NHLBI ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPLEMENTS FOR MICROARRAY APPLICATIONS AND ANALYSES

Release Date:  October 9, 2001

NOTICE:  NOT-HL-02-003

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
 (http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/index.htm)

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) announces the 
availability of administrative supplements to NHLBI grantees to facilitate the 
development and application of microarray technology for hypothesis-driven 
research related to cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematological, and sleep 
disorders.  The Administrative Supplement program will encourage and support 
microarray technology use for those investigators that need funds to purchase 
or fabricate arrays, purchase or develop analysis software, and/or to isolate 
appropriate tissues or cells for microarray application.  In addition to 
generating new expression data, investigators can request funds to analyze 
array data generated by NHLBI-supported investigators, such as the Programs 
for Genomic Applications (PGAs; http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/resources/pga/index.htm), 
to ask hypothesis-driven questions specifically related to their own research.  
In addition, the NHLBI wishes to improve access to cutting-edge microarray 
technology for its grantees via improved access to state-of-the-art array 
facilities.  Accordingly, the NHLBI will issue a companion initiative, the NHLBI 
Shared Microarray Facilities Program (RFA-HL-02-007).

NHLBI grantees have identified major barriers to applying high-throughput, 
genome-wide expression analysis to their research, including the lack of funds 
to purchase or fabricate microarrays, and access to sophisticated 
bioinformatics tools to evaluate primary microarray data.  Thus, the NHLBI 
will support the introduction of microarray technology and application in 
ongoing NHLBI research programs.  Examples of research areas appropriate for 
this Administrative Supplement program include, but are not limited to (1) 
determination of genome-wide expression patterns and monitoring of changes 
under normal and experimental/pathological conditions related to any 
cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematologic, or sleep disorder; (2) identification 
of novel genes or expressed sequence tags (ESTs) involved in normal function, 
and pathogenesis of diseases within NHLBI’s mission; (3) development or 
refinement of software tools to analyze gene expression data.  In addition, 
investigators can request funds to analyze already existing expression array 
data generated by NHLBI-supported investigators, such as the Programs for 
Genomic Applications.

Investigators currently supported by the following NHLBI funding mechanisms 
are eligible to apply: Research Project Grant (R01), MERIT award (R37), 
Program Project (P01), Specialized Center of Research (P50), Comprehensive 
Sickle Cell Center (P60), Cooperative Agreement (U01), and Clinical 
Cooperative Agreement (U10).  A minimum of 2 years must be remaining on an 
NHLBI-funded grant at the time a supplement is awarded.  The work proposed 
must be within the scope of the research originally recommended by peer 
review.  Applicants can request one year of support for no more than $75,000 
in total costs.

NHLBI intends to commit up to $2,250,000 in FY 2002 to fund up to 30 
supplements.  This is a one-time announcement.  However, the NHLBI may re-
release it in future years, depending on the needs of the NHLBI scientific 
community, and the availability of funds.  There will be two receipt dates for 
administrative supplements: February 15, 2002, and June 15, 2002.  Up to 15 
awards will be made for each receipt date, depending on the receipt of a 
sufficient number of qualified applications and the availability of funds.  
Anticipated award dates are June 1, 2002 for the first receipt date, and 
September 30, 2002 for the second.  Requests must be received by the 
application receipt dates; late applications will not be accepted.  Amended 
applications will not be accepted. 

To apply for an administrative supplement, send an original letter and two 
copies countersigned by the grantee institution’s authorized business official 
to Dr. Martha S. Lundberg at the address below.  The letter (5 pages limit) 
must include: 1) an abstract of the proposed supplemental activity and how it 
is related to the parent grant; 2) a detailed description of the proposed 
activity, including technical and/or analytical expertise, resources 
available, methodology, and plans for quality control; 3) expected overall 
impact of the requested supplement on ongoing research; 4) possible results, 
plans for independent confirmation and followup studies, and plans for 
dissemination of results; 5) a justification of the budget request including 
any requested equipment, physical arrays, software tools, methodologies (array 
platform), plans for data analysis and interpretation (bioinformatics), and 
plans for data sharing; and 6) current contact information for the principal 
investigator, including mailing and e-mail address.  Although these 
descriptions should be as concise as possible, sufficient detail must be 
provided to allow the NHLBI to determine the merit of the requested 
supplement.

