The challenge of funding research on rare malignancies.

I n a funding climate where funding research for the most prevalent malignancies such as breast and colorectal cancers is already highly competitive, researchers working on rare malignancies such as myelofibrosis or soft-tissue sarcomas face an even bigger challenge. Hundreds of cancers meet the criterion for a rare disease: a prevalence of less than 200,000 in the U.S. And researchers of these diseases are all reaching into the same pot for funding support, which can make for a mean competition. Just ask Ross Levine , M.D., an associate member at Memorial Sloan – Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Levine ’ s lab conducts research into the genetics of hematopoietic malignancies, particularly acute and chronic myeloid leukemia. Unlike many of his rare-disease colleagues, Levine has obtained Research Project (R01) grants, the primary form of funding of health-related research from the National Institutes of Health. But that is never enough. “A large part of my effort, like all of my colleagues doing laboratory research, has been in identifying other sources of funding to supplement the federal funding we get,” he said. “It ’ s very diffi cult to predict success for any individual grant application. I think that ’ s why most of us have increased the number of applications we write for peer-reviewed funding.”