Developmental Research Program - Abstract The UNC Breast Cancer SPORE Developmental Research Program (DRP) has promoted novel breast cancer research across the population, translational, and clinical arenas. This highly successful Program includes mechanisms for stimulating grant applications, rigorously evaluating proposals, selecting projects with advocate input, and monitoring progress. A new component will specifically solicit and evaluate DRP proposals from underrepresented in medicine (URIM) faculty including those from our two historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) partners. Shelton Earp, MD, who has led this program since its inception in 1992 will continue to oversee the DRP with process and evaluation with assistance from Marjory Charlot, MD, MPH, MSc, LCCC Assistant Director of Community Outreach and Engagement (COE), David Darr, MBA, MSc, LCCC Associate Director for Administration, and Victoria Doyle SPORE Administrator. Application mechanisms include both regular competitive awards as well as rapidly emerging opportunities. Evaluation and selection processes include a well-established, independent peer review that includes patient advocates and LCCC COE Community Advisors. The SPORE Multi-PIs, with input from the Executive Committee, make final decisions regarding selection and budget. During the last cycle, we expanded formal solicitation to other UNC system universities, including our U54 HBCU partner, NC Central University, the other public medical school in NC at East Carolina University, and two STEM-focused partner institutions, NC State University, and more recently NC Agriculture & Technical State University (NC A&T), the US’s largest historically Black institution. The program has increased in the past decade due to increased institutional commitment. In this next cycle, this commitment will total $225,000 yearly, the current commitment of $200,000 with an additional $25,000 to match the new SPORE increment for grants to URIM applicants. This allows a robust twice-yearly solicitation for competitive DRP awards across UNC and our sister UNC System universities. UNC Lineberger’s commitment to the Breast SPORE goes beyond this, with the Multi-PIs and Cancer Center investing directly in major programs (e.g., CBCS Phase 4), infrastructures (tripling of the size of the cellular therapy GMP facility) and technology (a new NovaSeq and the recent COSMx purchase). The Multi-PIs co-conceptualize the emerging investments with the needs of CEP recruits in mind. Since the last renewal, the program funded thirty projects, initiating two renewal full SPORE projects as well as seeding preliminary research yielding extramural funding from non-SPORE sources and important publications. In this renewal, we are requesting a $75,000 DRP budget to include the $25,000 yearly for research by URIM faculty; our CEP efforts have recruited eight URIM faculty whose research programs we wish to develop.