In keeping with our mission, the LCRF grant program provides funding for research into the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure of lung cancer. Our funding mechanisms are designed to fund innovative projects across a variety of diverse topics and to support the careers of talented scientists. To learn about research that has been previously funded by LCRF, please visit the Our Investigators section. Information for investigators seeking funding for research, including an overview of our funding mechanisms and any current requests for proposals, can be found below. For questions about our grants, please contact us at grants@LCRF.org.
Open Requests for Proposals
2026 LCRF Award on Advancing Breakthroughs in ALK-Positive Lung Cancer
Over 500,000 patients with ALK-positive NSCLC are living worldwide. It is of vital importance that there is a better understanding of the biology of ALK-positive lung cancer as well as the mechanism of tumor response and resistance. Given that therapeutic options available to date are not curative, there is a need for novel approaches to treat ALK-positive lung cancers. This grant mechanism will focus on the science behind ALK rearrangements as oncogenic drivers of malignancy and/or the development of novel therapeutic approaches for patients with ALK-positive lung cancer.
Work supported through this mechanism will address important mechanistic questions and developmental therapeutics across the care continuum and has the potential to increase survivorship. Given the specific interest in the development of novel therapies that could benefit this group of patients in the relatively near- term, a clinical trial should potentially result from this research. Proposals for this grant should include a program of correlative, translational research that will enhance the understanding of ALK-driven lung cancers.
We encourage applications on a wide variety of topics related to ALK-positive lung cancer, including but not limited to the following:
- Early Progression & Metastatic Patterns
- Understanding why some ALK-positive lung cancers progress more rapidly
- Investigating the role of leptomeningeal disease
- Impact of Co-Mutations and ALK Variants
- Effects of additional mutations (e.g., MET) on tumor biology and treatment resistance
- Differential treatment responses across ALK variants
- Tumor Microenvironment
- Approaches to reprogram or modulate the tumor microenvironment to enhance immune activity
- Metabolic Vulnerabilities
- Identifying metabolic pathways essential for ALK-positive tumor survival
- Strategies to improve immunotherapy efficacy or stimulate immune recognition of ALK-positive tumors
- Novel Therapies Beyond TKIs
- Development of vaccines, cell therapies, and other innovative therapeutic approaches
These awards provide a maximum of $300,000 in funding over a period of two years. It is preferable that the proposal be associated with a clinical trial, either ongoing or planned as a result of the project(s). For full details, eligibility criteria, and application instructions, please refer to the request for proposals.
Applications will be submitted through a two-step process consisting of a Letter of Intent (LOI) and full proposal. Applicants whose LOI submission is reviewed favorably will be invited to complete a full proposal. Applicants may only apply for one LCRF grant per grant cycle.
LOI submission deadline is midnight on July 15, 2026. The full proposal submission deadline is September 29, 2026.
2026 LCRF | AstraZeneca Research Award on Strategies Towards Improving the Treatment of Small Cell Lung Cancer
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) represents 13-15% of lung cancer cases with a 5-year survival rate of less than 7%. In the past two decades, there have been significant advances in the treatment of NSCLC, especially with the discovery of targeted therapy directed toward specific oncogene abnormalities in subgroups of NSCLC. Unfortunately, SCLC is a very different disease, and there has been a veritable drought in both the understanding of the biology of SCLC and advancements in treatment.
Considering that scientists are just scratching the surface when it comes to understanding the biology of SCLC and given that most therapeutic options available to date are usually not curative, there is a need for novel approaches to treat SCLC and improve outcomes for patients with the ultimate intention of cure. This grant mechanism will focus on furthering the development of novel strategies towards improving the treatment of SCLC.
Work supported through this mechanism will address important areas of need across the entire care continuum and have the immediate potential to increase survivorship. It is expected that correlative translational research will be proposed that will enhance the understanding of SCLC.