A separate attachment (not included in the 5-page limit) should contain the 
parent grant number, abstract and specific aims, along with the budget pages 
for the requested supplement (not exceeding $75,000 in total costs for the one 
year).  The budget should be submitted in the identical format as was used for 
the parent grant’s last competing application.  That is, if the parent grant 
budget was modular, submit a modular budget, or if the parent grant was 
categorical, submit a categorical budget.  Acknowledgment of receipt of the 
supplement letter will be provided by email.  If the applicant has not 
received a response within ten business days, please contact Dr. Martha S. 
Lundberg at the address below.

Requests may include purchase of equipment, tools for array fabrication, 
ready-to-use arrays, analytical tools, or any array-associated supplies.  They 
may also include support for personnel who may collaborate with the principal 
investigator on experimental design, array construction, or array analysis. 
There is no restriction on the type of gene profiling technology that the 
applicant may select. 

NHLBI will consider supplement requests from all eligible applicants.  
Requests will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

o The proposed research falls within the scope of the parent grant and is a 
logical extension of the goals and objectives, but not sufficiently different 
to constitute new research or program expansion.  A research plan redundant 
with any portion of the studies approved under the parent grant will not be 
supported under this supplement program.

o The applicant's proposal will provide the resources and expertise necessary 
to design, perform and interpret the experiments.

o The adequacy of the applicant's plans for quality control and bioinformatics 
support and evidence that the investigator understands the uses and 
limitations of the technology and can handle data analysis and interpretation.

o Documentation and justification of the requested budget.

o The potential impact on the field.

Supplement requests will be reviewed by a committee of NHLBI extramural 
scientific staff and outside scientists with appropriate expertise in the 
relevant scientific areas.  The applicant will be notified of the evaluation 
decision within 3 months following the submission date.  Amended applications 
will not be accepted.  Award decisions will be based upon the criteria 
provided above, availability of funds, and NHLBI programmatic priorities and 
balance across heart, lung, and blood disorders. 

Direct inquiries regarding programmatic issues to:

Martha S. Lundberg, Ph.D.
Division of Heart and Vascular Diseases
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
6701 Rockledge Drive
Rockledge II, Rm 9146, MSC 7940
Bethesda, MD  20892-7940
Telephone:  (301) 435-0513
FAX:  (301) 480-1335
Email:  lundberm@nhlbi.nih.gov

Greg Evans, Ph.D. 
Division of Blood Diseases and Resources
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
6701 Rockledge Drive, Room10152, MSC 7950
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7950
Telephone:  (301) 435-0055
FAX:  (301) 480-0868
Email:  evansg@nih.gov

Sandra Colombini Hatch, M.D.
Lung Biology and Disease Program
Division of Lung Diseases
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
6701 Rockledge Drive, Suite 10124, MSC 7952
Bethesda, MD 20892-7952
Phone:  (301) 435-0222
FAX:  (301) 480-3557
Email:  hatchs@nhlbi.nih.gov

Heidi Krause-Steinrauf, M.S.
Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
6701 Rockledge Drive, Rm 8151
Rockledge II, Rm , MSC  7936
Bethesda, MD  20892-7936
Telephone:  (301) 435-0399
FAX:  (301) 480-3667
Email:  krauseh@nhlbi.nih.gov

Direct inquiries regarding fiscal matters to:

Raymond L. Zimmerman
Grants Operations Branch
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 7156, MSC 7926
Bethesda, MD  20892-7926
Telephone:  (301) 435-0171
FAX:  (301) 480-3310
Email:  ZimmmermR@nhlbi.nih.gov

Return to Volume Index

Return to NIH Guide Main Index

	Office of Extramural Research (OER)			National Institutes of Health (NIH) 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20892			Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Note: For help accessing PDF, RTF, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, RealPlayer, Video or Flash files, see Help Downloading Files.