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The NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) has requested that the Working Group on Review of Bioengineering and Technology and Instrumentation Development Research take a leadership role in guiding CSR in establishing a bioengineering- and technology-friendly review infrastructure. The Working Group wants the community to help shape their final recommendations, and encourages contribution of comments and suggestions (through December 28, 1998).

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As published in the NIH Guide, November 19, 1998, the annual stipend levels have been increased for all individuals receiving support through institutional or individual National Research Service Awards (NRSA), including the Minority Access to Research Career (MARC) and Career Opportunities in Research (COR) programs. These awards are effective with all awards made on or after October 1, 1998.

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As published in the NIH Guide, November 12, 1998, the revised (4/98) PHS 398 and PHS 2590 grant application forms and instructions are now available, and may now be used by applicants. For the January/February 1999 application receipt dates, use of the revised forms is encouraged. The new forms must be used for receipt dates of May 10, 1999 and thereafter.

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As published in the NIH Guide, October 30 1998 (PA Number PAR-99-009), participating Institutes and Centers (ICs) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) invite applications for Bioengineering Research Grants (BRG) to support basic bioengineering research whose outcomes are likely to advance health or health-related research within the mission of the NIH. A BRG application should propose to apply basic bioengineering design-directed or hypothesis-driven research to an important medical or biological research area.

In parallel, NIH is issuing a PA for Bioengineering Research Partnerships (BRP). BRP applications differ from BRG applications in that they will be funded as R24 awards that support an interdisciplinary group of Partners who work together applying an integrative, multidisciplinary, systems approach to a significant area of basic bioengineering research.

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For more information, see the NIH Guide notice

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is pleased to announce the publication of the NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS). The NIHGPS is effective for all NIH grants and cooperative agreements with budget periods beginning on or after October 1, 1998, and will supersede, in its entirety, the PHS Grants Policy Statement (rev. 4/01/94, and 1/24/95) as a standard term and condition of award.

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The NIH is pleased to announce the availability of the new Electronic Notification of Grant Award service to all NIH grant and cooperative agreement recipients with the capability to receive electronic NGAs.

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The NIH is pleased to announce a new Web site dedicated to Biomedical Research Training Resources and Opportunities. It is the mission of NIH to discover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone. A critical part of this mission is the education and training of the next generation of biomedical and behavioral scientists. This new site has been designed to incorporate information about intramural and extramural training opportunities of the 21 NIH Institutes and Centers.

The Training-related resources previously found on the NIH Grants web site have been incorporated into the NIH Training web site. All links to training resources on the Grants web site now point to the NIH Training web site.

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The NIH is evaluating ways to streamline Federal regulations which govern the conduct of extramural scientific research. Five areas will constitute the initial focus of the examination: animal welfare, human subjects protections, conflict of interest, scientific misconduct, and disposal of hazardous wastes (other than radiation).

The NIH recognizes that this effort, which is intended to improve research, must involve the research community if it is to be successful. Therefore the research community is invited to share with NIH their recommendations for streamlining.

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Effective July 1, 1998, CRISP, the Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects database, will be accessible via the World Wide Web. The public will now be able to access CRISP records dating from 1972 to the present through the NIH Commons at: https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons/. The searchable CRISP database, which includes information regarding federally funded biomedical research projects conducted at universities, hospitals, and other research institutions, enables users to research scientific concepts, emerging trends and techniques, or identify specific projects and/or investigators. Since 1992, CRISP has been located on a Gopher server maintained by the National Institutes of Health. By relocating the database on the web, NIH improves the public's ability to access and search the CRISP records.

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Final Report of June 15, 1998 - Evaluation of NIH Implementation of Section 491 of the Public Health Service Act, Mandating a Program of Protection for Research Subjects. This is a very large report and is available in PDF Format With Graphics (670K).

The report documents findings from an NIH-sponsored evaluation of the implementation of Section 491 of the Public Health Service Act. For purposes of the evaluation, the study universe was defined as the 491 Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) that in 1995 operated with multiple project assurances (MPA) issued under 45CFR46, and which had conducted more than 10 initial reviews of human subjects research protocols in the previous year. The overarching general conclusion of the evaluation is that the IRB-based human subjects protection program has been implemented consistent with the regulations. Despite some perhaps unforeseen accommodations to the rising volume of human subjects research, the IRB system continues to provide an adequate level of protection at a reasonable cost.

