Extramural Policy and Review Activities

Receipt, Referral, and Review

NIDA received 1426 applications, including both primary and dual assignments, for which the Office of Extramural Affairs (OEA) managed the programmatic referral process during this Council cycle. Of these, NIDA received the primary assignment on 1281 applications.

OEA arranged and managed 33 grant review meetings in which 663 applications were evaluated. OEA's reviews included applications in chartered, standing review committees and Special Emphasis Panels (SEPs). In addition, OEA's Contracts Review Branch (CRB) arranged and managed 23 contract proposal and contract proposal concept reviews.

NIDA's chartered committees consist of NIDA-E (Treatment Review Committee), NIDA-F (Health Services Review Committee), NIDA-L (Medications Development Committee), and NIDA-K (Training Committee). In addition to meetings of each of these committees, OEA staff held 29 Special Emphasis Panels for a variety of reasons:

Conflicts with the chartered committees
Program Project grant applications
Behavioral Science Track Award for Rapid Transition (B/START)
Imaging Science Track Award for Research Transition (I/START)
Cutting-Edge Basic Research Awards (CEBRA) (R21)
Conference Grants (R13)
Mechanism for Time-Sensitive Research Opportunities (R01)
Requests for Applications (RFAs)
Loan Repayment Program

OEA managed the following RFA reviews:

• DA08-003: 2008 NIDA Avant-Garde Award Program for HIV/AIDS Research (DP1)
• DA08-007: The Interaction of HIV, Drug Use, and the Criminal Justice System (R01)
• DA08-008: Research on HIV/AIDS and Drug Use in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) (R03)
• DA08-009: HIV-1 and Host Genetics in Drug Using Populations and Model Organisms (R01)
• DA08-010: The National Institute on Drug Abuse HIV/AIDS Pilot Proteomics Centers (P20)
• DA08-011: Drug Interactions in Substance Abusers With HIV Infection and Other Comorbid Conditions (R01)
• DA08-012: Resource Core Transdisciplinary Prevention Research Centers (P30)
• DA08-013 /014 /015: Substance Abuse and Glial Regulation of Nervous System Function (R03, R21, R01)
• DA08-016 /017: Non-Coding RNAs And Other Post-Transcriptional Regulatory Mechanisms in Neuroplasticity and Addiction (R01, R03)
• DA08-020: Facilitating Self-Control of Substance Abuse Related Brain Activity Through Real-Time Monitoring of fMRI Signals (R21/R33)-NIAAA Review
• DA08-021: Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for Drug Abuse in General Medical Settings (R01)
• DA08-022: Exploratory Centers For Translational Research on the Clinical Neurobiology of Drug Addiction (P20)
• DA08-024 /025: Extinction and Pharmacotherapies for Drug Addiction (R03, R01)

Completed Concept and Contract Reviews from the Contracts Review Branch since the last Council are as follows:

Concept Reviews (R&D)

• N01DA-9-5547: Measuring Propensity to and Severity of Addiction

Concept Reviews SBIR Phase I

• N43DA-9-5545: Innovative Technologies to Support Economic Research in the Drug Abuse Treatment System
• N43DA-9-5541: Instrument Development
• N43DA-9-5542: Rapid Assessment Tools of Sexual and Drug Use Risk Behaviors
• N43DA-9-5543: Electronic Drug Abuse Treatment Referral Systems for Physicians
• N43DA-9-5544: Virtual Reality Simulations to Train Caregivers/Providers
• N43DA-9-5546: Improvement of Reliability and Validity of Reporting of Sensitive Data
• N43DA-9-8884: Development of Therapeutic Agents for Substance Use Disorders
• N43DA-9-8885: Pharmaceutical Approaches for Development of Pharmacotherapies for Drug Addiction
• N43DA-9-8886: Design and Synthesis of Treatment Agents for Drug Abuse
• N43DA-9-8887: Repository for Substance Abuse Brain Imaging Data (SBIR/STTR)
• N43DA-9-8888: Web Based Cognitive/Neuropsychological Testing for Substance Abuse
• N43DA-9-1138: Development of Science Education Materials or Programs
• N43DA-9-7768: Screening, Characterization and Validation Assays for Protein Capture Reagents
• N43DA-9-7769: Tool Development for New or Improved Capture Reagents

Phase II SBIR Contract Reviews

• N44DA-8-2210: Development of SA Training Methods
• N44DA-8-5536: Develop State-of-the-Art Mechanisms for Epidemiological Research

R&D and non-R&D Contract Reviews

• NO1DA-8-1137: International Research Training and Support
• NO1DA-8-5540: CJDATS 2: Coordinating Center and Data and Safety Monitoring Board Support
• NO1DA-8-7766: Synthetic Peptides & Other Drugs of Abuse - Purity Determination, Stability Testing & Quantitative Analysis
• NO1DA-8-8877: Receptor Profiling
• NO1DA-8-8878: Medications Development for Stimulant Dependence 3 (MDS 3)
• NO1DA-8-8880: Toxicological Evaluations of Potential Medications to Treat Drug Abuse

Certificates of Confidentiality

Between March 21, 2008 and August 4, 2008, OEA processed 109 Certificate applications, including 20 for extension of expiration dates and 7 for amended protocols.

Staff Training and Development

The OEA Symposium Series, a forum for staff training and sharing of ideas and information, continued through the summer. Activities included open forums for discussions and presentations that included NIDA's International Program, the NIDA Networking Project, NIH Public Access Policy, protection of sensitive data and information used in research, Notice on modified application submission, referral and review for appointed NIH study section members, and the latest on Enhancing Peer Review.