The overarching theme of the proposals should be centered around understanding the biology of SCLC and developing strategies toward improving outcomes for patients with SCLC. We will encourage applications on a wide variety of topics related to SCLC, including but not limited to the following:
- Advanced Screening and Diagnostic Technologies
- Utilize liquid biopsies and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to enhance early detection and monitoring of SCLC, providing non-invasive diagnostic and prognostic solutions
- Investigate the clinical utility of blood-based biomarkers for improving SCLC diagnosis, monitoring treatment response, and predicting outcomes
- Leverage artificial intelligence for the early detection of SCLC
- Disease Progression and Acquired Resistance
- Study of molecular + clinical characteristics of rapid progressors vs. long-term responders in SCLC to tailor personalized treatment approaches
- Leverage radiomics to identify predictive or prognostic factors such as treatment response, risk of pneumonitis, and likelihood of brain metastases
- Investigate the underlying mechanisms of primary and acquired resistance to chemotherapy and immunotherapy in SCLC
- Identify and validate biomarkers indicative of disease progression and/or therapeutic resistance
- Biomarkers and Immuno-Oncology
- Identify and validate biomarkers that can predict greater responses to immunotherapy treatments in SCLC, enhancing patient selection and treatment efficacy
- Biospecimen-based research
- Leverage real-world patient tissue and/or blood samples to enable:
- Longitudinal studies of SCLC progression from limited-stage to extensive-stage disease
- Investigation of tumor and microenvironmental changes before, during, and after treatment to understand the evolution of resistance
- Develop a centralized infrastructure for biospecimen collection, with standardized protocols and accessible repositories to facilitate broad research collaboration
- Leverage real-world patient tissue and/or blood samples to enable:
These awards provide a maximum of $500,000 in funding over a period of three years.
Applications will be submitted through a two-step process consisting of a Letter of Intent (LOI) and full proposal. Applicants whose LOI submission is reviewed favorably will be invited to complete a full proposal. Applicants may only apply for one LCRF grant per grant cycle.
LOI submission deadline is July 15, 2026. The full proposal submission deadline is October 5, 2026.
2026 LCRF | AstraZeneca Research Award on Strategies Using Patient Advocacy to Improve Outcomes in Small Cell Lung Cancer
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) represents 13-15% of lung cancer cases with a 5-year survival rate of less than 7%. In the past two decades, there have been significant advances in the treatment of NSCLC, especially with the discovery of targeted therapy directed toward specific oncogene abnormalities in subgroups of NSCLC. Unfortunately, SCLC is a very different disease, and there has been a veritable drought in both the understanding of the biology of SCLC and advancements in treatment.
Patient advocacy is crucial in advancing health care, research activities, and health care policy. Advocacy can take many forms anywhere from individual efforts to more organized group participation. Patient advocacy can support a cause, idea, or policy through knowledge acquisition and sharing, personal contact, or organized activities, and is essential for achieving support to make progress against the disease.
This grant mechanism will focus on furthering the development of strategies towards improving the outcomes of SCLC patients through patient advocacy. Work supported through this mechanism will address important areas of need across the entire care continuum and have the immediate potential to increase research efforts, quality of life and survivorship.
The overarching theme of the proposals should be centered around using patient advocacy as a tool to develop strategies toward improving outcomes for patients with SCLC. We will encourage applications on a wide variety of topics related to SCLC, including but not limited to the following:
- Patient-Centric Care Models
- Develop and implement care models that prioritize patient needs and preferences, integrating innovative approaches from diagnosis through survivorship
- Advanced Screening and Diagnostic Technologies
- Create comprehensive survivorship care plans addressing long-term healthcare needs, focusing on follow-up care, monitoring for recurrence, and managing chronic side effects
- Access and Equity
- Investigate barriers to accessing quality care, clinical trials, screening and biomarker testing for SCLC patients and purpose solutions to ensure equitable healthcare delivery for diverse populations
- Technology Integration
- Explore the use of digital health tools and technologies to facilitate better patient-provider interactions, personalized care, and continuous monitoring during the care continuum
- Patient Feedback Mechanisms
- Establish robust feedback systems to gather patient insights and experiences and use this data to inform continuous improvements in care delivery, diagnostic technologies, treatment approaches, clinical protocols and accessible repositories to facilitate broad research collaboration
The 2026 Strategies Using Patient Advocacy to Improve Outcomes in Small Cell Lung Cancer will grant a minimum of one award of $250,000 for a period two years ($125,000 per year).
