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RePORTER Replaced CRISP On November 1, the CRISP query tool, which provided a searchable database of biomedical reserach projects funded by NIH was retired. RePORTER will replace it. Click here to go to RePORTER.

 

NIH Peer Review and Applications Changes  In December, you will need to download the new application forms (applies to both electronic SF 424 (R&R) and paper PHS 398). To better understand the new requirements, the Enhancing Peer Review website has a page dedicated to the application changes. For  Training and Communications Resources, Click here.
 

NIH Population Tracking Requirements for ARRA Awards  NIH Policy specifies that applicants for NIH funds must provide Targeted/Planned enrollment data for each clinical research protocol and Cumulative Inclusion enrollment data for each ongoing protocol. Click here for details.

 

NIH Restructures Application Forms/Instructions for FY2011 Funding Submissions NIH announced it will soon implement a shortened and restructured application format for submissions for FY2011 funding (beginning with due dates on or after January 25, 2010). Shortened page limits and restructured sections are described. Click here for details.

 

Revised PHS 2590 (Non-Competing Continuation Progress Report) Policy Changes Implemented The newly revised instructions and forms are now available and required for all annual progress report due on/after October 1, 2009. Click here for details.
 

New Requirement for eRA Commons User IDs in Postdoctoral Role The revised Continuation Progress Report for a DHHS Public Health Service Grant (PHS 2590, rev. 06/09) now requires a Commons ID for all individuals with a postdoctoral role who participate in a project for at least one person month or more. Click here for details.
 

New Reporting and Assurance Rqmts. for Training Grant Institutions NIH established new reporting/information disclosure requirements for institutions receiving NIH awards for the training of graduate students for doctoral degrees. Click here for details.
 

xTrain Expands NIH invites all institutions registered with the electronic Research Administration (eRA) Commons to use the xTrain Commons module to prepare and submit appointment forms and other related documents for NIH institutional career development awards (K12s and KL2s) and NLM research training grants (T15s). Click here for details.

Recovery Act of 2009: Info on Quarterly Reporting Rqmts for NIH Award Recipients
 NIH developed resources to help extramural grant and cooperative agreement award recipients fulfill reporting requirements. Section 1512 requires a quarterly report, due no later than 10 calendar days after each calendar quarter in which the recipient receives the award (Jan 10, April 10, July 10, and Oct 10). Cumulative quarterly reports include standard info as defined by the Act. On June 22, 2009 OMB issued a memo providing more information on reporting requirements for the first quarterly report due on October 10, 2009. Click here for reporting resources.


UAMS IRB Fees to Increase as of July 1, 2009 Beginning the first day of July 2009, UAMS IRB rates will change. However, rates for funded projects submitted before July 1st will remain the same for the life of the project. Click here for details.
 

Recovery Act Grand Opportunities GO Submission Deadline moved to May 29, 2009 The deadline is extended Click here for details.


Extension for Electronic Submission of NIH Challenge Grants and Funding Opportunities  For Grants with Submission Deadlines from April 27 through May 1, 2009. Click here for details.
 

NIH Public Comment Period for Draft Stem Cell Guidelines through May 26, 2009 NIH has issued a Federal Register Notice requesting public comment on draft guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research. Draft guidelines are available for review on the NIH stem cell website. Comments can be entered at http://nihoerextra.nih.gov/stem_cells/add.htm. All comments must be received on or before May 26, 2009.

NIH Removes Barriers to Human Stem Cell Research
April 17, 2009, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) posted draft guidelines for implementation of Executive Order 13505: Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells. These draft guidelines will be published in the Federal Register for public comment next week. In addition, NIH has released a Guide Notice NOT-OD-09-085 
that explains how NIH applicants and grantees should proceed with applications and/or awards that include the use of human embryonic stem cells.

Administrative Supplement Requests vs. Competitive Revision Applications  For a comparison of the specific differences, Click here.

ARRA Supplement Due Dates (with Institute links) Prepared by the UAMS Office of Grants and Scientific Publications, Click here.
 
Overview of current NIH ARRA options Prepared by the UAMS Office of Grants and Scientific Publications, Click here.

NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research
As part of the American Recovery/Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), NIH has designated at least $200 million in FYs 2009 - 2010 for a new initiative called the NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research, to fund 200 or more grants, contingent upon the submission of a sufficient number of scientifically meritorious applications. In addition, Recovery Act funds allocated to NIH specifically for comparative effectiveness research (CER) may be available to support additional grants.

This new program will support research on Challenge Topics which address specific scientific and health research challenges in biomedical and behavioral research that will benefit from significant 2-year jumpstart funds. NIH Challenge Areas focus on specific knowledge gaps, scientific opportunities, new technologies, data generation, or research methods that would benefit from an influx of funds to quickly advance the area in significant ways. The research in these areas should have a high impact in biomedical or behavioral science and/or public health. Click here for details...


