October 1, 2008
News Articles
Opportunities and Resources
Advice Corner
New Funding Opportunities
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News Articles |
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NIH Recasts Peer Review
On September 17, NIH set a timeline for the first stages of its widely anticipated revamp of initial peer review.
You can expect the following changes to take place next year and beyond:
(Due to NIH changes, we revised the scoring scale to 1 to 9 from 1 to 7.)
May 2009
- One to nine scoring system. Reviewers will score applications on a scale of 1 to 9 in whole numbers.
- Criterion-based review. In the summary statement, reviewers will score whole applications, and assigned reviewers will give applicants scores and critiques for each criterion.
- Scores for the streamlined. Streamlined applications will get the initial scores and critiques from the assigned reviewers.
- Electronic review pilots. NIH will conduct pilots to test the feasibility of using high-bandwidth support for review meetings as an alternative to in-person meetings.
- Early-stage investigators (ESI). See the next article.
- Clustering applications. Where possible, reviewers will evaluate ESI, new investigator, and possibly clinical applications together within each study section, with each category as a separate group.
January 2010
- Shorter research plan. R01 research plans will shrink; NIH will scale research plans for other types accordingly and restructure all to align with new review criteria.
NIH is also considering separately percentiling new and resubmitted applications. No date set, but we will let you know as soon as we hear.
Read the September 19, 2008, NIH Guide notice and Enhancing Peer Review - Implementation Updates.
We last wrote about this topic on June 18 in Peer Review Proposals – Poised to Go.
Early-Stage Investigator: A New Applicant Status
(Editor's note: Article updated with new information on discipline-specific training, October 21, 2008.)
As a subset of new investigator status, NIH created an early-stage investigator (ESI) category for applicants who have completed one of the following within the past 10 years, whichever was later:
- A final research degree.
- Discipline-specific training required to become a researcher.
Once you apply for and receive a major NIH grant as listed at Are You "New"?, you no longer qualify as an ESI or as a new investigator.
Reviewers will take both groups into consideration when reviewing applications. For example, they may expect fewer preliminary data, resources, and publications than they do for more established researchers.
To be considered for ESI in the future, NIH will add fields to your Commons profile so you will be able to include the pertinent dates. NIH will use Commons data to identify ESI and will eliminate the new investigator checkbox from the application.
We don't yet know how implementing this change will affect peer review or funding. NIH is still working out some of the processes. We will keep you informed and update our Web pages as more details emerge.
NIH announced this news in the September 26, 2008, NIH Guide notice.
Next FY Budget Is Still Up in the Air
Though we expect a relatively flat budget for next fiscal year, it's hard to pinpoint the exact level, and timing is equally uncertain.
As NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., told our advisory Council at its September meeting, “We expect to begin FY 2009 under a continuing resolution, and I would not be surprised if NIH and NIAID need to operate under a continuing resolution until after the change in administrations.”
One reason for the current inertia is the threat of a presidential veto. While the president wants a virtually flat budget for NIH, the House and Senate each passed more generous versions of an FY 2009 appropriation. The president now threatens to veto either bill if it crosses his desk.
Under the President's Budget, NIAID’s real budget increase, excluding the pass-through to the Global Fund, is $3 million. This 0.1 percent increase is comparable to that of most other institutes.
If this level stands, it will be the fourth consecutive year in which NIAID will operate with a flat budget.
Dr. Fauci noted, “This unprecedented string of flat budgets requires difficult choices, and we remain committed to doing all we can to support the highest possible paylines. Until we receive a final appropriation, we set a provisional R01 payline at the 10th percentile.”
Some good news did brighten the discussion.
First, NIAID's extramural investigators received 22 NIH bridge awards as part of the $90 million program. These awards steered more than $10 million of additional funds to NIAID-supported investigators.
Second, the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008, signed into law on June 30, provided $150 million of supplemental funds to NIH for FY 2008 only.
NIAID received $22.7 million of those funds. We used at least 50 percent of that money to support research project grants, putting the balance towards other critical research and research support needs.
Onward to Adobe Forms
If you're wondering what forms to fill out for your upcoming application, we've got some news.
For the January receipt dates, you will use Adobe forms for all applications except conference and small business grants, which are slated to switch in April.
Existing opportunities with non-standard submission dates expiring by January 31, 2009, stay with the current PureEdge forms. All others switch to the new forms.
You may notice that some opportunities lack application forms altogether. Since the new forms are not yet ready in Grants.gov, NIH is including a note in new funding opportunity announcements telling you to check in December for the arrival of your form package.
Meanwhile, you can work on your research plan and some of the other labor-intensive sections of your application in your regular word processing program.
To ease yourself into this transition smoothly, keep the following in mind:
- Download an Adobe Reader 8.1.3 or 9.0 now. Older versions can corrupt your data even though they may open a form and appear to be working.
- Once this switch to Adobe occurs, Grants.gov will reject the PureEdge forms. If you've already started an application using the old forms, save your data so you can copy them into the new ones.
Read more in the September 22, 2008, Guide notice.
We're Monitoring Applications for Public Access
In a recent reminder to investigators, NIH let you know that it will start monitoring applications, progress reports, and contract proposals for compliance with the public access policy.
