Opportunity Overview
The mandatory September 4, 2026 at 5:00 PM Central Time preapplication gate has closed. The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) FY 2027 Cycle 2 Texas Regional Excellence in Cancer Award (RFA R-27.2-TREC) remains actionable only for institutions that timely submitted an LOI and received CPRIT approval. The program is designed to strengthen cancer research at eligible Texas institutions in regions that historically have received lower levels of peer-reviewed cancer research funding.
Funding and Critical Dates
Applicants may request up to $1.2 million per year for as many as five years, or $6 million total. The required institutional Letter of Intent was due September 4, 2026 at 5:00 PM CT. CPRIT states that late LOIs will not be accepted and that the LOI must be approved before an application may be submitted. Approved applicants may submit through CPRIT’s Grants Management Platform beginning September 16, 2026 at 7:00 AM CT; the full application deadline is November 18, 2026 at 5:00 PM CT.
Institutional Eligibility
The revised RFA identifies the following TREC-eligible institutions: Baylor University; Texas A&M University; Texas Tech University; Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center; Texas Tech University Health Science Center at El Paso; The University of Texas at El Paso; The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler; and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The RFA generally requires a campus to be 100 miles or greater from a Texas NCI-designated cancer center. Requests for an eligibility exception had to be included in the LOI. An institution may submit only one application in this cycle and may have only one active TREC cancer center award at a time.
Research Program Model
The award supports an established investigator leading a cohesive regional cancer-research program with three to five investigator-initiated research projects. Funds may support program leadership, research projects, recruitment of new junior faculty, research supplies, equipment, subject-participation costs, access to technology and core research services, and qualifying Texas collaborations or subcontracts. CPRIT expressly encourages partnerships that provide access to technology, mentorship, facilities, or expertise not available at the applicant institution.
Atlas Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 96/100. The five-year, $6 million ceiling and explicit support for regional research infrastructure make this one of Texas’s highest-value cancer-research capacity opportunities outside the state’s major NCI-center hubs. Because the LOI gate has passed, Atlas now restricts the opportunity to LOI-qualified institutions rather than presenting it as generally open.
N9+ Direct Vendor Fit: 15/100 conditional. TREC is a research-capacity award, not a general telehealth procurement. The RFA does allow equipment and access to technology or core services, but N9+ should appear only when a specific approved research project or shared-resource plan genuinely requires connected examination technology and the institution confirms cost allowability. Atlas should not force a commercial technology purchase into the application.
Critical Eligibility Gate
Institutions that did not submit the required LOI by September 4, 2026 at 5:00 PM CT should not treat the later November 18 application date as independently actionable. CPRIT states that late LOIs will not be accepted and that applicants must receive CPRIT authorization before submitting the full application.
Next Action
Do not initiate a new TREC pursuit. If the institution timely submitted its LOI and CPRIT approved it, activate all required users in the Grants Management Platform and prepare the full proposal for the September 16, 2026 at 7:00 AM CT opening and November 18, 2026 at 5:00 PM CT deadline, preserving the approved research theme, principal investigator, three-to-five-project structure, shared-resource strategy, budget and institutional commitments.
Official source: CPRIT RFA R-27.2-TREC, revised August 28, 2026.