The Low Dose Radiation Research Program expects to publish a solicitation for new research about January 22, 1999. This will be a joint solicitation between the Offices of Science (SC) and Environmental Management (EM). It is anticipated that up to $4 million will be available for multiple awards in FY 1999 and, possibly, in early FY 2000 contingent on availability of funds. Applicants may request project support of up to three years. Out-year support is contingent on availability of funds, progress of research, and programmatic needs. The solicitation will be related to solicitation number 98-11 published in the Federal Register February 17, 1998, Volume 63, Number 31, Pages 7775-7777, and on the web at: http://www.er.doe.gov/production/grants/fr98_11.html.

The deadline for submitting applications is expected to be approximately 11 weeks after the solicitation is published. We expect to ask applicants to submit a Notice of Intent to Apply, containing a title, a list of investigators, and no more than a one page summary of the proposed research, due approximately four weeks after the solicitation is published. We will provide feedback on Notices of Intent within one week after they are received.

The solicitation will contain a call for research in the following areas:

(1) Low dose radiation vs. endogenous oxidative damage - the same or different?
(2) Understanding biological responses to radiation and endogenous damage.
(3) Thresholds for low dose radiation - fact or fiction?
(4) Genetic factors that affect individual susceptibility to low dose radiation.
(5) Communication of research results.

Supplementary materials that will be available to applicants will include a draft of the Low Dose Radiation Research Program Plan, available at the website: http://www.er.doe.gov/production/ober/berac/draftld.pdf, and a list and brief description of projects funded as part of solicitation number 98-11, available at the website: http://www.er.doe.gov/production/ober/ldprojlist.html.

David G. Thomassen
Life Sciences Division
Office of Biological and Environmental Research
Office of Science