The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) Window-of-Opportunity (WOO) Network is inviting concept submissions for WOO trials. In presurgical WOO trials, patients with resectable disease are treated for a brief “window” period between diagnosis and surgical resection with an experimental drug/treatment. 

Funding support is provided to prioritized trial concepts that meet funding criteria. Investigators will present their concepts during the WOO Network Meeting (WNM) on Tuesday September 14, 2026. Once prioritized, further trial development is engaged, facilitated, and iterative.

WOO trial criteria

• Design: presurgical, randomized trial
• Disease: early-stage and resectable disease (newly diagnosed, treatment naive or early recurrent cancer)
• Drug: demonstrated drug safety profile
• Feasibility: patient accrual completion within two years
• Focus: immune modulation trials

Eligibility

The WOO Network invites trial concepts for its 2026 cohort from investigators at Ontario academic centers and hospital research institutes. With a focus on building WOO study capacity in Ontario, the Network strongly encourages inclusion of early career investigators/clinicians as part of the trial team.

Funding available

Successful WOO trials will be funded to a maximum of $500,000 CAD over 2.5 years. Note that OICR does not provide overhead for clinical trials.

Key Dates:

Information session: May 7, 2026, 1 p.m. ET – (Click here to register)

Concept

• Submission deadline: July 8, 2026, 5 p.m. ET
• Eligibility feedback communicated: July 27, 2026 
• Updated, resubmission deadline: August 10, 2026, 5 p.m. ET
• Presentation, WOO Network Meeting: September 14, 2026, 9 a.m. -12 p.m. ET
• Prioritization feedback communicated: September 30, 2026

Protocol

• Development period: October 1, 2026 – December 15, 2026
• Submission deadline: December 15, 2026, 5 p.m. ET
• Funding start date: January 1, 2027

For more information, please refer to www.WOONetwork.oicr.on.ca or email the WOO Network.

How to apply:

Download the WOO 2026 Cohort Call for Concepts Guidelines [PDF]
Download the WOO 2026 Concept Form [DOCX]