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News Articles
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Congress Passes Project BioShield
Bill
On July 21, the much-anticipated Project BioShield bill was signed into
life, authorizing $5.6 billion over 10 years to develop and stockpile
vaccines and antidotes to biological and chemical weapons. The new legislation
also speeds procurements and approvals for new agents and enables government
to distribute non-FDA-approved treatments in emergencies.
Separate funds, new authorities
BioShield's monies are separate from NIAID's and will not pay for NIAID
research. Rather, they will procure products and fund advanced development
of agents capable of becoming licensable products through the Office
of the Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness.
Though BioShield does not provide the Institute new money, it does give
us new authorities; for example, expediting peer review and contract
procurement.
Related initiatives
The new authorities allow us to issue several initiatives
for earlier R&D using NIAID funds. This
work should ultimately transition to products that can be purchased through
BioShield.
NIAID will support a two-prong research thrust: 1) therapeutics for CDC
category A pathogens and 2) agents that protect the immune system
from radiological damage.
For Category A agents, the Institute will fund research to identify
new, potentially broad-spectrum therapeutics. Projects will span the
intermediate stages of R&D from target validation,
assay development, and high throughput screening, through preclinical
evaluation.
In FY 2005, NIAID is slated to spend up to $10 million for therapeutics
research and up to $4 million for research to prevent radiation damage.
For both topics, applicants can request up to $1.5 million in total costs
for as many as eighteen months of support.
Before you submit an application, you must get written approval from
the NIAID staff person listed in the July
23, 2004, Guide notice and include that approval with your
application.
Application receipt
date is
September 23, 2004, with awards anticipated as early as January 2005.
For more information, go to the NIAID
Project BioShield Web page. |
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Next Steps for eSNAP and Paper Progress
Reports
As NIH advances toward e-commerce, both paper and electronic progress
reports -- PHS 2590 noncompeting grant applications -- are forging ahead.
eSNAP for all
NIH is allowing all PIs with an eRA Commons account to send in electronic
progress reports, called eSNAP, for streamlined non-competing award process.
Watch the Guide to find out when you can submit your progress report
online, if you're not already doing so.
Learn more by visiting the Commons
demo and eSNAP
User Guide.
New address for paper
ICs will no longer receive paper progress reports, starting this October.
If you're still using paper, you'll ship your progress report to CSR,
which will scan it into your eRA grant folder. After you register with
the Commons, you'll be able to view this file online.
NIH has not yet announced the CSR mailing address. Until then, send
your printed progress report to:
Grants Management Program File Room
Division of Extramural Activities
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH
6700 B Rockledge Drive
Room 2200, Mail Stop Code 7610
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7610 (Use this ZIP code for the U.S. Postal Service, including express mail.)
Bethesda, MD 20817 (Use this ZIP code for commercial carriers such as FedEx and UPS.)
Attn: Mr. Courtney Grier |
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NIAID Revamps Processes for
Conference Grants
To simplify things for us all, NIAID is overhauling its modus
operandi for conference
grants (R13), which help support scientific
meetings. Streamlined reviews and summary
statements should mean a
speedier route to R13 funding.
Though you can apply as few as four to six months before a conference,
it's often to your advantage to apply even earlier, so you can leverage
NIAID support with other funds you may receive.
When seeking funding for a meeting, keep these key points in mind:
- Apply at least
four to six months before the conference. We do not fund
applications for conferences that have already taken
place.
- For recurring meetings, send a multiyear application. You can
get up to five years of support from the outset.
- We will co-fund or accept co-funding from other ICs for requests
over $5,000. Most applications are in the $15,000 to $35,000 range
and are usually co-funded.
- Request a letter from Milton
Hernández, Ph.D., director, Office
of Special Populations and Research Training, stating that we accept
the application for review. Call him at 301/496-3775 or email mh35c@nih.gov.
- New annual receipt dates: April 15, August 15, and December 15.
Read more in the September
24, 2003, Guide notice. |
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Apply for a Grant in a Women's
Health Topic
When seeking sources of funding, take a look at the research priorities
of the NIH Office of Research
on Women's Health (ORWH). Working with NIH institutes and
centers, ORWH co-funds a broad spectrum of research, including
many topics relevant to NIAID-supported investigators.
