The objective of the infrastructure initiatives funding type is to give an impetus, by providing temporary funding and/or assuming a facilitating role, to existing or new infrastructure initiatives that support and enable scientific oncological research. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the resources and services made available by the infrastructure initiatives lead to concrete research results and applications for patients and the general public more often and more quickly.
The infrastructure initiative is required to have broad national support and to be nationally accessible. KWF Kankerbestrijding expects that, after its initial support/impulse, the infrastructure initiative will anticipate on its continuity and be implemented in a self-sustainable way.
The impetus provided by KWF Kankerbestrijding is of temporary nature.
Definition
Infrastructure initiatives is the funding type applicable to and available for nationally accessible infrastructures that support and enable oncological research to benefit the patients and the general public.
Under infrastructure initiatives the following is understood:
- Facilities and platforms
Biobanks, population/cohort studies, clinical trials platforms, early detection platforms, omics facilities, model organism platforms, imaging facilities and systems biology platforms.
- Data infrastructures
Data repositories/archives/catalogues/portals/tools that proactively promote, engage and/or are in transition to adopt well-curated and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) data.
- E-infrastructures
Integration of existent evidence based e-Health tools with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) research-, care- and patient- generated data into a main, single umbrella initiative.
Timeline
| Pre-proposal stage |
| Opening pre-proposal submission |
04 February 2019 |
| Closing pre-proposal submission |
06 March 2019 (noon) |
| Invitation for full proposal submission |
shortly after 06 March |
| Full proposal stage |
| Opening full proposal submission |
22 April 2019 |
| Closing full proposal submission |
05 June 2019 (noon) |
Pilot Call 2017-I
Number of pre-proposals submitted 40
Number of proposals invited for full submission 12
Number Infrastructure Initiatives granted 7
The Infrastructure initiatives proposals were evaluated by a multidisciplinary evaluation committee composed by selected members of the internal review committee of the KWF Advisory Board and external (inter)national experts.
Funded projects
• Facilitating power: collecting and managing international data on (rare) colorectal cancer predisposition syndromes
PI: M. Nielsen, LUMC
Funding granted: €45.560
This infrastructure initiatives deals with data collection of data on rare colorectal cancer pre-disposition syndromes and will provide uniform data collection of MSH6, PMS2 and MAP families in the Netherlands. The resulting databases can be used for cancer risk analysis and risk modifier studies, which will be become part larger international initiatives as International Mismatch Repair Consortium (IMRC) and IMC International MUTYH Consortium (IMC).
• GENONCO: GENomics portal for precision medicine research in ONCOlogy
PI E. Cuppen, HMF
Funding granted: €1.600. 778
The aim of GENONCO is to create linkages between HMF data and other data resources and thus provide the researchers with easy access to multimodal and complementary data resources including the HMF genomic database. In this context, GENONCO will evolve around the FAIR data principles contributing to findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable data.
• CustoMICE: a facility for production and distribution of engineered mouse models for cancer research
PI: J. Jonkers, NKI
Funding granted: €866.548
CustoMICE aims at the generation and distribution of mouse models for basic and translational cancer research and immuno-oncology. In addition to the development of novel methods for mouse engineering and refinement of existent ones, CustoMICE will aim at improving the efficiency in mouse generation and thereby contributing to the 3Rs by methodology refinement and reduction in the number of animals.
• ProTRAIT: Proton therapy research infrastructure
PI: J. Langendijk, UMCG
Funding granted: €1.545.098
The aim of this infrastructure initiative is to develop and implement a national research infrastructure for radiotherapy-specific data of cancer patients who are treated with proton and photon irradiation. Further the IT infrastructure developed will streamline the use of clinical parameters, the assessment of radiation-induced complications and Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) at a national level.
• The BETER-REFLECT biobank: A REsource For studies on Late Effects of Cancer Treatment
PI: F. van Leeuwen, NKI
Funding granted: €938.338
The aim of the BETER-REFLECT Biobank is to establish a national biobank with biospecimens and related data from medical records and patients questionnaires of all the lymphoma survivors identified through the BETER Consortium.
• The development of a Dutch Hepatocellular Carcinoma Group (DHCG) national scientific database and biobanking
PI: M Coenraad, LUMC
Funding granted: €440.251
This infrastructure will enable research aimed at the development of new biomarkers for the detection of early hepatocellular carcinoma and the optimization of treatment strategies, by the development of a biobank and database.
• Netherlands Facility for Cancer-Immune Analysis (N-CIA)
PI: T. Schumacher, NKI
Funding granted: €3.648.008
This infrastructure initiative aims at providing a nationally accessible infrastructure for standardized analyses of a wide collection of parameters relevant to immune mediated tumour-control and therefore N-CIA will support the standardized sampling of tumour and blood of metastatic cancer patients.
Infrastructure Initiatives funded in the course of 2017