Archive for Funding Opportunities

New NIH Instructions & Forms Available

November 24, 2009 at 12:53 pm · Filed under Funding Opportunities, Grantsmanship, NIH Advice, Research News

The NIH issued a notice summarizing the changes to the application packages for submissions on or after January 25, 2010. Most important is this reminder for those planning electronic submissions (i.e., most of you):

Applicants MUST return to the FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA), or the reissued Parent Announcement, to download the new application forms for due dates on or after January 25, 2010.

The sample biosketch in the PHS 398 form list is always convenient to have on hand though. The PHS 398 (paper submission) page includes instructions and forms, while you’ll of course find the instructions only for SF 424 electronic submissions (Adobe Forms B).

Have fun.

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NIH OppNet Launched

November 19, 2009 at 8:22 pm · Filed under Funding Opportunities, NIH Advice, Research News

Yes, OptNet is indeed short for Opportunity Network, which, according to the NIH news release, will be supported in its first year with $10M in ARRA funds. Hmm. Don’t spend it all in one place.

To further explain, this is the Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network, which will fund studies of

mechanisms and processes that influence behavior at the individual, group, community and population level. Research results lead to new approaches for reducing risky behaviors and improving the adoption of healthy practices.

… Twenty-four ICs and five programs within the Office of the Director will integrate existing NIH efforts, target research challenges best met collectively and collaborate on new research initiatives in complementary scientific areas. OppNet will also develop a plan for focused multi-year programs across ICs to advance priority topics within b-BSSR [basic behavioral and social sciences research].

… OppNet expects to release these first funding opportunity announcements by December 2009. Starting in Fiscal Year 2011, OppNet will be supported through NIH’s pool of common funds shared among the ICs.

Jeremy Berg (NIGMS) and Richard Hodes (NIA) are driving the bus, with plenty of help from their friends (“a steering committee of IC Directors and with facilitation from the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research”). Watch the OBSSR Website for updates on OppNet as it unfolds.

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NIBIB Quantum Projects

November 12, 2009 at 3:45 pm · Filed under Funding Opportunities, NIH Advice

NIBIB has released the RFA for Phase II (Implementation) of its Quantum Grant Program - aka Medical Moonshots.

Letter of intent due December 22, application receipt date on January 22, 2010 (just misses the Jan 25 transition to enhanced shorter applications, so these use a 25-p research narrative … “typewritten” paper submission no less).

The goal is to achieve a profound (quantum) impact on the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of a major disease or national public health problem through the development and implementation of biomedical technologies.

Total costs (i.e., direct plus indirect/F&A costs) for any single year (5-y project period) may not exceed $3M. NIBIB expects most applicants to request $1-3M in total annual costs.

Before you get too excited, only 1-3 awards will be made.

NIBIB made 5 awards in the Phase I competition “on stem cell therapies for diabetes and stroke, nanoparticles to help eliminate brain tumors, development of an implantable device to replace kidney dialysis, and a microchip to capture circulating tumor cells for clinical and research purposes” — but anyone can apply for Phase II funding so long as their research plan “demonstrates the potential for a quantum advance by the end of Phase II via substantial pre-clinical data or a first clinical implementation.”

How much of an advance? NIBIB envisions that the “technology being developed would overcome a major, present-day disease or national public health problem (i.e., leading categories of disease burden, high-mortality/morbidity diseases affecting more than 100,000 individuals annually, technologies that revolutionize over 200,000 procedures annually), or change the paradigm of prevention, diagnosis, treatment in the practice of medicine.” In 5 years. I guess $3M a year will do that for you. I can’t wait to read the way cool announcements in NIH Research Matters.

What I want to know is where NIBIB finds reviewers with the vision needed to foresee a paradigm shift and quantum advance in the practice of medicine within the next 5 years … and whether these reviewers are available to take a look at my 401K portfolio.

Lots more detail in the RFA. Happy reading.