Though not a granting agency, ORWH co-funds several million dollars
in grants through institutes such as NIAID. Applications go the usual
route, through CSR.
ORWH recently published its FY 2004 research priorities to focus research
on women's health, including sex and gender factors in health and disease
and comprising basic, translational, behavioral, and clinical research.
Some of the topics relevant to this Institute are studies of the pathogenesis
of diseases that differentially affect women, systemic and cellular modeling
of biological pathways and systems related to women's health, and
clinical trial methodology, including ethical issues and study design
specific to women.
This fiscal year's special emphasis areas center around prevention,
treatment, genetics, and pharmacogenomics. Read more in FY
2004 NIH Priorities for Women's Health.
If you feel your research falls into one of these priority areas, contact
an NIAID program officer in a related area. To find program staff by
scientific area, see Contact Staff for Help and the article below, "How to Find Staff Using Our Application Referral Guidelines." |
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OLAW Tweaks Animal Welfare
Assurances Processes
Last month, the NIH Office
of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) announced
two changes for Animal Welfare
Assurances: 1) a four-year maximum duration
and 2) a December 31 preferred due date for annual reports.
From now on, OLAW is approving Animal Welfare Assurances for up
to four years rather than five. However, OLAW will generally extend approvals
to five years while they're being negotiated. For annual reports, OLAW
recommends submitting by December 31. Find more information on both topics
in the July
13, 2004, Guide notice. |
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Errata
In our last issue, we mistakenly stated in the article "When
Will NIH Accept a Late Application?" that the standard R01
receipt date for non-AIDS applications was July 1 instead of June 1. |
Opportunities and Resources
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Public SOPs Put Us All on the Same Page
To demystify many of our administrative processes, we've moved most
of NIAID's Extramural
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) from the Institute's intranet
to a new area on the Funding News Web site.
If you've ever wondered how to change your application assignment or
request a competing
grant supplement, these resources can help. They
specify investigator and staff roles and give you a step-by-step description
of application, grant, contract, and other processes, so you and your
program officer can read from the same page.
We made this move responding to your positive feedback about our two
pilot SOPs; you may remember our article in May, "SOPs
-- Delve Into the Nitty-Gritty."
Keep in mind that some information is not public. Examples are contact
information for NIH staff whose roles are internal only and the NIH Grants
Policy Statement, which is widely referenced in the SOPs. To highlight
areas you cannot access, we've put a lock icon  on
links for NIH or NIAID staff only.
Making the SOPs public is part of a larger push to open our business
practices to the community. More resources are coming, including Find
It! -- a comprehensive list of SOPs, related forms and memos that we
call "tools," and outside links. After we move most of the
tools to the Funding News site in the next few weeks, we will "unlock" those
links in the SOPs.
We hope you find these resources helpful. As always, please send your
thoughts using our Feedback form or by emailing Maya
Hadar at mhadar@niaid.nih.gov. |
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Get Funding to Help a Scientist Return to Research
NIAID grantees can get supplemental funding to hire someone who has
interrupted a research career to take time off to care for children or
for other family responsibilities.
You can receive up to three years of research
supplement support, and
your grant should have at least two years of funding left when the person
you hire
comes on board. A supplement can support full-time or part-time research
to help reentering scientists bring their research skills up to date
and be in a position to apply for a career
development (K) award, R01,
or other independent award.
Send your request for a supplement to Milton J. Hernández,
Ph.D., director, Office of Special Populations and Research Training, mh35c@nih.gov. For more information, see the July
9, 2004, Guide notice. |
Advice Corner
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How to Find Staff Using Our Application
Referral Guidelines
Capturing a detailed snapshot of NIAID's scientific programs, Contact Staff for Help gives you an inside peek at program liaisons
and other contacts for each branch in the Institute.
Use this unique resource to find staff contacts through one of two methods.
- See an overview, or navigate directly to your area of focus using
the divisional pages.
- Use the search function on the main referral guideline page to find
a branch. Search by name, area of science, or organism. If you can't
find a term, try a synonym. For organisms, try genus or species. Search
for exact phrases by putting the phrase in quotation marks.
Aside from the science-oriented referral guidelines, NIAID has other
staff information online, including DEA
contacts and Contact Staff for Help. |
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