Cancer Research KI-Mayo Clinic CCC Annual Pilot Collaborative Call for Applications to Support Cancer Research

The 2026 Cancer Research KI–Mayo Clinic CCC Annual Pilot Collaborative Call seeks collaborative proposals in breast cancer, solid tumors, and hematologic malignancies, drawing on the combined expertise from both institutions. This call supports high‑risk, high‑impact projects with strong translational potential, providing up to two years of funding for teams expected to deliver impactful publications and competitive follow‑on grants.

Overview

The Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center (MCCCC) and Cancer Research Karolinska Institutet (CRKI) are pleased to announce the 2026 Request for Applications (RFA) within the areas of breast cancer, other solid tumors, and hematologic malignancies with a submission deadline of April 6, 2026.

The Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center (MCCCC) and Cancer Research Karolinska Institutet (CRKI) have created a unique collaborative international network focused on innovative science and translation and are in an excellent position to leverage this relationship to make a global impact on cancer through research focusing on innovative scientific discovery and/or the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer. In 2026, these collaborative efforts will support up to 3 projects.

Objective

The objective of this funding is to initiate and further enhance collaborative research endeavours in the cancer area between Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center (MCCCC) and Cancer Research Karolinska Institutet (CRKI).

We seek highly innovative approaches that may involve considerable scientific risk, but which may potentially lead to a breakthrough in a particular area, or to the development of new techniques, agents, methodologies, models, and applications that could have a major impact on cancer research and patient outcomes. It is expected that support via this program will lead to impactful publications, discoveries and targeted submission of subsequent extramural peer-reviewed grants seeking support from other sources. These will be the metrics of success for this grant award program, and regular followup with the investigators will be done to ensure progress.

Funding

Up to three (3) individual projects will be awarded for one year with a second year of funding contingent on satisfactory progress in the first year. Project investigators may request up to $100,000 (total cost) for the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center (MCCCC) component ($50,000/year for 2 years) and up to 1 MSEK for the Cancer Research Karolinska Institutet (CRKI) component (500,000 SEK/year for 2 years) per project. Indirect costs are included in the total award. Funding for this RFA is through established philanthropic support at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center and Cancer Research Karolinska Institutet (CRKI).

Key dates

Application submission deadline Sweden: 23:59 on April 6, 2026
Application submission deadline Rochester, MN, USA: 5:00 pm (CT) on April 6, 2026
Award announcements: June 17, 2026
Award period: July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2028

For more information, please read the full call text below.

Submission

Please send your application as a single pdf file named "Mayo_CRKI collaboration call_first name_last name" to mcccccrkicollab@mayo.edu and cancerresearchki@ki.se by the deadlines stated above.