Breast cancer is increasingly being diagnosed earlier in life, yet we still do not fully understand why. Further, breast cancer in younger women carries distinct clinical consequences and outcomes. Whether those differences are rooted in distinct underlying biology — and if so, what that biology is — are among the most important unanswered questions in the field.
Among younger women, both early-onset and postpartum breast cancers can behave differently and can respond to therapies differently from breast cancers diagnosed later in life, and their biology can differ from one another. These cancers are more likely to be aggressive and progress faster. Despite growing recognition of their different patterns, the biological and environmental factors that drive risk and disease behavior in this population remain poorly understood.
Many of these younger women will live for decades after diagnosis, carrying the physical, emotional, and financial consequences of cancer far longer than older patients. Yet much of what we know about breast cancer is derived from research focused on older populations, leaving critical questions unanswered about how and why the disease develops, progresses, and responds to treatment.
At the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), we have a long-term commitment to change the trajectory of breast cancer for women diagnosed in the prime of life. BCRF is launching a Request for Applications (RFA) for the Biology of Early-Onset Breast Cancer Initiative. This RFA seeks to understand why breast cancer is occurring at increasing rates in younger women and why it is often more aggressive in this population. We are soliciting projects that address these questions through mechanistic and biological science and help explain why early-onset breast cancer behaves differently at the molecular, genetic, cellular, and tissue level. Findings should connect to opportunities for prevention, interception or improved outcomes for younger women.
While applications are not limited to the following, BCRF has identified the following areas where focused investment has the greatest opportunity to advance understanding and accelerate progress. Projects may address one or more of these areas or may address other mechanistic questions relevant to the biology of early-onset breast cancer. Cross-cutting projects that illuminate immune mechanisms connecting these phenomena are of particular interest.
- The tumor biology of early-onset breast cancer
- The biology of postpartum breast cancer and involution and the role in promotion of pre-existing or latent breast cancer
- Biological mechanisms of macro- and micro-environmental exposures and modifiable risk factors in early-onset disease
- How normal breast biology changes across a woman’s reproductive life and what it reveals about cancer susceptibility (e.g. identifying and functionally testing protective versus permissive states in normal breast tissue)
Projects should be designed around a testable biological hypothesis and aim to move beyond descriptive characterization toward mechanism, causality, and translation. Where relevant, projects should be designed to interrogate the interactions between chronological age, reproductive status, endocrine environment, germline factors, ancestry, and/or tumor subtype.
BCRF aims to fund research projects that connect fundamental discovery to clinical relevance, to fuel innovation and accelerate outcomes in younger women with breast cancer by challenging the research community to think boldly. We encourage projects that explore multidisciplinary approaches to get the answers in less time, utilize new technologies or identify new ways to examine available data, and build or enhance infrastructure, resources, and tools that will facilitate innovation in breast cancer research for years to come.
Key Dates
Application submission period opens: July 23, 2026
Letter of Intent (LOI) Due: August 25, 2026
Invitation to submit full proposals: Notifications by October 15, 2026
Full Proposal due: December 18, 2026 (invited LOIs only)
Award notification date: February 1, 2027
Award Start Date: March 2027
Program Guidelines
Innovation and impact are key components of this RFA. Applicants are encouraged to engage collaborators from diverse disciplines and utilize where possible areas of expertise and/or methodologies not normally associated with cancer research. Projects range from single investigator innovation awards to collaborative translational, clinical, and intervention studies. Investigators working outside the field and multidisciplinary teams are encouraged to apply. Projects should be structured to yield meaningful findings throughout the grant period, enabling results to be shared with the field as the work progresses rather than only at its conclusion. Award categories are outlined below.
Innovation Awards. Innovation awards are intended to provide a single investigator the opportunity to expand into a new area of discovery in the biology of early-onset breast cancer. Well-designed and conceived high risk-high reward concepts that challenge current paradigms are encouraged. These awards provide up to $250,000 per year for three years ($750,000 total), including maximum indirect costs (IDC) not exceeding 20 percent of total direct costs.
Translational Multi-PI Cross-disciplinary Awards. These awards are for translational research that has a direct application or a clear path to significantly impact our understanding of early-onset breast cancer biology. The intention is to enable the applicants to integrate advanced technologies or experimental systems that may not be feasible at the lower Innovation budget. Applications from multidisciplinary teams are required for this award category. Projects may be supplemental to current funding but should expand the applicants’ research question to be specific to this RFA. These awards provide up to $500,000 per year for three years ($1,500,000 total), including maximum IDC not exceeding 20 percent of total direct costs.
Clinical Trial or Intervention Awards.These awards support clinical studies focused on advancing our understanding of early-onset breast cancer biology, including window-of-opportunity studies, observational studies, and interventional trials. For interventional studies, the design must include one or more human subjects prospectively assigned to one or more interventions (which may include placebo or other control) to evaluate the effects of those interventions on health-related biomedical or behavioral outcomes. These awards provide up to $750,000 per year for three years ($2,250,000 total), including maximum IDC not exceeding 20 percent of total direct costs.
Eligibility Requirements
Principal investigators on the research team must hold a primary academic faculty position of assistant professor or higher.