Applicants may only apply for one LCRF grant per grant cycle.
LOI submission deadline is July 15, 2026. The full proposal submission deadline is October 5, 2026.
Selection process underway
2026 LCRF Research Grant on Prevention and Early Detection in Lung Cancer
Given the significance and need for early detection of lung cancer and advancements in molecular screening, LCRF continues to offer a funding mechanism to support research projects that facilitate prevention or approaches for early detection of lung cancer. Work supported through this mechanism addresses important questions in non-small cell and small cell lung cancer.
This funding mechanism is focused on identifying, characterizing, and developing approaches and techniques that will allow early detection and/or prevention of lung cancer and gaining insight into pre-neoplastic processes in the lungs. The ultimate goal is to detect lung cancer at the earliest stages and subsequently increase survival and survivorship. While this list is not exclusive, general areas of interest include:
- Improvements in risk stratification of patients and uptake for screening
- Identification and characterization of new biomarkers for NSCLC and SCLC
- Development of predictive, diagnostic, or prognostic biomarkers
- Liquid biopsy assays and related techniques
- Genomic and histological approaches to improve early detection in tissue samples
- Novel imaging and computational modalities to identify and risk stratify pre-neoplastic lesions
- Implementation science with systematic uptake of evidence-based research findings into routine practices to improve quality and effectiveness of health services for early detection
- Studies of pre-neoplasia and progression to lung neoplasia to inform prevention strategies
- Development of pathways to increase uptake and utilization of lung cancer screening
- Epidemiology studies to identify risk factors and implementation of prevention measures
- Development of any new technologies that will aid in identifying early-stage lung cancers
These awards provide a maximum of $150,000 in funding over a period of two years. Investigators must be affiliated with a non-profit academic or research institution and must be post-doctoral researchers, clinical fellows, or early-career and mid-career investigators with less than seven years’ experience since their initial faculty appointment. For full details, eligibility criteria, and application instructions, please refer to the request for proposals.
Applications will be submitted through a two-step process consisting of a Letter of Intent (LOI) and full proposal. Applicants whose LOI submission is reviewed favorably will be invited to complete a full proposal. Applicants may only apply for one LCRF grant per grant cycle.
LOI submission deadline was March 10, 2026. Applicants were notified of their status on April 28, 2026, and the full proposal submission deadline was June 2, 2026.
2026 LCRF Research Grant on Overcoming Resistance in Lung Cancer
In 2026, this grant mechanism will focus on furthering the understanding of the development, prevention, and therapy of resistance by supporting projects that seek to identify, characterize, treat or prevent resistance to lung cancer therapies. Work supported through this mechanism will address important mechanistic questions and developmental therapeutics across histological subtypes of lung cancer (including lung adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and small cell lung cancer) and across the care continuum including newly designed targeted therapies and immunotherapies. These studies will enhance the momentum of improving lung cancer outcomes and have the potential to increase survivorship.
We encourage applications on a wide variety of topics related to understanding and/or overcoming resistance including but not limited to:
- Mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapies for oncogene-driven lung cancers. Proposals are encouraged in the areas of histological transformation, oligometastatic disease, oligo-remnant disease, uncommon mutations and non-genomic mechanisms of resistance.
- Biology and mechanisms of drug resistance to lung cancer therapies including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, and antibody drug conjugates.
- Novel treatment approaches and new therapies to overcome and/or prevent resistance to lung cancer therapies.
- Novel diagnostic approaches (i.e. biomarkers) to monitor treatment response and relapse.
- Overcoming resistance in difficult to treat sites of metastases such as leptomeningeal and brain metastases.
These awards provide a maximum of $150,000 in funding over a period of two years. Investigators must be affiliated with a non-profit academic or research institution and must be post-doctoral researchers, clinical fellows, or early-career and mid-career investigators with less than seven years’ experience since their initial faculty appointment. For full details, eligibility criteria, and application instructions, please refer to the request for proposals.
Applications will be submitted through a two-step process consisting of a Letter of Intent (LOI) and full proposal. Applicants whose LOI submission is reviewed favorably will be invited to complete a full proposal. Applicants may only apply for one LCRF grant per grant cycle.
