Read article Prospective Sample Collections Project Grants
This scheme provides funding for prospective sample collections associated with clinical trials.
What is covered
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, funding for 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.
How to apply
Applications should be submitted via our online grants management system, eGMS (find out more about eGMS). Applications are only fully submitted to Cancer Research UK once approved by your host institution administrators. Please note that applications submitted by post or email will no longer be accepted. Guidelines on completing an application can be downloaded from the box on the right hand side of this page.
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 as an upload 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 uploaded appendices with 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
| Preliminary submissions | Final submissions | Committee review |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | 1 Aug 2013 | Nov 2013 |
Additional notes
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', applicants are 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, 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, as a condition of funding .
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.).
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