October 26, 2006

News Articles

• Application Receipt Dates Are Changing
• Funding Under the Continuing Resolution
• Use the New Fellowship Forms

Opportunities and Resources

• E-Applications: Register for Seminar and Lab
• Weigh In on the Direction of the NIH Roadmap
• Wanted: Innovative Researchers for NIH Director's Pioneer Awards
• NIH Loan Repayment Programs Prove Invaluable

Advice Corner

• Tutorial Update: How to Write a Grant Application
• Reader Question: New Investigator Status

New Initiatives

• No new initiatives have been published since our last newsletter. See the NIH Funding Opportunities Relevant to NIAID for older initiatives.

	News Articles

Application Receipt Dates Are Changing

Starting in January, NIH will shift receipt dates for some grant applications. This move will help spur our growing crowd of electronic applications through cyberspace by thinning the numbers entering the system at the same time.

NIH expects the new timetable to reduce the system and workload bottlenecks that have plagued applicants, Grants.gov, the eRA Commons, both help desks, and NIH's extramural staff, translating into better service for the community.

If you're a new investigator, take note of the new R01 resubmission receipt date listed in the second section.

Read more in the October 5, 2006, Guide notice.

New NIH Receipt Dates

The table lists the NIH standard receipt dates for the most common funding mechanisms. Opportunities with special receipt dates are always due on the date listed in the funding opportunity announcement.

* September 25 is the only submission date for NIAID T32 applications.

** NIAID does not support these mechanisms.

Funding Under the Continuing Resolution

On September 26, Congress passed a continuing resolution, extending NIH's funding at the fiscal year 2006 level through November 17, 2006.

The continuing resolution enables us to fund a limited number of awards. NIAID has set a provisional R01 payline at the 10 percentile until we get a budget for FY 2007.

NIH will issue noncompeting research grant awards at a lower level than shown on your most recent Notice of Grant Award, typically up to 80 percent of the previously committed level. NIH hopes to raise this level once we get a final appropriation, but meanwhile you should watch your expenditures carefully. Read more in the October 6, 2006, Guide notice.

We'll continue to update the Paylines and Budget page. If you'd like to be notified when we get NIAID's final paylines, choose that interest category when you Subscribe to Email Alerts.

Use the New Fellowship Forms

Start using the latest PHS 416-1 forms and instructions now. Revisions went into effect with the October 5, 2006, Guide notice.

Here's a summary of the changes:

• Your eRA Commons user name is required.
• Clarified requirements for "Item 27. Doctoral Dissertation and Other Research Experience."
• New tuition reimbursement and appendix material policies implemented.

While we're on the subject, all fellows should be registered as PIs in the eRA Commons. They should be affiliated with the sponsoring organization, not their home organization. Read more Guidance to Applicant Organizations about Registering Research Fellows in the eRA Commons.

	Opportunities and Resources

E-Applications: Register for Seminar and Lab

Take these opportunities to learn more about e-applications and experience the process for yourself.

On Tuesday, December 5, NIH will share the latest advice for submitting applications online. Two sessions will be held, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. If you can't attend, you can watch a videocast of the morning session. Watch the NIH Training site for videocast details.

For hands-on training, sign up for one of the computer lab sessions offered December 4 through 6. Our experts will guide you through the submission process.

Seating is limited, so register soon at NIH Training.

Weigh In on the Direction of the NIH Roadmap

Help shape plans for NIH's 2008 Roadmap funding opportunities. Check the criteria in the October 20, 2006, Guide notice, then nominate new ideas or comment on already-submitted ideas at the Request for Information.

The proposed initiatives should:

• Break down barriers to basic, translational, or clinical research through novel approaches.
• Fill knowledge gaps that impede research across a broad spectrum of health science.

The Roadmap funds biomedical and behavioral research to speed the discovery and translation of scientific knowledge into public health benefits. Go to NIH Roadmap for more information.

Wanted: Innovative Researchers for NIH Director's Pioneer Awards

Are you an "outside of the box" thinker with innovative research ideas? Answer the call for 2007 Pioneer Award applications, announced in the October 11, 2006, Guide notice.

The application period opens on December 1 and closes on January 16, 2007, at 5 p.m. your institution's local time. Since the application process is electronic, be sure you register ahead of time. See Plan Ahead for Electronic Application.

Now in its third year, the Pioneer Award is a key component of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. It supports scientists who pursue highly innovative research that has the potential to make significant advances in human health. The award is for investigators who plan to follow research directions not already supported by other mechanisms.

NIH Loan Repayment Programs Prove Invaluable

When you're saddled with huge educational loans, perhaps nothing could be sweeter than getting help to pay off some of that debt. For hundreds of physicians, dentists, and other doctoral-level professionals, this help has come from the NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRP).

In exchange for at least two years and 50 percent of their time performing clinical or pediatric research, LRP recipients receive as much as $35,000 a year plus taxes. Many see the LRP as a lifesaver in terms of both their careers and personal lives. Here are a few testimonials:

• "My wife and I were really wondering whether I could afford to stay in research or be forced into private practice -- now I can stay."
• "Now we can pay off some of our debt and definitely remain in research."
• "My friends in private practice have 'real' lives with perks like vacations. With the LRP, I can have a life, too."
• "When we heard we got the LRP, we went ahead and had our second child."

Awardees aren't the only ones extolling the virtues of the LRP. Read our October 18, 2005, article Loan Repayment Programs Attract Physicians to Research.

Given the benefits, it's not surprising that the programs have become more competitive. That should not deter you from applying; in fact, you may be comforted to know that NIAID's success rate for FY 2006 was almost 60 percent for new and renewal applications.

If you're interested in applying, read the program announcement for Extramural Pediatric Researchers or Extramural Clinical Researchers. You can get started at Apply Here. You have until December 1, 2006, to submit your application.

	Advice Corner

Tutorial Update: How to Write a Grant Application

(Editor's Note: revised March 19, 2008)

In preparation for electronic R01s, we've overhauled the ever-popular NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

The tutorial also references our newly updated NIAID R01 Application to Award Timeline.

Reader Question: New Investigator Status

Dr. Piroska Szabo, assistant professor, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, asks:

"If I submit an R01 application as a new investigator but receive a Notice of Grant Award for another R01, does my status change? Will it be a problem that I checked the new investigator box on both applications?"

It won't be a problem, but you would only be considered a new investigator for the first R01, not both.

As soon as you get your first R01, your status changes in the NIH grants database, and you are no longer a new investigator. Scientific review officer also check to see if the new investigator status is accurate on the application since many applicants do not correctly identify themselves.

For other awards, check your status using the table on our Are You "New"? tutorial page.

	New Initiatives

• No new initiatives have been published since our last newsletter. See the NIH Funding Opportunities Relevant to NIAID for older initiatives.