If you fail to cite a PubMed Central identifier (PMC ID), expect to get a note from your program officer. You will then have to respond to both your program officer and your business office stating that you are now complying.
Read the September 23, 2008, Guide notice, NIH's Public Access site, and our Public Access of Publications SOP to learn more about citation and submission requirements, including what to do if the PMC ID isn’t ready yet.
On a related note, you can now use the National Library of Medicine's PM ID: PMC ID Converter to translate a PubMed number (PM ID) into a PMC ID or vice versa.
Time to Study Vaccine Safety
We recently issued two new program announcements encouraging investigators to conduct research to improve vaccine safety.
Public concerns underlie this new call to the research community, as Dr. Fauci told Council members last month.
The program announcements are part of a vaccine safety plan NIAID developed in response to recent signals from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), our parent organization.
NIAID seeks applications in the following scientific areas:
- Physiological and immunological responses to vaccines and vaccine components.
- Effect of genetic variations on immune and other physiological responses that may affect vaccine safety.
- Identification of risk factors and biological markers that may indicate a relationship between a disease and a licensed vaccine.
- Application of genomic or molecular technologies to improve vaccine safety.
Read more in the August 28, 2008, R01 Program Announcement and R21 Program Announcement.
Natural Disasters and Application Delays
Were you affected by Hurricane Ike? You may submit an application or report, such as a progress or financial status report, late if one of the recent hurricanes closed your facility.
NIH's Center for Scientific Review will review your request and determine if it meets the criteria.
You can read more at the new NIH Extramural Response to Natural Disasters and Other Emergencies page. See the Late Application SOP for more information.
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Opportunities and Resources |
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Manage Your Training Grant Documents Electronically
If you're the PI on a training grant with a Federal Demonstration Project institution, ditch the paper trail and board the xTrain. NIH's new electronic system lets you create and submit appointments, reappointments, amendments, and terminations.
For now, only federal demonstration project members are invited to use the system. Go to Search Institutions to see if your institution is one of them.
If it is and you're registered with the Commons, you're automatically set up to use xTrain, which gives you access to the following forms:
- Statement of Appointment.
- Termination Notice.
- Payback Agreement.
You can also track your documents as NIAID processes them, and you can delegate an assistant to do everything except submit new appointments.
Your business office and trainees can use some features, too. Get more information at xTrain -- Overview and Functions.
Go to xTrain for reference documents, Training Material, xTrain Frequently Asked Questions, help desk information, and additional contacts.
Submit Your Proposal for a Rapid HIV Test
Do you have an idea for a point-of-care diagnostic test to identify HIV? NIAID hopes to award two contracts to develop a rapid HIV diagnostic device for resource-limited settings.
For more information, see the RFP, Rapid HIV Point-of-Care Diagnostic Device for Resource-Limited Settings.
Seen Our New Design?
As you may have noticed, we're revamping our Web site into a portal approach that includes audience-specific pages.
Work is in progress, and we will give you more details once we're done. Get a preview of the look at Opportunities and Announcements.
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Advice Corner |
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Looking Into a Cloudy Crystal Ball -- Possible Changes to SBIR and STTR
We know changes are coming to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, so keep checking our Special Announcements page for new NIH announcements. Here are some questions and tentative answers about what is coming our way.
How will the SBIR reauthorization affect the program?
The program is up for reauthorization, and we don't yet know what new rules will apply. One key question is whether small businesses that are majority owned by venture capital firms will be eligible for SBIR awards.
Since the program technically expired on September 30, a temporary extension of the SBIR program will go into effect lasting until March 20, 2009, while Congress hashes out the bill. Stay tuned, and check our Small Business Awards portal for updates.
Will the Adobe format go into effect, and if so, when?
Though most receipt dates starting January 1 will require Adobe forms, AIDS small business applications submitted for the January 7, 2009, deadline will not. The September 22, 2008, Guide notice states that SBIR and STTR applications will start using Adobe forms beginning with the April 5, 2009, submission date.
When will grantees receive funding?
Most likely, applications won't get funded until the middle of 2009, a little later than usual. So even if you submitted your application in April, you probably won't get your award until around next April.
Also, please keep in mind that the December 2008 receipt date (January 2009 for AIDS) will be the last one for securing funding in 2009.
What is the prognosis for paylines?
It's likely that the new SBIR payline will be higher than the STTR payline. Should you submit an SBIR based on this information?
You could consider submitting an SBIR application to improve your chances of getting funded, though enough people hearing this news could cause a spike in SBIR applications. It's always best to stick with the award type that makes the most sense for your research and situation.
NIH is scoring more applications now -- only 40 percent rather than 50 percent are now unscored -- making more applicants eligible for funding. This change affords us more options and you a better chance at being funded.
Have questions? For advice on small business applications, go to Narrated Advice Presentations for SBIR and STTR. Then contact Dr. Gregory Milman at gm16s@nih.gov or 301-496-8666.
Reader Question
A reader asks:
"If I'm relatively new to NIH, how do I decide which grant type best suits my work and position?"
Don't try to make this decision on your own. Contact a program officer to discuss your options. See Contact Staff for Help in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
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New Funding Opportunities |
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See these and older announcements on our NIH Funding Opportunities Relevant to NIAID. |
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