Advancing Research
Research Funding Opportunities
Welcome! If you are a pediatric brain tumor researcher, clinician, or investigator, we invite you to learn about our Research Program, our funding model, research priorities, and current opportunities under this cycle’s 2026-2027 Request for Proposals (RFP).
- TUMOR TYPE/SUBTYPE Any pediatric brain tumor type/subtype
- RESEARCH PRIORITIES See Priority Objectives below for details
- LOI APPLICATION DEADLINE September 18, 2026
- FUNDING PERIOD One, two or three-year periods depending on scope and complexity of project
Download the 2026-2027 PBTF Research Program guide here.
Please note: Proposals without a clear data strategy will not be funded
For more than 35 years, the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation has worked at the intersection of research, family support, and advocacy – tumor-agnostic, institution-agnostic, and relentlessly committed to children and families throughout their entire journey.
We often describe our mission in three words: Care. Cure. Thrive. Research is the engine that powers all three. It has the potential to improve the care children receive today, deliver better treatments that help them live longer and thrive, and ultimately bring us closer to cures for every pediatric brain tumor.
Beginning in 2026, PBTF is shifting from funding individual, standalone projects to strategically building the shared data and infrastructure that unlocks better outcomes for children with brain tumors. Technology and computational approaches are now central to that strategy; every funded project must include a defined plan for how it applies AI/ML and contributes to the shared data ecosystem.
Every funded project must contribute to and draw from this shared, harmonized data ecosystem, and we thank our research community for its partnership in getting there. Throughout the year, the PBTF advances a diverse portfolio of research projects, programs and initiatives towards our mission to improve outcomes, including foundation-initiated challenge grants (RFPs), collaborative funding programs with like-minded organizations submitted through our website.
Three Pillars on a shared Data and Technology Foundation
Every project PBTF funds advances one or more of three research pillars, all resting on a foundational layer of shared Infrastructure, Data & Technology foundation. Topics are common across all three award levels and a project can touch more than one pillar.
- Precision Medicine: Diagnostics, real-time monitoring tools, drug delivery and blood brain barrier penetration, early detection, and biomarker discovery.
- Effective Therapies: Targeted and molecularly matched treatment, de-escalation strategies, in silico drug screening, combination and sequential therapies regimens.
- Survivorship and Longitudinal Outcomes: Late treatment effects, relapse detection and MRD monitoring, digital cognitive and quality-of-life outcomes, treatment de-escalation safety modeling.
Cross-cutting requirement build on Infrastructure, Data and Technology: Every proposal, regardless of pillar or award level, must demonstrate how it leverages and contributes to the shared pediatric brain tumor data ecosystem. This means generating data designed for reuse beyond the original study, meeting dbGaP (NIH) integration standards (complete, interpretable, and QC’d), specifying a data usage and mining strategy and approach to scaling across federated, multi-modal datasets, with comparison against traditional analytic approaches where relevant.
Our Research Program funds research across three tiers; each suited to a different stage of scientific maturity. Applicants self-identify the level that best matches the maturity of their science and the scope of their team.
| Idea Award | Impact Award | Innovation Award | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funding | $150K / year | $300K total | $600K total |
| Term | 1 year | Up to 2 years | Up to 3 years |
| Best fit for | Investigators applying AI/ML, computational modeling, or data science to existing federated datasets; also open to bold, first-in-field hypotheses from early-stage investigators or new directions. | Researchers with validated models or pipelines, and established teams with preliminary data, ready to scale toward clinical readiness. Early-career investigators with strong supporting data are also encouraged to apply. | Multi-site consortia pairing computational/data-science with clinical sites. Early-career investigators with strong supporting data are also encouraged to apply. |
| Proposals without a defined data strategy will not be funded | |||
Full application requirements are included in the Program Guide,
Applicant FAQ and Data Sharing & Repository Guide
Requirements, Process & Eligibility
Application Requirements
Every applicant, regardless of award tier, is required to include several universal application components, most notably:
- A data contribution and deposit plan that meets PBTF’s integration standards, describing what data your project will generate, how it meets our “research-ready” criteria (complete, interpretable, documented and QC’d), and your timeline for depositing it.
- An AI/ML integration plan, describing the methods you’ll use (including de novo models), your validation strategy where applicable, and how your approach scales across federated, multi-modal dataset.
Two-Stage Submission Process
- All applicants are required to first submit a pre-proposal (Letter of Intent) through ProposalCentral and, if invited, then a full application. If your project involves patient-derived data, the LOI stage only requires you to confirm that your consent supports broad data sharing; the fully executed Institutional Certification isn’t due until your full proposal or award, giving your institution time to complete that process.
- All submissions undergo an administrative and scientific review by PBTF’s Research Advisory Network (RAN), with data and technology components reviewed by the Technology Advisory Network (TAN).
- Review considers alignment with our research pillars, award tier fit, and data/technology requirements. Funding recommendation by our expert scientific advisory network. Following which selections are made by the Research Advisory Committee (RAC), with final approval from the PBTF Executive Committee and Board.
Funding Eligibility
Before applying, review the eligibility requirements below. PBTF welcomes applications from investigators at any career stage, institution, or geography who can meet the data-sharing and integration standards described in our Research Program Guide.
- Principal Investigators at academic, medical, or research institutions in the U.S. and internationally are eligible.
- Career-stage requirements may vary by award mechanism; early-career investigators are encouraged to apply under all award mechanisms.
- Industry partnerships are permitted and encouraged when they demonstrably accelerate translation; industry may not serve as the prime applicant.
- Applicants proposing to generate patient-derived data must confirm at the LOI stage that existing or planned participant consent supports broad data sharing (General Research Use, without restrictive Data Use Limitations). Projects that cannot meet this requirement may not advance to full proposal review.
- All applicants must commit to the data sharing, deposition, and integration requirements described in the Research Program Guide. At the LOI stage, this means only a concise overview of your proposed data strategy, covering how you’ll use existing data resources, your plan for depositing the data your project generates, and your approach to technology integration; the full, detailed plan is only required if you’re invited to submit a full proposal.
- PBTF maintains a tumor-, institution-, and researcher-agnostic posture: prior PBTF funding neither advantages nor disadvantages an application.
Full detail on all required components are available in the Grant Program Guide, RFP Announcement and Data Sharing & Repository Guide
Full application requirements are included in the Program Guide,
Applicant FAQ and Data Sharing & Repository Guide
Full application requirements are included in the Program Guide,
Applicant FAQ and Data Sharing & Repository Guide
The traditional model — write a check to one laboratory and hope it turns into a medicine — hasn't kept pace with how complex pediatric brain tumor biology actually is, or with what it now costs to translate a lab discovery into an approved therapy. What we're building instead is the data infrastructure and AI models that let us pull the maximum value out of the clinical and research data our field has already generated. Dollar for dollar, that gives every child a better shot at impact than funding one more lab in isolation.Sam Blackman, Research & Technology Advisory Network, PBTF