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A regional seminar covering topics related to National Institutes of Health extramural program funding and grants administration has been scheduled for Thursday and Friday, July 9-10, 1998, in Salt Lake City, Utah. This seminar, hosted by the University of Utah, is designed to attract participants from the inter-mountain/western region, although interested individuals from other regions are welcome to attend. Individuals from small and minority educational institutions, for-profit research organizations, hospitals, universities and medical centers are encouraged to attend. The two-day seminar will feature both plenary and break-out sessions in order to provide information of interest to academic researchers, scientists, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and both new and senior research administrators.

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ASKNIH has changed its name to GrantsInfo and its email address to GrantsInfo@nih.gov in an effort to improve services to the scientific research community. Services previously provided by ASKNIH will continue. Messages sent to ASKNIH@od.nih.gov will be forwarded to the new GrantsInfo email address until November 1, 1998. The "From" address line in email replies from GrantsInfo is the correct new address, which is also provided under INQUIRIES in this notice. Please update email address books, publications, and other relevant materials.

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• Clinical Research Curriculum Awards (K30) - The NIH invites educational and research institutions to apply for the new Clinical Research Curriculum Award (CRCA) (K30). The CRCA is an award to institutions and addresses, in part, the NIH's initiative to improve the quality of training in clinical research. The NIH recognizes that highly trained clinical researchers are needed in order to capitalize on the many profound developments and discoveries in fundamental science and to translate them to clinical settings. This RFA is intended to stimulate the inclusion of high-quality, multidisciplinary didactic training as part of the career development of clinical investigators.
• Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Awards (K23) - The purpose of the Mentored Patient-oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) is to support the career development of investigators who have made a commitment to focus their research endeavors on patient-oriented research. This mechanism provides support for a period of supervised study and research for clinically trained professionals who have the potential to develop into productive, clinical investigators focussing on patient-oriented research. For the purposes of this award, patient-oriented research is defined as research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens, and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator directly interacts with human subjects. This area of research includes: 1) mechanisms of human disease; 2) therapeutic interventions; 3) clinical trials, and; 4) the development of new technologies.
• Midcareer Investigator Award In Patient-Oriented Research (K24) - The purpose of the Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24) is to provide support for clinicians to allow them protected time to devote to patient-oriented research and to act as mentors for beginning clinical investigators. The target candidates are outstanding clinical scientists engaged in patient-oriented research who are within 15 years of their specialty training, who can demonstrate the need for a period of intensive research focus as a means of enhancing their clinical research careers, and who are committed to mentoring the next generation of clinical investigators focussing on patient-oriented research. The award is intended to further the research and mentoring endeavors of outstanding patient-oriented investigators, enable them to expand their potential to make significant contributions to their field of patient-oriented research, and to act as mentors for beginning clinicians. For the purposes of this award, patient-oriented research is defined as research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens, and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator directly interacts with human subjects. This area of research includes: 1) mechanisms of human disease; 2) therapeutic interventions; 3) clinical trials, and; 4) the development of new technologies.
• New Clinical Associate Physician Award Guidelines (CAP) - The National Center for Research Resources has consolidated the three career development awards issued as competitive supplements to funded General Clinical Research Centers into one Clinical Associate Physician (CAP) award. No new applications for the Minority Clinical Associate Physician (MCAP) and Clinical Research Scholar (CRS) will be accepted.

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A regional seminar covering topics related to National Institutes of Health extramural program funding and grants administration has been scheduled for Thursday and Friday, July 9-10, 1998, in Salt Lake City, Utah. This seminar, hosted by the University of Utah, is designed to attract participants from the inter-mountain/western region, although interested individuals from other regions are welcome to attend. Individuals from small and minority educational institutions, for-profit research organizations, hospitals, universities and medical centers are encouraged to attend. The two-day seminar will feature both plenary and break-out sessions in order to provide information of interest to academic researchers, scientists, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and both new and senior research administrators.

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With this notice (NIH Guide, March 6 1998), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) establishes guidelines on the inclusion of children in research involving human subjects, including, but not limited to, clinical trials, supported or conducted by the NIH. This policy applies to all initial (Type 1) applications/ proposals and intramural projects submitted for receipt dates after October 1, 1998.

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Effective with all awards made on or after October 1, 1997, the following annual stipend levels apply to all individuals receiving support through institutional or individual National Research Service Awards (NRSA), including the Minority Access to Research Career (MARC) and Career Opportunities in Research (COR) programs. These awards are all made under the authority of Section 487 of the Public Health Service Act.

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the Commons, Extramural Inventions and Technical Resources Branch (ComEITR)
Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration
Office of Extramural Research
6701 Rockledge Drive
Suite 3190
Bethesda, MD 20892
Phone: 301-435-1986
Email: george_stone@nih.gov

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