LBCA-Shannon Klingman Lobular Breast Cancer Clinical Research Grants

The LBCA-Shannon Klingman Lobular Breast Cancer Clinical Research Grants are sponsored by Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance and administered through Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation's EveryGrant service. The program provides funding to encourage and promote high-quality oncology research focused on invasive lobular carcinoma, a challenging and understudied form of breast cancer. LBCA is the only organization in the United States dedicated to invasive lobular breast cancer and works to raise awareness, promote research, support partnerships among patients and researchers, and fund vital ILC research. The purpose of the grants is to support independent physician investigators and research scientists who are committed to conducting preclinical, translational, or clinical research on invasive lobular carcinoma. Proposed projects must focus on the biology, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of lobular breast cancer or its metastases. The program is intended to support innovative work that addresses questions or discoveries unique to ILC, rather than simply extending an existing idea into an ILC context. Epidemiology, behavioral studies, quality improvement, and health services research are out of scope. Each grant provides $500,000 in total funding over a two-year award period, with at least two grants available. The award term runs from January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2028. Funds are paid to the sponsoring institution in two equal installments of $250,000, expected on or about January 1, 2027 and January 1, 2028. The total requested budget must equal $500,000. At least $400,000 must support research-related costs such as personnel salary, supplies, equipment, travel, and other project expenses. Up to $100,000, or 20 percent of the award, may be used for indirect costs. Patient care costs reimbursable by a third-party payor, professional membership dues, tuition fees, academic course fees, and certification fees are not allowable costs. No cost share or matching requirement is stated. Eligible applicants must hold a doctoral degree such as an MD, PhD, MD/PhD, or comparable related degree and must not currently be candidates for another doctoral degree. Applicants must be independent investigators with a primary appointment at the Assistant Professor level or higher, or institutional equivalent. They must work in an oncology laboratory, translational research setting, or clinical research setting at a nonprofit academic, medical, or research institution. Applicants must demonstrate preliminary data from ILC models or patients, include a patient advocate on the research team, and commit sufficient time and effort to complete the project. Applicants new to ILC research must show commitment to dedicated ILC research beyond the proposed project. There are no citizenship or geographic requirements, although non-U.S. institutions and applicants are subject to applicable financial, legal, sanctions, and fund-transfer requirements. The application process has two phases: a Letter of Intent and, by invitation only, a full application. All materials must be submitted in English through the Conquer Cancer application portal at awards.asco.org. Paper, email, fax, and late applications will not be accepted. The LOI requires applicant information, project information, a brief ILC project description, innovation and translational potential, specific aims, subject and focus areas, research classification, study type, assurances about human or animal subjects, drug-use information if applicable, an applicant biosketch, and final submission through the portal. Applicants whose LOIs are approved may submit a full application. The full application requires applicant and project information, a lay abstract, specific aims, a research strategy, a biostatistical plan, letters of support from a collaborating biostatistician or bioinformatician, cited references, a patient impact section, a patient advocate letter of support and resume or CV, a detailed budget, a project timeline form, a personal statement, the applicant's biosketch, an institutional letter of support from a department chair or dean, institution approval, and final submission. Clinical projects must also include a clinical protocol. A drug company letter is optional when a drug supply is involved, and up to two relevant publications plus additional supporting documentation may be included. Applications are reviewed by an ILC Grant Review Committee using a multi-stage process. Scientific reviewers with ILC expertise conduct independent confidential review, and applications are also reviewed by a biostatistician and a patient advocate. Review criteria include the strength of the hypothesis-driven proposal, clinical relevance, ILC-specific scientific rationale, potential impact on treatment outcomes, innovation, significance, feasibility, applicant qualifications, institutional resources, patient advocate engagement, statistical rigor, and budget justification. The application opened April 7, 2026. The LOI deadline is May 11, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET. LOI notifications are expected in late May 2026. Full applications are due July 8, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET. Final notifications are expected in early to mid-September 2026, and awardees are expected to be announced at the International ILC Symposium in late September 2026. Questions should be sent to programs@everygrant.org.

Emphasize a hypothesis-driven project with clear clinical relevance to ILC; show that the question is unique to ILC rather than a general breast cancer project adapted to ILC; include strong preliminary data from ILC models or patients; demonstrate patient advocate involvement in the lay summary, research design, and implementation; provide a rigorous biostatistical plan with collaborator support; justify the budget clearly; secure institutional support and approvals early because the institutional approver must submit before the deadline.