Developmental Research Program
Director: Andrew Futreal, Ph.D. Co-Director: Shreyaskumar Patel, M.D.
The purpose of the MD Anderson Sarcoma SPORE Developmental Research Program (DRP) is to identify and fund pilot research projects that have the potential to develop new methods to diagnose, treat and monitor sarcomas, with the ultimate goal of reducing incidence and mortality and increasing survival rates of patients with sarcomas.
The development of high-risk/high-reward projects is impossible without funds specifically allocated to encourage and develop such translational research projects. The Sarcoma SPORE DRP prioritizes the funding of high-risk/high-reward translational clinical and laboratory-based projects that can lead to clinically testable hypotheses. The requirement of a ¡°human endpoint¡± is waived for DRP projects; however, an overarching goal is to utilize DRP funds to collect the data necessary for proposing feasible ¡°human endpoint¡± studies. DRP pilot projects may be collaborative among scientists within the Sarcoma SPORE and outside the SPORE community. Successful DRP projects may replace full Sarcoma SPORE projects that are not progressing as expected or those projects that have been completed successfully.