NIAID Funding News -- March 5, 2004

News Articles

• Only Our Name Has Changed
• Final FY 2004 Budget Picture
• Inflation Will Likely Overtake Biomedical Funding
• eSNAP Expands to New Members

Funding Opportunities and Resources

• Pioneer Award Breaks New Ground for Grants
• All Systems Are Go for NIAID's Online Swine Resource
• Use NCRR Resources to Follow Gene Transfer Patients
• IOM Report Calls Diversity an Issue in Health Professions

Advice Corner

• Reader Question on Exploratory/Developmental (R21) Bioengineering Research Grants
• Reader Questions on Foreign Awards

New Initiatives

• Development of Assays for High Throughput Drug Screening (PA)

News Articles

Only Our Name Has Changed

NIAID Council News is now NIAID Funding News, a change that matches up our newsletter and Web site and better reflects our focus. Despite a new moniker, we'll continue to email and post online our usual news, information, and advice.

Final FY 2004 Budget Picture

At a little over $4.3 billion, NIAID's FY 2004 budget is 16.2 percent bigger than last fiscal year's. The figure includes $150 million for the Global Fund for AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis and an NIH-wide $30 million rescission, a spending authority revoked by either Congress or the President.

Financial management plan's online

We've just published NIAID's FY 2004 financial management plan, salary caps, NRSA stipends, and new paylines on our Paylines and budget page.

For FY 2004, we'll fund R01s at the 20.0 percentile, and nonmodular, noncompeting grants will get a 3.0 percent increase. Competing renewal applications are capped at 20 percent above the cost of the last year of the previous award.

NIAID is setting aside $9 million for selective pay and $18 million for bridge awards.

New salary caps and stipends

Principal investigators can now earn up to $174,500; read more in the February 13 Guide notice. See the new training stipends at NRSA Stipend Levels -- FY 2004.

Inflation Will Likely Overtake Biomedical Funding

You might find your funds lagging inflation because NIH's budget is not expected to grow as fast as the Biomedical Research and Development Price Index (BRDPI), pronounced "bird pie."

The BRDPI measures changes in the weighted-average price of items such as personnel services, supplies, and equipment purchased with NIH funds. It shows how much our budget would need to rise to keep purchasing power steady.

If trends continue, the BRDPI will likely outstrip inflationary increases to nonmodular, noncompeting grants. Though NIH forecasted a 3.1 rise in the BRDPI in FY 2003, it actually soared 4.6 percent, largely due to an unexpected surge in the cost of biomedical research compared to the general rate of inflation.

Under an interagency agreement with NIH, the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce develops the BRDPI and updates it annually. Each December, we get an estimated BRDPI for the ending fiscal year.

eSNAP Expands to New Members

NIH has opened its electronic streamlined noncompeting award process (eSNAP) pilot to all members of the Federal Demonstration Partnership, a cooperative initiative among federal agencies and grantee institutions.

Part of the NIH Electronic Research Administration (eRA) Commons, eSNAP allows you to submit a SNAP progress report online. Once you enroll in Commons and register for eSNAP, you can file your progress report electronically and meet your annual requirement for continued funding.

Enrolling brings benefits. eSNAP gives project officers and grant specialists simultaneous access to your account, speeds up the review process, and lets you check out the status of your noncompeting application.

To find out more about registering, visit NIH expands eSNAP, Send Us an Annual Progress Report, and eSNAP on eRA Commons.

As a part of the pilot, NIH is testing changes to certain SNAP business processes that institutions must agree to test before NIH will give them access to eSNAP.

Learn more about electronic applications from the eRA home page, eRA/SBIR Partnerships and Success Stories, and NIH Prepares to Expand Electronic Application Pilot.

To get more information about grant opportunities and applications take a look at Grants.gov.

Funding Opportunities and Resources

Pioneer Award Breaks New Ground for Grants

Here's a funding opportunity worth looking into! The Director's Pioneer Award, part of Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni's Roadmap initiative, steers grant applications into brand new territory. Bypassing standard NIH peer review, the award lets you nominate yourself or other worthy investigators for a five-year award.

NIH will accept initial online nominations March 1, 2004, through midnight April 1, 2004, EST. For more information, visit the NIH Director's Pioneer Award Web site.

All Systems Are Go for NIAID's Online Swine Resource

If you're using or considering pigs for your research, you'll be glad to hear about the National Swine Resource and Research Center (NSRRC), a new central resource for reagents and information as well as training for the development of swine models.

Established late last year, the NSRRC performs several functions, including rederivation, health monitoring, and distribution of high quality, pathogen-free pigs. NSRRC is supported by NIH's National Center for Research Resources; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and NIAID.

To learn more, visit NSRRC's Web site. While online, you can propose new strains, apply for swine strain submission, and request various swine strains and materials.

Use NCRR Resources to Follow Gene Transfer Patients

The National Center for Research Resources is offering services to help you comply with FDA requirements for following patients who have participated in gene transfer studies.

Due to mishaps in the field, FDA requires investigators to follow research subjects for 15 years and document plans for doing so in their IND applications. After grant support ends, complying with this requirement can be challenging.

