February 6, 2006
News Articles
Opportunities and Resources
Advice Corner
New Initiatives
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News Articles |
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Final Paylines, Higher R01 Payline for New
Investigators
Final paylines are here! Except for T32 training grants, you can find all
our final paylines at Paylines and
Budget.
In other big news, NIAID is helping new investigators who are applying for
their first R01s. We will be funding
these applications based on a slightly higher payline, the 16.0 percentile,
which makes it
easier
to get funded.
Who qualifies? NIH defines a new investigator as a scientist who has
never been a PI on
many types of PHS grants,
including the R01.
But you are considered
to be "new" even if you have been a PI on a Small
Grant (R03),
Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA -- R15),
Exploratory/Developmental Grant (R21),
or one of the mentored career
development awards for people beginning their research careers -- K01, K08, K22, K23, K25,
or K30.
If you are just starting out, you may want to read "Brand
New Award for New Investigators" below.
On the Money: New PI Salary Ceilings, Stipend
Levels
As generally happens in January, salary caps inched up for PIs on grants
and contracts. For calendar year 2006, the highest salary a PI can charge to
an
award is $183,500, up from $180,100 last year.
This corresponds to level I of the federal executive pay scale.
Your application or proposal may request up to the top amount allowed as long as it's not above your institutional limit.
If you have an award funded at a previous level (last
year's cap, for example), you can rebudget funds to increase this year's
salary without asking our permission.
We will
not give
you more funds for a pay increase.
NIH announced the news in the January
12, 2006, Guide notice, which includes questions and answers. We've
posted the salary caps with our other fiscal information
on Paylines
and Budget.
Trainees and fellows also got new stipend levels, bumping their pay levels up a notch; find them at NRSA
Stipend Levels.
Meet the New Execs
An updated management structure, fresh faces,
and new positions are ushering in the new year for NIAID's front office. For
its new executive triad, the Institute now has three deputy
directors.
Below, we introduce all of NIAID's new top managers.
Read more in the February 6
press release.
Principal Deputy Director -- Hugh Auchincloss, Jr.,
M.D. First,
we wish to welcome Dr. Auchincloss to the Institute.
He will be NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci's second in command with
broad program and management responsibilities.
Coming to us from Massachusetts
General Hospital, Dr. Auchincloss earned an international reputation in
organ transplantation as professor
of surgery at Harvard Medical School. His primary research interests are allograft
and xenograft rejection, transplantation tolerance induction, islet
transplantation to treat
diabetes, and prevention of recurrent autoimmunity.
Dr. Auchincloss was founder and director of the Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation Center for Islet Transplantation at Harvard
and chief operating officer
of the Immune Tolerance Network, a major NIAID program.
Deputy Director for Clinical Research and Special Projects
-- Clifford Lane, M.D. After serving
as acting
principal deputy since December
2004, Dr. Lane has taken on his new position while
continuing as NIAID's clinical director and director of
the Office
of Clinical
Research.
Dr. Lane will continue many of his advisory functions
for Dr. Fauci. He will also be liaison to outside
organizations, such as the
Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and set
standards
for clinical research.
Deputy Director for Science Management -- John McGowan,
Ph.D. After
having worked in many different roles for NIAID, Dr. McGowan's
new position
entails directing all Institute business and administrative
activities as well as science planning,
policy, and integration.
Dr. McGowan became associate director for management and operations
following Dr. John La Montagne's untimely death in November
2004. A virologist by training, he was director of
the Division of Extramural
Activities since 1991 after leading drug development
in the Division of AIDS.
Dr. McGowan continues as
science editor
of this newsletter.
Division of Intramural Research Director -- Kathryn
Zoon, Ph.D. Following
the retirement of Dr. Thomas Kindt,
Dr. Zoon has assumed the chief leadership role in DIR
after serving as its acting director since June 2004. Previously,
she was
DIR's
deputy
director
for planning and development.
Dr. Zoon came to NIAID from the National Cancer Institute, where
she was principal deputy director of the Center for Cancer Research.
Previous to
that job,
she directed the Center for Biologics Evaluation and
Research at FDA.
Chief of Staff -- Gregory Folkers, M.S., M.P.H. Taking on a new position,
Mr. Folkers will lead the front office where he will coordinate
the many activities of the Immediate Office of the Director.
Mr. Folkers came to NIAID in 1991 after working in writing
and communications in the Boston area. He was a science writer
and editor in NIAID's Office of Communications before moving to
Dr. Fauci's office where he has worked
as special assistant and senior public affairs advisor for the
past decade.
Division of Extramural Activities
Acting Director -- Paula Strickland, Ph.D. Dr.
Strickland assumes McGowan's former position while we conduct
a search for a permanent DEA
director.
For the past two years, Dr. Strickland has directed DEA's Office
of International Extramural Activities. For nine years before that,
she was a scientific review officer in DEA's Scientific
Review Program.
For
Clinical Trials, Small Businesses Must Apply for R34s
Since NIAID made the transition to Investigator-Initiated
Clinical Trial Planning and Implementation Grants,
we accept clinical trial applications through the R34 process only.
How does this affect Small
Business Innovation Research and Small
Business Technology Transfer applicants?
