The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the University of Minnesota will soon start collaborative research projects jointly developed by Indian and Minnesota researchers in the areas of cancer and diabetes. The researches will be in basic, translational or clinical research fields.

The research proposals in cancer should be in the areas such as tobacco cessation, lung cancer treatment, care of terminally ill cancer patients, tissue repositories, smokeless tobacco toxicity, lung cancer biomarkers, stem cell transplantation, breast cancer screening, mesothelioma, HLA typing in hematopoietic malignancie and surgical approaches to breast cancer.

The research proposals in diabetes should be in the areas such as expansion of existing registries, studies of registry subsets, genetic studies, internet surveys of obesity, obesity prevention, islet cell transplantation, prevention of diabetes, community-based interventions and any other based on mutual interest & expertise.

As per the terms of the proposal, the research proposals may be in basic, translational, or clinical research and must have two principal investigators, one researcher at an Indian medical school or research institution and one a faculty member at the University of Minnesota. Besides, the research proposals must demonstrate synergy between the two researchers, their teams, and their sites.

Meanwhile, the ICMR and the University of Minnesota have invited proposals from Indian and University of Minnesota scientists. Proposals should define both an immediate goal as well as, long-term goals. Long-term goals should be a translatable or implementable action to improve health. Long-term goals may also include exchanges between investigators / researchers, faculty, graduate students and/or post-doctoral fellows. Research proposals are encouraged to utilize existing databases and informatics technologies, as appropriate.

The University of Minnesota and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) intend to fund between two to four research proposals in 2010 in the amount of US$ 200,000 each, US$ 100,000 for each co-investigators portion of the project. Research teams will first submit a 10-15 page proposal simultaneously to the ICMR and University of Minnesota. Scientific review will be performed by the ICMR and by the University of Minnesota.

Funding decisions will be made after a joint discussion. Those approved jointly by ICMR and the University of Minnesota will then need to be approved by the Health Ministry Screening Committee (India). The primary criteria for funding will be innovation, research approach, and the importance of the research in addressing biomedical and healthcare problems of both countries.