SIGN'IT 2025: Signatures in Immunotherapy Grant

Grant opportunity

Application deadline: 18 Mar 2025

Institute: ARC Foundation
Country: France
More information: https://www.fondation-arc.org/projets/aides-doctorales-medico-scientifiques

Building on the success of its first six editions, the ARC Foundation is relaunching the SIGN'IT (Signatures in Immunotherapy) call for projects.

The objective of the SIGN'IT call for projects (AAP) is to mobilize French skills around original projects in the field of immunotherapy on complex questions relating to the identification of signatures which will guide therapeutic decisions and, at best, select patients likely to benefit from these treatments.

In light of the latest advances in the field, and in particular the results of the projects supported by SIGN'IT, the ARC Foundation has decided to go further in supporting the development of signatures in immunotherapy. In 2025, the SIGN'IT call for proposals is renewed and evolves, now integrating 2 axes: an axis dedicated to the identification of response signatures to immunotherapy (Axis 1), as well as a new axis dedicated to the clinical validation (Axis 2) of response signatures.

In the context of this AAP :
- Immunotherapy (IT) is defined as a therapeutic strategy aimed at (re)activating the anti-tumour functions of the immune system;
- The notion of signature is understood as an indicator or a combination of several indicators (clinical, biological, immunological, genetic, epigenetic, anatomopathological, imaging, etc.) making it possible to predict the response of a tumour to the immunotherapy studied and to support the therapeutic decision.
- Cancer patients must be treated with immunotherapy(s), including cell therapy, either as monotherapy or in combination. In the case of combination therapy, the immunotherapy studied may be combined with other immunotherapy(ies) or treatment(s) (radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, etc.).

This call for proposals is divided into 2 parts:
- Axis 1: projects aimed at identifying signatures of response to IT.
- Axis 2: projects aimed at clinically validating IT response signatures.

Eligibility criteria for both axes.

• Unless otherwise specified, the application must be written entirely in English.
• The application must be submitted by the project leader, who will be the coordinator recognised by the teams associated with the project. The leader undertakes to commit themself fully to setting up and monitoring the project.
• The project leader must hold a permanent position in a French hospital, university or research establishment; failing this, the project leader must provide proof of a temporary position covering the period of the grant applied for.
• As project leader, a researcher may only submit one project from the two SIGN'IT 2025 axes.
• The ARC Foundation's Label Programmes 2025 and SIGN'IT 2025 calls for projects are open simultaneously. As a project leader, the same researcher can only apply to one of the two calls for projects.
• Particular attention will be paid to the participation of a project leader as a partner in one or more other projects, in order to verify the overall feasibility of the project.
• Each of the teams involved in the application must belong to a public research organisation (university, EPST, EPIC, etc.), a non-profit organisation (associations, foundations, etc.) or a public health establishment.
• The participation of foreign and/or private partners is possible as long as they provide their own funding for the project.

Project duration and funding

AXIS 1 - signature identification:
Funding is awarded for a period of 24 or 36 months.
The maximum amount that may be requested is €600,000.

AXIS 2 - signature validation:
Funding is granted for a period of 36, 48 or 60 months.
The maximum amount that can be requested is €1,000,000.

The deadline to submit your application is 14:00 CET on 18 March 2015. Click the link above to read the full call and start your application!

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