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ARRA Funding Opp: Administrative Supplements to Support Core Consolidation

November 6, 2009 at 2:41 pm · Filed under Funding Opportunities, NIH Advice

Of interest to a select audience … one application per parent grant but no limit on the number of applications from a given institution. The big “have” institutions will have lots of these big core center awards and will no doubt get in line for an extra $1.2M+ for each of these facilities, complements of ARRA.

Today’s notice of Administrative Supplements to Support Core Consolidation provides up to $500,000 in equipment, up to $500,000 for alteration and renovation, and/or up to $200,000 (DC) for other costs such as personnel and supplies. The NIH plans to spend ~$15 million of ARRA funds by September 30, 2010 to support requests submitted in response to this notice. Participating ICs include NCRR (G12 plus all P and U awards), NCI (only Cancer Center Support P30s are eligible), NIAID (only CFAR P30s are eligible), NIAMS (only P30s are eligible), NIDDK (only P30s & P60s are eligible), NIEHS (only P30s are eligible), and NIDA (“particularly interested in consolidation that results in synergistic enhancement of existing research capabilities, while continuing current services”).

The Notice provides full application details. Applications are due January 13, 2010.

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New ARRA RFA: Building Sustainable Community-Linked Infrastructure

September 18, 2009 at 4:32 pm · Filed under Funding Opportunities, NIH Advice, Research News

Well, they haven’t spent all the ARRA funds yet, as evidenced by the latest FOA to be released:

Building Sustainable Community-Linked Infrastructure to Enable Health Science Research (RC4)
LOI: November 12, 2009
Application: December 11, 2009

NCI, NEI, NHLBI, NHGRI, NIA, NIAAA, NIAMS, NIBIB, NICHD, NIDCR, NIDDK, NIDA, NIEHS, NIMH, NINR, NLM, NCMHD, OWHR, and NCRR are all on board. The NIH plans to fund 30 of these awards, which provide up to a total of $1M for a 3-year period ($1M total for all 3 years, not per year). Read the rest of this entry »

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National New Biology Initiative

September 17, 2009 at 10:42 am · Filed under Funding Opportunities, NIH Advice, NSF Info, Research News

It’s a bit sad that my first reaction was to cringe when I received this NAS news release excitedly touting the National New Biology Initiative,

a new multiagency, multiyear, and multidisciplinary initiative to capitalize on the extraordinary advances recently made in biology and to accelerate new breakthroughs that could solve some of society’s most pressing problems — particularly in the areas of food, environment, energy, and health. …

The committee used the term “new biology” to describe an approach to research where physicists, chemists, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and other scientists are integrated into the field of biology to create the type of research community that can tackle society’s big problems. “‘The new biologist’ is not a scientist who knows a little bit about all disciplines, but a scientist with deep knowledge in one discipline and a ‘working fluency’ in several,” the report says. To be sure, biologists are already working successfully in many instances with other scientists and engineers. But for collaborations to take advantage of advances in imaging, high-throughput technologies, computational science and technology, and others, a major new initiative is needed, the committee concluded.

The national new biology initiative should have a timeline of at least 10 years and funding in addition to current research budgets, and it should be an interagency effort to reflect the interdisciplinary approach to research, the committee emphasized. The report also underscores the importance of making information technologies a priority in the initiative given that information is the “fundamental currency” of the new biology. …

The report says that by targeting society’s major challenges, the initiative would provide an opportunity to attract students who want to solve real-world problems to scientific fields. The initiative will need to devote resources to interdisciplinary education to support the training of new biologists, the report adds.

You can, as usual, read the report — A New Biology for the 21st Century: Ensuring the United States Leads the Coming Biology Revolution – online for free and download the prepublication PDF.