Institution Requirements
Applicant institutions must be non-profit research institutions with the appropriate resources and support required to execute the proposed research. All subcontracted institutions must meet the same criteria and agree to the award conditions and policies and procedures of BCRF as outlined in the award contract. BCRF will not accept applications from, and/or make grant awards to, certain foreign sponsoring institutions or individuals if BCRF is prohibited from doing so under U.S. sanctions laws, or if BCRF would be required to obtain a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control or the Department of Commerce to make such grants.
Institutional Assurances
Clinical Trials/Human Subjects Research: As a condition of support, institutions and investigators must provide documentation of both the initial IRB/Ethical Committee approval and annual renewals of that approval, as applicable. IRBs must include date of approval and expiration, project title, primary investigator name and list BCRF as a funder. No award can be initiated without documented IRB approval and patient informed consent documentation (ICD), as applicable.
Research involving animals: The USDA Animal Welfare Act and the NIH Public Health Service Policy on the Humane Care and Use of Animals require that institutions conducting research with animals establish an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Institutions and Investigators must provide documentation of IACUC approval and annual reviews of animal use protocols. Approval letters must include the date of approval and expiration, project title, primary investigator name and name BCRF as a funder. No award can be initiated without documented IACUC approval, as applicable.
Publication: All abstracts, manuscripts, and presentations of a study conducted under an approved award must be shared with BCRF. BCRF does not have veto privilege over the reporting of study results.
BCRF Terms and Conditions: Terms and conditions, including an updated Open Scholarship policy can be downloaded from ProposalCentral and should be reviewed by institution officials before submitting the LOI. These are not negotiable. The Intellectual Property (IP) policy will be shared at the full application stage.
Contacts:
Diana Schlamadinger, PhD, Director, Research Program Analytics: dschlamadinger@bcrf.org
Elizabeth Vu, Senior Manager, Programs: evu@bcrf.org
To Apply
All letters of intent (LOI) and applications must be submitted through the ProposalCentral website at https://proposalcentral.com. Please make sure you are logging in through the “Applicant or Awardee” portal.
- If you already have an account, use your username and password to log in. If you don’t remember your log in credentials, then click “forgot your password.”
- If you do not have an account, you will need to create one by clicking on “need an account.”
Once logged in, select the “Grant Opportunities” tab on the left. Filter the list of applications by clicking “Filter List by Grant Maker” at the top and selecting “Breast Cancer Research Foundation” in the drop-down menu. Find the “Biology of Early Onset Breast Cancer Initiative” and click the “Apply Now” button.
If you have any difficulties registering, logging in, or creating your application, contact ProposalCentral Customer Support at: 800-875-2562 (Toll-free U.S. and Canada), +1-703-964-5840 (Direct Dial International), or by email at pcsupport@altum.com. See the ProposalCentral FAQ section under HELP tab for additional information.
Application Details
In order to submit a complete application, applicants need to enter information directly into the online application platform as well as upload a number of documents. The following instructions provide details about information that needs to be entered and the materials that need to be uploaded. The section numbering corresponds with the section number of the Application Instructions and the online ProposalCentral application.
Proposal Components
Letter of Intent (LOI)
The letter of intent includes the following components
- Project title
- Type of Award
- PI/Co-PI and Institution information
- LOI Narrative: up to 2 pages (No page limitation for references)
- Background. Describe the need being addressed and the state of current research in the area, including preliminary data supporting the rational for the project.
- Research plan. The research plan should describe the scientific approach in enough detail to establish feasibility.
- Areas of expertise and resources required to conduct the proposed research. Multidisciplinary research is strongly encouraged for larger studies and areas of expertise and institutional resources should be detailed in this section, including names of collaborators and resources they bring to the effort.
- Expected outcomes (i.e., measures of success), impact and significance: Expected outcomes should align with the study aims and resources dedicated to the effort and include quantifiable measures of success, timeline to clinical impact and/or significance to the field.
- Biosketches for key personnel: Key personnel are those with the necessary expertise to complete the study. Biosketches must be in the NIH format and limited to 5-pages. Curricula vitae and biographical narratives are not acceptable substitutes.
General Guidelines
- Intervention studies should include a path to implementation.
- Studies should include a plan that demonstrates the research is designed to produce statistically meaningful results.
- Projects may be supplemental to current funding but must expand the grant holder’s research question in a new direction relevant to this RFA.
- Describe how the approach and/or question improves existing or creates new methods or standards to significantly impact our understanding of early onset breast cancer.
The letters of intent will be reviewed by a panel of expert reviewers. Applications will be reviewed for scientific merit, innovation, feasibility, alignment with the RFA’s overarching questions, and qualifications of the investigative team. The most meritorious applications from the LOI stage will be invited to submit full proposals.
Full application
Detailed instructions will be provided to those invited to submit a full proposal.
About the Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Breast cancer is a complex disease with no simple solution. Research is the key to stopping it in its tracks. Founded in 1993 by Evelyn H. Lauder, BCRF is the largest private funder of breast cancer research in the world. Investing in the best minds in science—from those investigating prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and metastasis—and foster cross-disciplinary collaboration, BCRF’s approach accelerates the entire field and moves us closer to the answers we urgently need to be the end of breast cancer. This year, BCRF awarded $74.8 million to support the work of about 260 scientists at leading medical and academic institutions across 17 countries, making BCRF the largest private funder of breast cancer research worldwide. Visit www.bcrf.org to learn more.
