PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT CCSG Developmental Funds are a vital mechanism for furthering the strategic mission and vision of the Markey Cancer Center (MCC) through pilot funding to MCC members and support of emerging Shared Resource Facilities. During the current funding period, Developmental Funds helped support 17 basic, clinical, population and translational cancer research pilot projects from MCC’s Molecular and Cellular Oncology, Cancer Prevention and Control, and Translational Oncology Research Programs, stimulating a high return on investment of $15.16 per CCSG dollar. These projects have fostered five new extramurally funded grants and have opened clinical trials that accrued 241 new participants. In close alignment with MCC’s scientific direction, 14 of the 17 projects are on topics that correspond to the center’s FY19-23 Research Priorities for the current funding period. Outside of the routine CCSG pilot award process, MCC also elected to use Developmental Funds to support two interdisciplinary teams of researchers who ultimately successfully applied for a CCSG Supplement designed to foster the development of multiproject research programs. Developmental Funds were also invested in two developing Shared Resource Facilities (Oncogenomics and Patient-Oriented and Population Sciences), which have supported research projects from all three MCC programs, and after careful annual evaluation, have been approved by the MCC Director’s Council as fully functioning resources presented as such in this CCSG application. Leveraged with philanthropic investment and institutional support, Developmental Funds will also be strategically allocated during the upcoming funding period to address two Specific Aims: 1) Cultivate innovative and collaborative science through the use of pilot grants in areas that align with MCC’s FY24-28 Strategic Plan and Research Priorities and reflect the scientific aims of MCC’s three Research Programs; and 2) Foster deeper collaboration across the UK campus through strategic partnerships to fund innovative pilot awards and ensuring the continuation of community input through the CCSG pilot review process. To achieve these aims, MCC requests $150,000 per year in Developmental Funds, allowing the center to achieve several key objectives outlined in the Strategic Plan, including fostering research that aligns with its research priorities, expanding transdisciplinary opportunities for research teams, and increasing clinical studies that are informed by MCC basic research. MCC will also continue partnerships with other major research centers across campus, allowing cancer research to have an impact far beyond what MCC alone can achieve, and will foster the maturity of a new process by which Community Advisory Board members directly contribute to the CCSG pilot reviews, allowing community input to inform and influence funding decisions.