This scheme provides funding for prospective sample collections associated with clinical trials.
Research Areas
Applications for sample collections associated with a clinical trial that is about to commence or is ongoing are accepted via this funding scheme.
Only funding for the collection of blood and paraffin tumour blocks is available. Under exceptional circumstances, where specific justification is provided, the collection of additional sample types will be available.
Eligibility
The applicant must be from a UK university, clinical centre, or clinical trials unit.
Period of Funding
Funding is provided for up to 10 years.
Funding Value
Cancer Research UK will support sample collection with a guide price £15 per paraffin block and £7.50 per blood sample, providing that there are no additional resource requests (e.g. for technicians to undertake the collection of samples). Applicants are expected to negotiate lower costs wherever possible. For information on prices please refer to the guidelines.
How to apply
The Application form can be downloaded from the Resources box on the right-hand side of this page. Applications must be submitted in hard copy and by email to Nicola Keat.
If the proposed sample collection is associated with a clinical trial that is not funded by Cancer Research UK then a cover letter must be submitted with the application, detailing the reasons why support for the collection is not available from, or has been declined by, the clinical trial funder.
SOPs associated with the collection, storage and processing of samples must be submitted as appendices to the application. In addition, for sample collections where the use of the samples is unknown, a licence from the Human Tissue Authority will be required. In addition, in order to ensure that sufficient material can be collected from each patient for future translational research, supporting pilot data should be submitted with all applications.
Submission deadlines
Forthcoming deadlines for applications are as follows:
|
Submission Deadline |
Meeting In |
| Deadlines for Outline Applications, Feasibility Studies, Applications for CTAAC Approval (i.e., endorsements - funding not required) and sample collection applications |
24th April 2009 |
July 2009 |
|
14th August 2009 |
November 2009 |
|
18th December 2009 |
March 2010 |
|
16th April 2010 |
July 2010 |
| Deadline for Full Applications (applications for funding already approved by CTAAC at outline stage) |
1st May 2009 |
July 2009 |
|
|
21st August 2009 |
November 2009 |
|
21st December 2009 |
March 2010 |
|
23rd April 2010 |
July 2010 |
Additional Information
Review Committee: Clinical Trials Awards and Advisory Committee (CTAAC)
When completing your application, please provide justification for the most cost-effective mechanism of storing the collected samples (e.g. at a licensed facility at the host institution).
The proposed start date for the sample collection should be approximately 12 months after the start date of the associated clinical trial(s) grant.
For non-hypothesis driven prospective sample collection, it is difficult to determine the appropriate number of samples to collect, however, collection from large phase III randomised trials are preferred and studies with less than 100 samples or patients overall are unlikely to be supported.
In order to ensure that the sample collections are 'fit for purpose', you will be expected to provide clear evidence on the quality of samples in the first annual report.
CTAAC supports sample collections primarily for use by the PI and their collaborators. However, in order to ensure that other research opportunities from the trial are realised, as a condition of funding all grantees must establish an Access Committee (as a Sub-Committee of the Trial Steering Committee) and establish a mechanism for logging and responding to approaches to access the collection.
In order to enable the Access Committee to equitably assess each application the Committee should:
- Include at least 1 independent representative (not from the same organisation as the PI and collaborators)
- Meet (or confer virtually) on a regular basis to ensure rapid turnaround of requests
- Establish coherent and consistent principles of access which should include:
- The project must be linked to the trial
- The project must address a clinically relevant question
- The project must have REC approval prior to release of material
- Establish an appropriate strategy to review the utility and final fate of samples (i.e. determine fate of samples if the trial is terminated prematurely, etc.)
Contact Details
For enquiries about this scheme, please contact:
Miss Nicola Keat
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7438 5392
Email: nicola.keat@cancer.org.uk