NCRR Funding Opportunities from ARRA Funds
Intended to stimulate the economy, NCRR will administer up to $1.3 billion in federal grants through the following funding opportunities:

Core Facility Renovation, Repair and Improvement (G20), RFA-RR-09-007. Designed to upgrade extramural core facilities to support biomedical and/or behavioral research. See Full Announcement >>

Recovery Act Limited Competition: Extramural Research Facilities Improvement Program (C06), RFA-RR-09-008. Designed to construct, renovate, or repair biomedical or behavioral research facilities. See Full Announcement >>

Addition of Recovery Funds to the Shared Instrumentation Grants Program (S10), NOT-RR-09-008. Seeks applications from groups of NIH-supported investigators to buy or upgrade instruments costing $100,000 or more. The maximum award is $500,000. See Full Announcement >>

Recovery Act Limited Competition: High-end Instrumentation Grant Program (S10), PAR-RR-09-118. Seeks applications from groups of NIH-supported investigators to purchase a single major item of equipment to be used for biomedical research costing $600,000 or more. The maximum award is $8 million. See Full Announcement >>

Check for future updates and funding opportunities at www.ncrr.nih.gov/recovery.

NIAID Strategy for Funding After the Stimulus
NIAID's % increase after FY09 is not likely to increase enough to make up for the end of stimulus funds. Therefore, FY2011 is expected to be a very difficult year to get funding (whether funded from the stimulus funds or regular appropriations). NIAID suggests investigators: 1) Start writing your next grant now for FY 2010 funding on a different, but related topic; and 2) Get research done so you can strongly justify your grant's recompetition. Keep timing options open, recognizing FY 2011, and the year or two following will be very difficult for applicants.
[Note: If you receive an FY09 stimulus two-year grant, NIAID cannot fund a resubmission to that award, but will be able to terminate it if you submit a renewal early and get a fundable score.] Click here for details...

Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE)
National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) seeks applications from investigators at biomedical research institutions (PhD awarding) in the health sciences/sciences related to health/independent biomedical research institutes within Institutional Development Award (IDeA) eligible states. The COBRE objective is to strengthen an institution's biomedical research infrastructure through a thematic multi-disciplinary center and enhance the ability of investigators to compete independently for complementary NIH individual research grants/other external peer-reviewed support. Click here for details...

NIH sets Salary Limits on Grants/Cooperative Agreements/ Contracts Under the Current Continuing Resolution
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, Public Law 110-161, restricts an individual's direct salary amount under an NIH grant to Executive Level I of the Federal Executive Pay scale. Click here for details...



NIH urges Eligible PIs to establish Early Stage Investigator Status
PIs who have received PhDs/MDs in the past 10 years and who have not received a big NIH research grant, may be eligible to qualify as an Early Stage Investigator (ESI; a subset of the New Investigator category). As such, your R01 grant applications will be flagged as ESI and reviewers will be instructed to focus more on the research than on the track record, beginning May 2009.
Click here for details...

 

NIH Announces Updated Implementation Timeline
In response to NIH peer review system policy changes, NIH has established a timeline for changes to the; 1) number of reviews allowed, 2) grant scoring system changes, and 3) shorter NIH grant application page limits. Click here for details...


NSF Announces Revised Salary Policy Effective January 5, 2009
The agency will no longer limit NSF salary support to summer effort. NSF explains, “this change moves away from the concept of summer salary and allows for reimbursement of two months of salary per year whenever appropriate during the year.”  NSF’s salary policy change aligns the agency with other federal agencies, most of which allow nine-month faculty to work on their grants at any time during the academic year as well as during the summer. Click here for details...
 

NIH Announces Policy Changes on Resubmissions
Beginning with original new applications (i.e., never submitted) and competing renewal applications submitted for the January 25, 2009 due dates and beyond, the NIH will accept only a single amendment to the original application. Failure to receive funding after two submissions (i.e., the original and the single amendment) will mean that the applicant should substantially re-design the project rather than simply change the application in response to previous reviews. Click here for details...
 

NIH Policy Designates Early Stage Investigators
Under the policy, new investigators within ten years of completing their terminal research degree or within ten years of completing their medical residency will be designated Early Stage Investigators (ESIs). NIH research grant (R01) applications from ESIs will be identified and the applicant's career stage will be considered at the time of review and award. It is hoped that by providing an advantage for ESIs, NIH will directly encourage earlier application for NIH research grants. Implementation will begin with R01 applications of February 2009 receipt. Click here for details...
 

