One week before the NIH roadmap came out, the NCI began the process of renewing and expanding a series of four grants establishing an Early Detection Research Network for the discovery and validation of biomarkers for cancer detection and risk assessment. The original RFAs, issued in 1999, established four categories of institutions that make up the network: biomarker developmental laboratories, biomarker validation laboratories, clinical/epidemiologic centers, and data management and coordinating centers.