You can apply for small business
funding for the nonclinical trial parts of your research and apply through
NIAID's R34 process for the clinical trial portion.
We may still fund your application if you have applied for a small business award that includes a clinical trial. However, we will remove the clinical trial part,
reduce
your budget, and bar you from spending funds on a clinical trial.
Go to Investigator-Initiated
Clinical Trial Planning and Implementation Grants for more information
on the R34 process.
NIH Launches Nexus
NIH has started emailing a new bimonthly publication, the NIH Extramural
Nexus,
to update you on NIH programs, activities, and policies.
Everyone on the NIH Guide listserv will initially receive Nexus.
If you did not receive it, you can subscribe by following
the directions in the January
13, 2006, Guide notice. To subscribe to the Guide,
see the instructions on NIH
Guide Listserv.
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Opportunities and Resources |
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Brand New Award for New Investigators
NIH just announced the NIH Pathway to Independence Award to help new investigators
become independent PIs with their own R01s.
Read
more at New
Investigators Program and Resources
for New Investigators and in the January
27, 2006, Guide notice.
We Need STTR Applications Now!
NIAID is calling for Small
Business Technology Transfer applications. Why? Each fiscal year, we must
spend our annual congressionally mandated set-aside for SBIR and STTR grants.
Since we have received few STTR applications, it will be easier
to get an STTR than an SBIR.
To be awarded in FY 2006, you will need to apply by the April 1,
the last receipt date for funding this fiscal year. Send your just-in-time
information
right away, so you can receive your grant as quickly as possible.
Seeking AIDS Vaccine Innovators
Our innovation program for research of prophylactic AIDS vaccines has evolved
into a combined R21/R33, Exploratory/Developmental Grant Phase I and II.
While grantees still begin with a feasibility phase, the R21, many will now
be able
to shift right into a development
phase, the R33, with little or no
gap.
We are still on the lookout for a broad range of high-risk and
high-impact applications to advance the field (no clinical trials
though).
An R21 can give you two years of funding for a proof of concept
that can lead to a two- to three-year R33.
Do you use a paper or electronic application for your R21?
For the May deadline, you will use paper, but the
next one will be electronic. NIAID will reissue the PA for electronic
submission through Grants.gov for
receipt dates after May 1, 2006.
For more
information, see the full PA in the December
23, 2005, Guide notice. And read our article below, "Looking
Ahead to Electronic Submission for R21s."
Get Help Developing a Product
Collaborating with the institutes, NIH is piloting a Roadmap
initiative
that gives investigators access to government contractor resources.
Under the Rapid Access to
Interventional Development program, you do not need to apply for
a grant, but you do compete for resources on the strength of your preliminary
data.
NIH RAID will help investigators develop
small molecules preclinically, furnishing such
services as production, bulk
supply, GMP manufacturing, formulation, development of an assay suitable
for pharmacokinetic testing, and animal toxicology. NIH can also
help with the regulatory process.
For now it does not support animal efficacy testing or human subjects research,
synthesis of recombinant proteins, monoclonal antibodies, or gene therapy reagents.
NIH Roadmap will co-sponsor the
NIH RAID pilot projects with the institutes and centers, which are all participating in the pilot. You do not need to establish institute co-sponsorship
before filing a preliminary request.
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Advice Corner |
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Looking Ahead to Electronic Submission for R21s
When does electronic application start for R21s? You
will start submitting non-AIDS applications electronically for the June 1 receipt
date.
For AIDS applications, you will start submitting electronically
for the September 1 receipt date. The
May 1 receipt date gives you one last chance
to submit a paper application -- keep in mind, this is AIDS only.
As we've said before, NIH is announcing the changeover for each grant type
in the NIH
Guide, and
announcements will state whether you apply electronically or
use paper.
You may have noticed NIH's boilerplate "Looking Ahead" paragraph
near the top of many funding opportunity announcements, notifying
you of an upcoming transition to electronic submission.
Current and Pending Support -- Leave
That Field Blank!
Though the SF 424 has a field for current and pending support, don't yield
to the temptation of including it
in your grant application.
NIH does not use that field -- it's
for other government agencies that want current and pending support information
right
away. As always, we collect current and pending support information just-in-time,
after an application goes through initial peer review.
All funding
opportunity announcements have a data field
for "Current and Pending Support" on the SF 424
Senior/Key Person component form that you now know to ignore. Why
are we having this issue? See the next article "Why
Doesn't the SF 424 Match NIH's Requirements?"
Why
Doesn't the SF 424 Match NIH's Requirements?
The SF 424 is a government-wide
set of forms that many agencies use, so it doesn't
necessarily correspond to NIH's needs.
For this reason, until you're familiar with the forms you
should review the agency-specific information on filling
them out.
You can read the whole thing (it's long) in either MS Word
or PDF on the SF
424 (R&R) Application
and Electronic Submission Information page. Go to Instructions
and Other Information for the Grants.gov
Application Guide SF 424 (R&R) and, for small business
applications, the Grants.gov SBIR/STTR Application Guide SF
424 (R&R).
For a shortcut, see NIH's Tips
and Tools for Navigating Electronic Submission which highlights,
among other things, common reasons for rejected applications.
Entries in the table include some of the major problems people had during
the first electronic submissions.
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