NIH Changes to Improve the NIH Peer Review System
The changes focus on 4 themes: 1) engage the best reviewers; 2) improve the quality and transparency of reviews; 3) ensure balanced and fair reviews across scientific fields/career stages and reduce the burden on applicants; and 4) develop a permanent review process for the peer review process. Also recommended was the creation of new funds for new or "early stage" investigators. Changes will come in stages with the first including:

  • Shortening of grant applications and other related changes (e.g., R01s will be shortened to 12 pgs, instead of 21).

  • New review criteria (5 specific review criteria: impact, investigator(s), innovation/originality, project plan/feasibility, and environment). A summary statement template with separate field/allowable space for criterion will also be added along with a reviewers' field (if they choose) to advise on grant updating/resubmission.

  • New scoring system will allow reviewers to give individual scores for each of five review criteria (1-7) and a prelim. global score. After initial scoring, all proposals in related groups will be discussed and ranked.

  • New grant pools will be designed to expand the Pioneer, EUREKA, and new innovator awards to encourage applicant risk-taking. There may be new scoring for grants with "transformative potential." NIH plans to set aside $250 million for this type of grant.

Future changes will include: 2-stage review (editorial board model) and the use of "prebutals" to allow applicants to fix factual errors found during the review process; and the creation of a peer review oversight board within the Div. of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives for ongoing review process improvements. Click here for more details...
 

Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) Policy
OHRP seeking info/comments about whether to: 1) issue additional guidance to institutions engaged in human subject research conducted or supported by the Dept. of Health and Human Services, and/or 2) require mandatory implementation of training and education programs concerning research with human subjects.

Click here for details...


Updated NIH Public Access Policy
Beginning May 25, 2008, anyone submitting an application, proposal or progress report to the NIH must include the PMC or NIH Manuscript Submission reference number when citing applicable articles that arise from their NIH funded research. This policy includes applications submitted to the NIH for the May 25, 2008 due date and subsequent due dates. Click here for details...
 

General Services Administration (GSA) Announcement - Change in Payment Process for NIH Study Section Members
As of May 16th, 2008, NIH study section members need no longer register with CCR/DUNS. (The CCR system will no longer be used to pay study section members.) NOTE: Current study section members that are registered with CCR should not renew their CCR/DUNS registration (when prompted) and any study section member not yet registered with CCR/DUNS, should not register. Since NIH has yet to decide how study section members will be paid, it is important that study section members contact their study section SRO for further instructions. For details, Email Galen Wenger.
 

NIH - Authentication of Cultured Cell Lines
An important issue associated with cultured cell research has come to light. Research based on misidentified or contaminated cultures may alter experimental outcome significantly. It has been recommended that granting agencies restrict funding to institutions not using available authentication procedures...Grant applications that fail to employ such practices would not be considered of the highest quality and such manuscripts would not fare well in the journal review process. Click here for details...
 

NIH and Grants.gov Software Potential Problem

Your NIH grant application package must be opened with software that is compatible with Grants.gov. The compatible version of Adobe Reader is required for viewing, editing and submitting a complete grant application package to Grants.gov. Any and all edits made to the Adobe Reader application package must be made with the compatible version of Adobe Reader. Click here for details...
 

American Academy of Arts and Sciences - ARISE
I
n 2008, the AAAS published a white paper entitled ARISE (Advancing Research in Science and Engineering). The goal of the document is to provide recommendations to Federal Agencies, Universities, and private Foundations for investing in/supporting Early-Career Scientists and High-Risk, High Reward Research. Click here for details...

Science Café

Obesity: Young & Old

November 24, 2009, 7-9 p.m.  Vieux Carre/Afterthought, 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd (Hillcrest), Little Rock, AR. See the Science Cafe website Location page for a map/menus.                                                                                                                                             ______________________________________

Reza Hakkak, Ph.D., Professor and Chairman of the Dept. of Dietetics & Nutrition, College of Health Related Professions, UAMS, Little Rock, AR

 

Judy Weber, M.D. , Associate Professor, College of Medicine, Dept. of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, UAMS, Little Rock, AR
 

John Baker, M.D., Medical Director, Baptist Health Weight Loss Center, Baptist Health Medical Ctr., Little Rock, AR

 

Karen Young, M.D., Medical Director, Arkansas Children's Hospital Fitness Clinic, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, UAMS, Little Rock, AR

______________________________________

Radio Sneak Peak  Each month one of the SC panel of scientists/experts will provide a sneak peek just before the 7:00 p.m. event, (6:05-6:30 p.m.) as a guest on a new KUAR-FM89 science talk show hosted by our own Dorothy Miles.

Moderator -
Dorothy Miles, Ph.D., Research associate with UAMS/Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Research Institute; news anchor/reporter for
KUAR FM89

For more information, check the Science Café website or Email Linda Williams.

 

 

 


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