October 18, 2005
News Articles
Opportunities and Resources
Advice Corner
New Initiatives
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News Articles |
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CR Keeps Funding Afloat
On September 30, the Senate passed a continuing resolution to keep NIH and other programs running while we await passage of our appropriations
bill.
This CR, possibly the first of several, ends on November 18. It funds programs at the level of the bill passed by the House, which is lower than our FY 2005 appropriations. Read more at H.J. Res. 68.
Get in Gear for Grants.gov e-Applications
With small business applications due on December 1, Grants.gov e-applications are just around the corner. Will we be ready? Several things have to fall into place between now and then, but NIH is confident we will.
And we must: NIH will not accept paper applications after an award type changes over. Find all transition dates on NIH's Transition Plan.
While some information in this article is for small businesses, all applicants will need to learn the process. Read on for e-Grant basics as well as strategies for pacing your moves so you will finish your application in time.
After you complete your administrative and technical tasks (outlined in "Know the basics"), three things must happen:
NIH has uploaded sample instructions and application packages that you can play with, including modular, non-modular, SBIR, and STTR forms. However, you can only submit using an announcement-specific application package. Go to NIH's SF 424 (R&R) Application and Electronic Submission Information.
NIH has also created a separate Application
Guide SF 424 (R&R) for SBIR and STTR Grants that incorporates
instructions from the existing NIH Omnibus Solicitation for SBIR/STTR solicitation.
Grants.gov plans to release an updated Find system and other enhancements
on Monday, October 31. Read more about the features and the possible
system downtime during the transition at Site Features and Enhancements.
Tips and pitfalls
Once your funding opportunity is ready in Grants.gov, you'll need to move as quickly as possible for two reasons.
First, you don't know how long it will take to finalize your forms and have the system accept them. After you submit, a form checker will validate your application and bounce it back to you if it finds problems. Factor time in for that phase.
Second, as the due date approaches, the system will likely get bogged down with many people trying to meet the deadline. Expect the server traffic to be heaviest on a deadline date -- avoid using the system around that time.
Working smart
For SBIR and STTR applications, November 7 is the earliest possible submission date for the regular receipt date of December 1 or the January 2 receipt date for HIV/AIDS. How should you prepare?
- Familiarize yourself with the Grants.gov site ahead of time.
- Work in stages. Complete what you can, especially your most intensive work, as early as possible. You can work on your Research Plan now because it's not changing.
- Add time for coordinating with your office of sponsored research -- start that process early.
If you have not yet signed up with eRA Commons, do so right now! NIH also recommends that organizations (not PIs) register for Grants.gov two to four weeks before applicants plan to submit. Make sure yours is registered.
Know the basics
- Only organizations register with Grants.gov.
- Organizations, signing officials, and PIs must all register with the Commons.
- After an institution joins, PIs contact their signing officials to set up a Commons account.
- PIs apply by:
- Finding a NIH funding opportunity announcement on Grants.gov's site.
- Installing the PureEdge viewer (or using a service provider, see below).
- Downloading the application package.
- Uploading a completed application.
- If you're a Mac user, you'll need an emulation program to use PureEdge. Or you can instead:
- Use a service provider.
- Use a PC.
What service providers can do
While writing the application is still up to you, service providers offer an alternative to the free Grants.gov PureEdge application system. Service providers often charge a fee, but some are free at least for now.
All the service provider systems use HTML-based forms and PDF attachments, prepopulating some fields from individual and institutional profiles. All feature customer support and workflow or administrative controls. Many offer additional award management and reporting tools.
If you're interested, be sure to contact the providers soon -- some systems may take longer to set up, depending on complexity and your needs. Allow plenty of lead time for installation and training as well as application assembly, validation, and submission. Find a list in the Service Providers section of NIH's Electronic Submission Web site.
Giving a Bit of Elbow Room to AREA Applicants
To help small institutions cope with electronic grants, NIH moved submission dates for Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA) to give investigators an extra month.
New submission dates are February 25, June 25, and October 25, while AIDS-related dates remain May 1, September 1, and January 2.
For more information on AREAs, see our AREA SOP, Academic Research Enhancement Awards (R15) description, and the NIH AREA Grants page. NIH announced this change in the September 30, 2005, Guide notice.
Animal Codes -- We're Keeping It Simple
For research applications involving vertebrate animals, NIH streamlined the codes that give a red or green light to animal research. Look for them on your summary statement, especially code 44, which creates a bar that must be resolved before you can get an award.
As part of the new policy, NIH stopped using codes 32, 41, 45, 47, 49, 51, 55, 57, and 59 as well as the Vertebrate Animals Comment header in the summary statement.
To see a list of all codes and what they mean, go to Research Animals Involvement Codes. For information on lifting a bar, read the Bars to Grant Awards -- Research Animals SOP.
Inviting Comments on the Impact of Clinical Trials Regulations in Developing
Countries
An NIAID working group is looking for input from both a formal group of experts and investigators in the field on the impact of U.S. regulations on clinical
trials in developing countries.