You can also view a PowerPoint presentation by the co-chairs of the Committee on a New Biology for the 21st Century, Thomas Connelly of the DuPont Company and Phillip A. Sharp from MIT, where you’ll learn that the Initiative’s goals are to “Propel science to a new level” and “Provide solutions to pressing societal problems” and become inspired by the sense of tension and excitement the slides generate:

  • A moment of unique opportunity — Current research has brought biology to an inflection point
  • An opportunity for New Biology with impact at an unprecendented scale
  • New Biology could affect urgent problems
  • Mission: sustainable local food production
  • Mission: halt and reverse ecosystem damage
  • Mission: sustainable alternative to fossil fuels
  • Mission: individualized health surveillance and care
  • One biology: same science supports all four missions

Wow. So nice to know that “New Biology” is on the case. Wonder what the rest of us have been mucking about doing all these years … in the meantime, possibly yet another grant-writing gimmick to work into my repertoire if they do manage to carve out a mega interagency budget to solve the world’s ills.

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Shorter, Faster, Vaguer Application Format

September 6, 2009 at 10:12 pm · Filed under Funding Opportunities, Grantsmanship, NIH Advice, Research News

UPDATE: As discussed here, the official NIH notice is out about policies governing the shorter page length and modified format for grant applications submitted on and after Jan 25, 2010.

We’ve been told the R01 will drop to 12 pages, with other mechanisms possibly set at half that length. The narrative will be restructured to align with review criteria (significance, innovation, approach), so you’d best stop thinking in terms of the time-honored foursome of every NIH research narrative (i.e., Specific Aims, Background & Significance, Preliminary Studies, Research Design & Methods). Since there is no clear review criteria for preliminary data/progress reports, these may be folded into the Approach portion of the narrative as appropriate.

The recent notice about Changes to the eSNAP PHS 2590 probably foreshadows what’s coming down the pike with regard to biosketches for future NIH submissions:

Another change associated with the peer review initiative is the addition of a Personal Statement to the biographical sketch. The statement is for the senior/key personnel to address why their experience and qualifications make them particularly well-suited for their role on the project. Instructions for the biographical sketch also encourage applicants to limit the list of publications to no more than 15.

This covers the “Investigators” review criteria, and a better description (versus rote facilities, equipment, other resources, et al. boilerplate) of the scientific environment for the specific work to be conducted will no doubt be in order.

Let’s see .. new scoring system, new review process/summary statement format, new application format, shorter page limits, even less preliminary data and methodological detail, condensed biosketches. I’m sure reviewers can’t wait … and CSR must be about to explode. Or implode.

Also of interest for FY10 are some ESI policy changes at NHLBI … and perhaps other ICs:

The special payline policy for non-ESI will be phased out in FY 2010. In addition, ESI applications on which all named principal investigators are ESI investigators that are >5 but <=10 percentile points above the regular R01 payline may undergo an expedited review to resolve comments in the summary statement.

How about some opportunity for rebuttal for anyone within a few percentile points of the “payline” (whatever that is for most ICs)?

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Job Stimulation – and Study by the NSF

June 8, 2009 at 9:58 am · Filed under Funding Opportunities, NIH Advice, NSF Info, Research News

A brief observation. This morning, the Washington Post sent out a news alert that “Obama promises more than 600,000 stimulus jobs” this summer. As if we needed another reminder as to a key review criteria for applications for ARRA funding.

Perhaps this would be a good time to remind you that in the NSF Dear Colleage letter that appeared and then disappeared and then reappeared, the Science of Science & Innovation Policy (SciSIP) Program is accepting 2-5 page proposals for RAPID funding that address the outcome of ARRA, such as:

  • What was the contribution of the science investment to the creation and retention of jobs?
  • What was the contribution of the science investment to science and technology industries?
  • What scientific or technological advances were achieved?
  • What was the impact on the scientific workforce?

In keeping with the Presidential focus on openness and transparency in government, proposals might also examine and evaluate different approaches to building appropriate platforms for tracking and assessing science investments across the federal government as well as ways to visually convey the information to policy makers and the American public.

Edward Tufte, your country needs you.

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ARRA-Funded Human Immunology Profiling Research Groups

June 3, 2009 at 12:13 am · Filed under Funding Opportunities, NIH Advice, Research News

NIAID has released its own ARRA funding opportunity with some unique twists (e.g., 5 years of funding, with only the first year covered by ARRA): Protection of Human Health by Immunology and Vaccines (U01, U19).