NCRR can help by providing clinical space, nursing, scheduling, lab tests, and phlebotomy at a General Clinical Research Center (GCRC). Institutions will get reimbursed from the trial sponsor according to GCRC Guidelines.

For more information, read the January 28, 2004, Guide notice or call Dr. Richard A. Knazek at 301/435-0792.

IOM Report Calls Diversity an Issue in Health Professions

According to a new report by the National Academies' Institute of Medicine (IOM), health professions in the U.S. still suffer from a continued underrepresentation of minorities.

The Nation's Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce explores possible reasons for the problem, the importance of turning the tide, and institutional and policy-level strategies to remedy the situation.

In its introduction, IOM cites NIH as doing its part to increase diversity, "NIH has recognized the need for greater racial and ethnic diversity among health researchers and offers a number of grant programs to enhance the career development of minority health researchers."

To learn more about NIAID support of underrepresented minorities, see our Research training and career development awards Web page.

Advice Corner

Reader Question on Exploratory/Developmental (R21) Bioengineering Research Grants

Duygun Erol, Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt University, asked:

"My advisor and I are planning to submit an R21 grant application for June 1. On your Web site, I found an example of an RO1 that gives us an idea of the important details of a proposal. Do you have an example for Exploratory/Developmental (R21) Bioengineering Research applications also?"

We don't have an example of an R21 application. However, our Annotated R01 Research Plan and Summary Statement is a good reference to use as a guide.

When writing an R21 application, you should also consider the following:

• Include limited preliminary data.
• Use the same approach as an R01 application but propose less.
  • Make your Research Plan, sections a-d in the PHS 398 application, no longer than 15 pages.
  • Use the Annotated R01 Grant Application as a good indication of the rigor of research design that peer reviewers look for.
• Carefully follow the instructions in the R21 program announcement.

Reader Questions on Foreign Awards

We've gotten a number of reader questions about foreign grantees and PIs. Here are some answers.

Who can and cannot work with sensitive materials?

The U.S. Patriot Act restricts some people from working with select agents. For lists of relevant pathogens, go to the Possession, Use, and Transfer of Select Agents and Toxins; Interim Final Rule, 42 CFR Part 72.

People restricted under the Patriot Act are:

• Aliens, other than U.S. permanent residents, who are nationals of a country on the State Department's list of countries supporting international terrorism. This is currently Iran, Iraq, Syria, Cuba, North Korea, and Sudan; the list can change.
• Persons who admit using or are convicted users of a controlled substance.
• People under indictment or convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year.
• Veterans dishonorably discharged from the U.S. armed services.
• Fugitives from justice.
• Aliens illegally in the U.S.
• Persons adjudicated as mentally defective or committed to a mental institution.

Foreign investigators who are permanent residents and not restricted, i.e., have a "green card" are allowed to conduct research using potential bioterrorism agents.

The Patriot Act applies to grantees, contractors, trainees, and graduate students paid by any government award. Violations can be punished with a $10,000 fine, 10 years imprisonment, or both.

Your institution determines how to apply and enforce the law. If the Patriot Act affects you, call your business office for advice.

Does visa status affect my ability to work on an NIH grant?

To be a PI or other personnel supported by NIH grant funds, you don't have to be a U.S. citizen; however, you do have to remain here long enough to finish your project.

If you do not have a permanent visa, state in your application that your visa will allow you to remain in this country long enough for you to be productive on the project.

We may not be able to issue an award, or your institution -- the grantee -- would have to nominate a replacement PI, if your visa doesn't cover the life of the grant and you cannot assure us that you will be getting one that does.

Your institution retains the "interests and rights" to your grant. If you decide to change institutions, your institution can either relinquish the award to your new institution, including to a foreign institution, or nominate a replacement PI.

NIAID can also terminate a grant if we find out your visa does not allow for a long enough stay.

Can foreign applicants succeed in obtaining an NIH grant?

Foreign applicants can and do succeed in obtaining NIH grants.

In addition to the regular review criteria, reviewers rate foreign applications for their ability to bring in talent or resources not available in the U.S. or to augment U.S. resources.

It helps to have something unique

If you're a foreign applicant, you have a good chance of getting funded if either the expertise or resources are not available here -- for example, access to a unique study population.

Reviewers will check whether your application proposes research similar to that being done by U.S. investigators and whether there is a need for the research. If similar research is being done, your application will suffer in review. If researching select agents, follow the Procedure for New and Continuing Grants that Include Foreign Institutions.

As a foreign applicant, you may not request money for alterations and renovations to your facilities.

Get help from NIAID

NIAID has two offices that can help foreign institutions. The Institute's Office of Global Affairs performs diverse activities, including managing databases on international activities, disseminating information on infectious diseases, performing country-specific analysis and support, and facilitating collaborations between NIAID and international organizations.

For help, call Dr. Karl Western at 301/496-6721 or email kwestern@niaid.nih.gov.

The Office of International Extramural Activities can help you with international financial systems and management of NIH grants and contracts, including guidance in setting up accounts that meet U.S. standards.

For help, call Dr. Paula Strickland at 301/435-8563 or email pstricklan@niaid.nih.gov.

New Initiatives

• Development of Assays for High Throughput Drug Screening (PA)