Pre-Clinical Acceleration Team Awards

OICR Clinical Translation (CT) advances cancer research toward meaningful clinical impact. It supports preclinical and early clinical studies that develop and validate new approaches to detect, treat and monitor cancer at its earliest and most actionable stages. Through close partnership with patients, clinicians and researchers, CT helps ensure that clinically relevant, high-potential innovations are positioned for patient and healthcare impact. 

OICR is inviting applications for CT’s Pre-Clinical Acceleration Team Award (Pre-CATA) funding stream. This program is intended to accelerate promising cancer biomarkers toward clinical application. It supports biomarkers that have undergone initial discovery and possess sufficient preliminary evidence to justify translational advancement.

Funding available

• Up to $225,000 per year per project (inclusive of eligible overhead)
• Duration: Up to two years (maximum $450,000 total per project)
• OICR intends to support up to four projects from the total envelope of $1.8M.

Pre-CATA levels

Funding is provided for two levels of biomarker projects:

• Level I: Development projects are intended to support biomarker confirmation and assay development activities required to establish analytical and translational readiness.
• Level II: Validation projects are intended to support retrospective validation studies designed to generate evidence supporting future prospective clinical testing or clinical integration.

Eligibility

• OICR invites applications from investigators at Ontario academic centres, hospital research institutes or other government research institutions.
• Applications must include investigators/team members from multiple institutions, as well as a patient partner.
• OICR funding is only tenable in Ontario.

Timeline

• Information session (optional): July 21, 2026, 2-3 p.m. ET (Register here)
• Concept submission deadline: September 17, 2026, by 5 p.m. ET
• Concept feedback to teams: Week of November 16, 2026
• Prioritized concept meetings: December 1, 2026
• Full application deadline: January 18, 2027, by 5 p.m. ET
• Notification of results: Week of March 1, 2027
• Funding start date: April 1, 2027

Questions?

Visit the FAQ page before contacting the OICR Scientific Secretariat office at ScientificSecretariat@oicr.on.ca.

To access funding opportunity resources, including: data sharing, open access and retention, eligible expenses, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion tactics in research, Ontario First mandate, patient partner payment policy and ReportNet instructions, please visit the bottom of the Funding Opportunities page.