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March 24, 2009

Letter from Dr. Stephen I. Katz: New Funding Opportunities related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

Dear Colleagues:

I am pleased to report the release of many new NIH funding opportunities supported by stimulus funds as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Previously, I told you about the Challenge Grant announcement, which supports 2-year RC1 grants to address specific health and science challenges (up to $500,000 total costs per year). The Challenge Grants include a big umbrella of areas that cover the NIAMS mission, and they are meant to be interpreted quite broadly. With the addition of four new announcements, and more to come, all investigators pursuing NIAMS-related research should be able to participate in this unprecedented activity.

Grand Opportunities

The newly-released Grand Opportunities (GO) initiative invites proposals for larger budget projects (greater than $500,000 total costs per year) that address important topics in the NIAMS mission areas and open new avenues of discovery through a substantial, short-term investment of ARRA funds. Ideally, Grand Opportunities RC2 grants should catapult a field forward so that new research questions could then be addressed. The forward leap should allow investigators to propose more innovative (and competitive) proposals for research projects in the future. NIAMS encourages the submission of proposals to create or organize something new, but these proposals should define how this effort will be sustained after the 2 years of ARRA funding, beyond Fiscal Year (FY) 2010.

Supplemental Funding

Three opportunities, released on March 18, 2009, are to provide researchers with supplemental funds that can be used to accelerate the pace of scientific research on active grants, with the additional goal of promoting job creation and economic development, consistent with ARRA priorities:

• ARRA Competitive Revision Supplements (formerly known as "competitive supplements") will support new research aims outside of the scope of parent awards. These supplements will fund a significant expansion of the scope or research protocol of approved and funded projects (April 21, 2009, deadline).
• ARRA Administrative Supplements are for a continuation of aims in parent awards. These supplements can be used to cover costs that are associated with increasing the pace of scientific research and/or achieving limited new research objectives, as long as they are within the original scope of the parent grant (FY 2009 requests will be received until July 15, 2009).
• ARRA Administrative Supplements for Students and Science Educators are also for activities within the general scope of current awards. These supplements will encourage students to seriously pursue research careers in the health-related sciences, as well as provide science educators with short-term research experiences in NIH-funded laboratories. NIAMS strongly encourages the participation of individuals from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral research, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds (FY 2009 requests will be received until June 15, 2009).

It is important to recognize that ARRA funds are distinct from NIAMS' annual appropriation, and will be managed separately. Hence, accomplishments from ARRA supplements must be reported separately from the accomplishments of parent awards, according to a specific set of guidelines (see Standard Terms and Conditions for ARRA Awards). NIH is responsible for an unprecedented level of accountability and transparency in its use of ARRA funds and will apply a higher level of scrutiny and reporting requirements for these funds, in order to demonstrate the impact of ARRA support.

FY2009 Paylines

Now that we have a FY 2009 appropriation, we have altered our paylines to reflect the increased support of NIAMS. Please go to our budget page to review these new paylines.

New Investigators

New investigators are essential to the health of this country's biomedical research enterprise, and NIAMS is making a special effort to help new investigators gain independent funding. For example, NIAMS will typically fund applications from new investigators beyond the payline for R01 awards for established investigators.

NIAMS has developed additional guidelines for new investigators, in relation to ARRA funds. In this vein, NIAMS will accept requests for ARRA administrative supplements, as described above, to fund an additional year of support for career awards in their final year (K01, K02, K08, K23, K25, and K99).

I would like to point out that several grants supported by ARRA funds, such as the 2-year R01s (unfunded FY 2009 applications) and RC1 Challenge Grants, constitute substantial research funding. Thus, a principal investigator on one of these grants would not be eligible for new investigator status on future applications. New investigators should carefully consider the trade-off between receiving a 2-year award with immediately available ARRA funds, versus the loss of new investigator status when applying for a 4- or 5-year R01 in the future. NIAMS will consider all unfunded FY 2009 applications between the published, established investigator payline and some higher percentile for ARRA-supported R01s, based on the availability of funds. For new investigators who fall within these percentiles, NIAMS will work to provide awards for 4 to 5 years from the Institute's annual appropriation. This will allow the development of a new project and a new research career, to their greatest potential.

Broad Initiatives

The ARRA-funded initiatives to date offer a wide range of possibilities for investigators involved in all aspects of arthritis, musculoskeletal, and skin diseases research. I encourage you to review these announcements, as well as forthcoming ones, with a broad vision as they relate to your research interests. We have the opportunity to make great strides in finding answers and developing treatments for the many diseases in the NIAMS mission areas, and to participate in the recovery of the Nation's economy.

Once again, we are very grateful to President Obama and the U.S. Congress for this unprecedented opportunity. We welcome your questions and comments, and, most importantly, your participation!

More information is available on the following Web sites:

http://www.recovery.gov/
http://www.niams.nih.gov/

 

Stephen I. Katz, M.D., Ph.D.
Director
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
National Institutes of Health
Department of Health and Human Services