Institute Director Dr. Anthony S. Fauci has asked former HHS Secretary Dr. Louis Sullivan to lead the independent working group. As an ad hoc committee of NIAID's advisory Council, the group will report its conclusions to Dr. Fauci and Council.
Its formation represents a commitment by the Institute to identify areas for improving the regulatory processes of the Division of AIDS and determine what, if any, changes should be made.
The group is also inviting comments from U.S. and international investigators who have had to comply with U.S. regulations while working in countries with limited clinical resources.
If you have this experience, please send us your comments. We'd like to hear your thoughts on the local impact of U.S. requirements, the challenges of meeting those requirements, and alternative approaches for satisfying them.
You can send comments confidentially by emailing sullivanwg@ltscorporation.com.
Loan Repayment Programs Attract Physicians to Research
Here's a revival worth watching. After years of decline, the number of medical students interested in research careers is on the rise, thanks in part to NIH's Loan Repayment Programs (LRP).
A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association credits LRP with breathing new life into the physician-scientist career pipeline by helping lift the burden of educational debt.
Since 2002, thousands of health professionals have taken advantage of LRP. These programs provide as much as $35,000 a year in debt relief in exchange for a 50 percent research commitment for two years.
The study also shows that LRP contributed to a steady growth in the M.D. and Ph.D. pool including the "'late bloomer" pool of physicians -- those who choose research careers late in medical school or during residencies. For the complete report, see The Physician-Scientist Career Pipeline in 2005: Build It, and They Will Come.
If you'd like more information on the LRP, including details on how to apply, go to the NIH LRP Web site. Applications for the next cycle are due December 1, 2005.
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Opportunities and Resources |
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When Concepts Meet Their Fate, You Can Too
Our Concepts: Potential Opportunities page is extremely popular, but how do you find out a concept's ultimate destiny? We've just added a new feature to our concept page to help keep you posted. If NIAID publishes a concept in the Guide, we put a link to it directly into the original concept.
For example, if you view January 2005 DAIDS Council-Approved Concepts, you can see that International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IEDEA) became the February 15, 2005, Guide announcement.
This new feature takes away the guesswork, if the title of a concept changes, as well as any need to do your own sleuthing.
So what is a concept? Our glossary gives this definition:
Concept -- Earliest planning stage of an initiative -- request for applications, request for proposals, or program announcement. Concepts are brought before the NIAID advisory Council for concept clearance. Not all concepts approved by Council are published as initiatives; the number depends on the availability of funds.
We put our concepts online about five weeks after each Council meeting. This gives staff time to incorporate all of Council's comments and changes. Only concepts approved by Council are on the site.
You can receive an Email Alert for new concepts by checking the concept box in your profile. Sign in to the  NIAID Funding News and Email Alerts Subscription Center to change your profile.
We've Overhauled Our Human Subjects Tutorial
Whether you're applying for a human subjects grant or managing an award, our refurbished How to Write a Human Subjects Application tutorial can help guide you through the complexities. This
streamlined version bests the previous one by:
- Incorporating more NIAID-specific instructions.
- Stressing key steps and helpful tips.
- Reducing repetition of PHS 398 instructions.
- Housing all the latest policy information.
We hope you find it useful.
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Advice Corner |
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Let's Clear the Fog About R03 and R21 Applications
It's true that different Web pages couch the topic in differing terms. But rest assured: you must respond to a program announcement (PA) or request for applications (RFA) when applying for a Small Research Grant (R03) or an Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Award (R21). See the November 24, 2004, Guide for the policy.
Why is this topic confusing? Source number one is the term "investigator-initiated." NIH Guide notices say you can apply for investigator-initiated R03s and R21s. To many people, that means you just submit the application, as you would an R01.
In practice, it's not that simple. All PAs support investigator-initiated research. So when you submit an investigator-initiated R03 or R21 application, you must cite a PA such as one of the broad NIH-wide PAs: NIH Small Research Grant Program (R03) or NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Award (R21) on the face page.
CSR will look for that citation and may call you if it's missing. CSR staff also check that your application conforms to the PA's features, such as budget limits or eligibility requirements, and that the science fits the research of at least one of the sponsoring ICs.
A second source of confusion is the Guide's Program Announcement Needed to Identify R03 and R21, which implies that R03 and R21 announcements are all PAs. While the NIH announcements are PAs, NIAID's own announcements can be either RFAs or PAs. RFAs do not support investigator-initiated research.
For more detailed information on what constitutes investigator-initiated research, go to our How does NIH define investigator-initiated research? question and answer.
To see a list of our high-priority science areas, go to NIH Funding Opportunities Relevant to NIAID, or sign up for an Email Alert. That way, you'll get a message when a new NIAID initiative appears in the Guide. Adjust your profile at the NIAID Funding News and Email Alerts Subscription Center.
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New Initiatives |
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