Precision Approaches in Radiation Synthetic Combinations (PAIRS, RP1 Clinical Trial Optional)
Status: Open
Posted date: March 3, 2026
Opportunity ID: 361399
Opportunity number: PAR-26-152
Opportunity category: Discretionary
Agency name: National Institutes of Health
Agency code: HHS-NIH11
Award floor: $0
Award ceiling: $0
Cost sharing required: No
Funding Instrument Types
- Grant
Category of Funding Activity
- Health
Eligible Applicants
- City or township governments
- County governments
- For-profit organizations other than small businesses
- Independent school districts
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Others
- Private institutions of higher education
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities
- Small businesses
- Special district governments
- State governments
Categories (use these for quoted searches)
- agency_code:hhs_nih11
- category_of_funding_activity:health
- cost_sharing_or_matching_requirement:false
- eligible_applicants:city_or_township_governments
- eligible_applicants:county_governments
- eligible_applicants:for_profit_organizations_other_than_small_businesses
- eligible_applicants:independent_school_districts
- eligible_applicants:native_american_tribal_governments_federally_recognized
- eligible_applicants:native_american_tribal_organizations_other_than_federally_recognized_tribal_governments
- eligible_applicants:nonprofits_having_a_501_c_3_status_with_the_irs_other_than_institutions_of_higher_education
- eligible_applicants:nonprofits_that_do_not_have_a_501_c_3_status_with_the_irs_other_than_institutions_of_higher_education
- eligible_applicants:others
- eligible_applicants:private_institutions_of_higher_education
- eligible_applicants:public_and_state_controlled_institutions_of_higher_education
- eligible_applicants:public_housing_authoritiesindian_housing_authorities
- eligible_applicants:small_businesses
- eligible_applicants:special_district_governments
- eligible_applicants:state_governments
- funding_instrument_type:grant
- opportunity_category:discretionary
- status:open
Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) solicits research projects that investigate actionable synthetic vulnerabilities that can be conditionally paired with tumor responses to radiation therapy. The goal of the Precision Approaches in Radiation Synthetic Combinations (PAIRS) program is to develop radiation-synthetic combination strategies and facilitate their adoption into the precision medicine toolkit toward building new and effective anticancer treatments. Early synthetic lethality–based therapeutic strategies in oncology primarily focused on targeting fixed mutations or genomic abnormalities. More recently, however, it has become clear that clinical benefit is often determined by context-dependent vulnerabilities arising from the intrinsic mutational landscape and adaptive tumor responses.This NOFO is unique in its scope, supporting innovative cancer therapy strategies that explicitly exploit context-dependent effects of radiation therapy (RT) using drug-radiation combinations. The central premise of the PAIRS is that these conditional RT-induced responses can be leveraged to create or enhance actionable vulnerabilities that synergize with molecularly targeted agents for better outcomes. A defining feature of PAIRS is its emphasis on precision, scientific rigor, and reproducibility, aligned with NIH’s scientific priorities. Radiation effects are clinically titratable through advances in delivery accuracy and flexibility, including dose, schedule, and spatial targeting. These capabilities enable the rational design of conditional RT-synthetic combination strategies that preferentially exploit tumor-specific essentialities while sparing normal tissues, thereby enhancing the therapeutic index by optimizing biological response. This NOFO consolidates the prior exploratory/developmental and research project funding opportunities to streamline the application process and maintain momentum in developing approaches that target actionable vulnerabilities within the defined radiation research scope. The applicants may submit either for exploratory/developmental research projects with a project period of up to 2 years or for research projects with a project period of 4 to 5 years.