Developmental Research Program

The MD Anderson Sarcoma SPORE Developmental Research Program (DRP) is designed to identify and fund innovative pilot projects that currently lack the mandated SPORE guidelines of a human endpoint but could develop into full SPORE projects. The DRP provides critical financial support, as well as disease-specific resources (including sarcoma experts) to ensure the success of novel translational research projects that can be further developed into broader research programs. The DRP will be co-directed by Shreyaskumar Patel, M.D., a well-established sarcoma physician and Andrew Futreal, Ph.D., who has conducted pioneering work using genomics to understand cancer pathogenesis and to identify novel human cancer genes. Both have strong research programs and long histories of mentorship. The DRP will solicit research proposals from investigators at MD Anderson, as well as institutions from the Texas Medical Center. Providing seed money to develop creative hypotheses will permit the generation of preliminary data that can be transitioned into full SPORE projects or can be used to seek external funding. High-risk/high-reward projects will be prioritized. DRP proposals will be solicited annually with the aim to fund a single one-year award of $130,000 per award, with the possibility of continuing support for one additional year.