CPRIT narrows some recruitment awards, approves 49 academic research grants

The oversight committee approved the Program Integration Committee’s recommendations for the academic research program—49 grant awards across eight slates—after hearing program staff detail priorities for fiscal year 2026 and 2027.

Doctor Hebert, presenting the academic research update, said the Scientific Review Council had recommended 32 individual investigator awards but budget constraints forced the PIC to recommend funding 28 of those at this time, totaling just over $25 million. Hebert described proposed policy adjustments intended to fund more investigators: a recommendation to reduce the cap on established investigator recruitment awards from $6 million to $4 million and (as an exception) a recommendation to fund one high‑profile recruit at $5 million given the candidate's stature. Hebert also proposed a July 15 acceptance deadline for recruitment awards so unaccepted funds could be repurposed during the fiscal cycle.

Committee members raised concerns about relocation costs and the possibility of missing major recruits if award sizes were reduced; Hebert said exceptions could be brought back to the oversight committee and pointed to institutional cost‑share expectations. Doctor Cummings and others advocated flexibility for extraordinary cases. The committee also discussed early‑onset cancer applications, which Hebert said had promising submissions but require further development and resubmissions given higher scientific risk and less preliminary data.

After discussion, the oversight committee voted to approve the academic research slates, delegated contract negotiation authority to the CEO/staff, and approved fiscal year 2026 and 2027 requests for applications as presented by staff. The approvals allow staff to negotiate contracts and proceed to execute awards under CPRIT’s standard contracting process.