LOI due: Sept 15
Application due: Oct 15 (full-length applications – not the 12-p jobs sought by most ARRA FOAs)

For U01 applications, requested annual total costs may not exceed $1.5M in year 1 and $1.3M in years 2-5. For U19 applications, requested annual total costs may not exceed $4.5M in year 1 and $4.0M in years 2-5. NIAID anticipates that 6-10 awards will be made for fiscal year 2010.

NOTE: Recovery Act funds will only support the first budget year of the award, and MUST be completely spent by the end of the first budget year, including spending all Infrastructure and Opportunities Funds allocated to support projects and pilot projects. Award recipients must be prepared to initiate their proposed studies upon issuance of the award. Carryover of unobligated funds from the first to subsequent budget years of the award will NOT be allowed. Any unspent first year funds will be returned. Applicants are encouraged to include in their first year budgets any large, one-time costs to support activities that will be carried out during the project period of the award. Examples of such costs include equipment, large peptide or antibody microarrays, microarray analyses, and small molecule libraries.

All applications are required to use bioinformatic, multiplex, and/or systems biology approaches to establish human immune system profiles using samples from well-characterized cohorts obtained (1) after infection, (2) prior to and following challenge with specific vaccines, or (3) prior to and following treatment with an immune adjuvant that targets a known innate immune receptor(s). It is the goal of this initiative to determine how immune profiles are perturbed and eventually return to a new homeostatic state after antigenic challenge. Each Awardee will establish a research infrastructure to collect, characterize and store human samples, and support the complex statistical analysis and informatics needs of the proposed research. All applications are required to include experimental approaches to measure some aspect(s) of the human transcriptome and/or proteome.

Scientific/Research Contacts:

Dr. Matthew J. Fenton
Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation
Telephone: (301) 496-8973
Email: fentonm@niaid.nih.gov

Dr. Helen R. Quill
Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation
Telephone: (301) 435-4416
Email: hquill@niaid.nih.gov

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ARRA Business Funding Opps at NIH

June 2, 2009 at 3:59 pm · Filed under Funding Opportunities, NIH Advice, Research News

Hmm. Two new business-oriented ARRA funding opps. Hopefully not bridges to nowhere … woo-woo.

Biomedical Research, Development, and Growth to Spur the Acceleration of New Technologies (BRDG-SPAN) Pilot Program (RC3)

LOI due: August 3, 2009
Application Due: September 1, 2009

U.S.-owned, for-profit enterprise/commercial organization doing a majority of its business in the United States may apply for RC3 funding. The requested budget is limited to $1 million total costs per year for a maximum of 3 years (up to 10 awards are anticipated).

The RC3 application Research Plan component is limited to a total of 13 pages, including 1 page for the Specific Aims and 12 pages for Research Design and Methods.

The BRDG-SPAN pilot program encourages projects representing, for example, the following:

  • a novel, “first in class” therapy
  • a material improvement over existing technologies
  • a potential substantial reduction in cost over existing technologies/products
  • U.S. alternative to foreign suppliers
  • a product for unmet, under-addressed medical needs (e.g., technologies to produce solid medication dosage forms for children, and therapeutic devices appropriate for children in terms of size and functionality)
  • a significant and demonstrable potential U.S. and/or global markets

Participating ICs list their own program officer and grant administrator contacts.

Small Business Catalyst Awards for Accelerating Innovative Research (R43)

LOI due: August 3, 2009
Application Due: September 1, 2009

Only United States small business concerns are eligible to submit SBIR applications. Budget requests are limited to $200,000 total costs for a maximum project period of 1 year (20-25 awards are anticipated).

The Research Plan is limited to a total of 7 pages, including 1 page for the Specific Aims and 6 pages for Research Design and Methods.

In accord with the funding priority of this initiative to attract applicants without a history of SBIR/STTR support from NIH, the focus of the projects solicited by this FOA is on early stage technology development. High-risk, high reward R&D that is unlikely to be undertaken by ongoing academic efforts or within industrial firms is strongly encouraged.

Again, participating ICs have designated their own program officer and grant administrator contacts.

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