LOI submission deadline was March 10, 2026. Applicants were notified of their status on April 28, 2026, and the full proposal submission deadline was June 2, 2026.
2026 LCRF Leading Edge Research Grant Program
Lung cancer continues to be the number one cause of cancer deaths worldwide, accounting for an estimated 125,070 deaths annually in the United States alone. Despite being the most common cancer killer of both men and women, lung cancer research remains critically underfunded. To help close this gap and improve outcomes, the goal of the LCRF Leading Edge Research Grant Program is to fund innovative projects across the full spectrum of basic, translational, clinical, epidemiological, health services, disparities, and social determinants of health research. The 2026 LCRF Leading Edge Research Grant Program will provide $150,000 over a period of two years for projects including but not limited to the following topics:
- Lung cancer biology
- Identification of new biomarkers
- Machine learning and digital pathology
- Development of more effective and less toxic therapies including but not limited to targeted and immune-therapies
- Genetic and gene-environment interactions
- Interactions and contributions of multiple factors (e.g. smoking, genetics, environment, societal factors) to disparities in lung cancer outcomes
- Mechanism of Antibody Drug Conjugates
- Novel approaches to immunotherapy such as bispecific antibodies, vaccines, cellular therapies etc.
- Bioengineering approaches to understanding and/or treating lung cancer (i.e., theranostics, biomaterials, nanotechnology, controlled-drug release, and gene therapy)
- Supportive measures for people with lung cancer and their families, such as palliative care and telemedicine
- Identification of metabolic vulnerabilities in lung cancer
These awards provide a maximum of $150,000 in funding over a period of two years. Investigators must be affiliated with a non-profit academic or research institution and must be post-doctoral researchers, clinical fellows, or early-career and mid-career investigators with less than seven years’ experience since their initial faculty appointment. For full details, eligibility criteria, and application instructions, please refer to the request for proposals.
Applications will be submitted through a two-step process consisting of a Letter of Intent (LOI) and full proposal. Applicants whose LOI submission is reviewed favorably will be invited to complete a full proposal. Applicants may only apply for one LCRF grant per grant cycle.
LOI submission deadline was March 10, 2026. Applicants were notified of their status on April 28, 2026, and the full proposal submission deadline was June 2, 2026.
OUCH-Int’l and LCRF Research Grant Program on the Effects of Air Pollution and Climate Change on Carcinogenesis and Lung Cancer Prevalence
Increasing evidence indicates that air pollution is a major cause of lung cancer, and the number of estimated lung cancer deaths attributable to air pollution has increased by nearly 30% since 2007, as smoking has decreased and air pollution has increased. OUCH-Int’l and LCRF Research Grant Program on the Effects of Air Pollution and Climate Change on Carcinogenesis and Lung Cancer Prevalence is a two-year award supporting investigators at any level in their career. This award’s objective is to fund innovative projects to support research that examines the impact of climate change and environmental pollution on lung cancer risk, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes and identifies strategies to mitigate these effects.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Impact of climate change on cancer incidence and prevalence
- Role of screening for lung cancer in a warming climate, particularly in never-smokers or anyone who falls outside of the screening guidelines
- Understanding the impact of extreme weather events on lung cancer prevalence and outcomes (e.g., extreme weather events, severe heat, access to care, etc.)
- Investigations into the role of air pollution and lung cancer in never-smokers
- Research focused on the effects and interactions of environmental carcinogens and ways to mitigate their impact
- Research into the mechanisms by which PM2.5 and other environmental carcinogens cause lung cancer
These awards provide a maximum of $200,000 in funding over a period of two years. Applicants may be at any level in their career; post-doctoral researchers; clinical fellows; or early-, mid-, or senior career investigators are eligible to apply. Applications from US-based and international organizations are welcome and may hold any residency/citizenship status. For complete details, eligibility criteria, and application instructions, please refer to the request for proposals.
Applicants may only apply for one LCRF grant per grant cycle.
Full proposal submission deadline was June 2, 2026. Awardees will be notified in November 2026.