Opportunity Overview
The Florida Department of Health is currently accepting full applications for the Fiscal Year 2026-27 Live Like Bella Pediatric Cancer Research Initiative, part of the Biomedical Research Advisory Council grant portfolio. The program supports peer reviewed pediatric cancer research intended to expand Florida research capacity, improve research and treatment through pediatric clinical trial participation, and reduce the impact and burden of pediatric cancer on Floridians.
Important applicant gate: the required Letter of Intent deadline has already passed. Addendum I moved the LOI deadline to September 2, 2026 at noon ET. Only applicants that timely submitted the required LOI may proceed to the current full application phase. This listing therefore does not authorize new cold applicant outreach to organizations that did not submit an LOI.
Funding and Deadline
Live Like Bella grant categories include High Risk, High Reward Clinical Trials up to $300,000 for 48 months; Multicenter Clinical Trials up to $900,000 for 48 months; Discovery Science up to $250,000 for 36 months; Emerging Therapeutics and Technologies up to $600,000 for 36 months; High Risk, High Reward Discovery Science up to $125,000 for 36 months; New Investigator Research up to $300,000 for 36 months; Non Typical Clinical Trials or Socio Behavioral Research up to $250,000 for 36 months; Equipment up to $100,000 for 12 months; and Bridge funding up to $100,000 for six months.
Addendum I controls the current application schedule. Full applications are due October 21, 2026 at noon ET. Applications must be submitted through the Department’s online biomedical research application system before the deadline.
Eligibility
Biomedical research applications may be submitted by Florida based universities or established research institutes. Grant funded work and spending generally must occur in Florida. The applicant must designate a principal investigator who is an employee of the applicant, meets the institution’s PI criteria, and is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Collaborators and consortium partners are permitted subject to the FOA requirements.
For the Live Like Bella Initiative, the proposed research must demonstrate a close relationship to advancing progress toward cures for pediatric cancer or dramatically improving pediatric cancer morbidity and mortality. A required LOI had to be submitted by the controlling September 2 deadline before a full application can be accepted.
Budget, Procurement, and Required Materials
Subcontracts must be described in the Department approved budget template, justified in the budget narrative, and are subject to preapproval. Equipment is allowable when necessary for the research objectives and properly justified. The FOA defines equipment generally as tangible nonexpendable property with a purchase price above $5,000 and an expected useful life longer than one year. Indirect costs may not exceed 15 percent of total direct costs requested. Construction, renovation, remodeling, vehicles, international travel, entertainment, lobbying, and several other categories are expressly disallowed.
The online application requires all mandatory fields and components, including the prior LOI, project and scientific information, budget summary and narrative, work and evaluation plan, key personnel information, letters of support as applicable, and regulatory material for human subjects, vertebrate animals, recombinant DNA, or other covered research when applicable. Uploaded documents must follow the FOA formatting and file requirements. The FOA does not state a general mandatory applicant match or cost share requirement.
Evaluation
Qualified applications undergo administrative, peer, and programmatic review. Peer reviewers score overall impact using significance, investigators, innovation, approach, environment, and health impact on the people of Florida, along with cancer relevance and other program considerations.
Atlas Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 94/100. The program is a highly relevant Florida pediatric cancer research opportunity with substantial funding, explicit support for clinical trials, emerging technologies, diagnostic equipment, and research collaboration. However, the required LOI deadline has already passed, so the current applicant pool is fixed.
N9+ Fit Score: 25/100 conditional. The FOA permits research equipment and emerging technology expenses, but Atlas does not assume that the Nonagon N9+ device and platform is relevant to a particular pediatric cancer research protocol. Any role would need to arise from an already eligible LOI holder’s scientifically justified project, approved budget, research protocol, institutional procurement requirements, and Department review. Initial applicant outreach must not be used to create a new application after the LOI deadline.
Submission and Current Next Step
Eligible LOI holders should complete the current online application in the Florida Department of Health biomedical research portal and submit by October 21, 2026 at noon ET. Organizations that did not submit the required LOI by September 2 are not eligible to enter this cycle at the full application stage.
Authoritative sources: Florida Department of Health Live Like Bella program page; FY 2026-27 BRAC Funding Opportunity Announcement; FY 2026-27 Addendum I. Verified September 19, 2026.