. Letters of intent must be submitted by noon ET, Aug. 10, 2015, using the proposalCENTRAL website. Additional inquiries may be directed to Ashley Jones at grants@aacr.org.