DEVELOPMENTAL FUNDS: PROJECT SUMMARY Developmental Funds are critical to promote synergistic, collaborative research that is aligned with the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) strategic plan and fueled by our Catchment Area. The HICCC continues to utilize Developmental Funds in a strategic manner, facilitating high-priority research with high probability of external grant funding, fostering the research careers of junior investigators, facilitating team science, increasing translational and clinical research, and promoting new research areas relevant to the Catchment Area. During the project period, HICCC invested a total of $4.4M in 39 pilot projects. Of this total, $856,000 in Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) Developmental Funds funded 14 pilot projects. These projects have led to $15.3M in external grant funding, a nearly 18-fold return on investment. From 2017 to 2019, HICCC also funded 15 pilots using $2.1M non-CCSG funds made possible through philanthropy and industry funding. A new funding partnership in 2019, with the Emerson Collective Cancer Research Fund, provided an additional $1.44M which funded nine high-risk, high-reward projects in its first year. Lastly, $17M in non-CCSG Developmental Funds, derived from a combination of institutional, philanthropic, and industry funds, were used for Shared Resources. In this application, the HICCC requests $300,000 per year in Developmental Funds, an increase of $123,000 per year and 7% of the total CCSG budget request (direct costs). These funds will be utilized to meet the following interrelated Specific Aims: (1) Award pilot projects to HICCC investigators to promote team science, high risk/high reward ideas, junior investigators, and pre-clinical and clinical concepts; (2) Invest in Shared Resources in order to support leading-edge research and priorities set forth in the 2019-2025 strategic plan; and (3) Support the planning of multi-investigator grants (e.g. P01, U01/U54, SPOREs) that aim to foster transdisciplinary collaboration.