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News Articles |
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FY 2008 Budget Progress in the Senate
Proposing $1 billion more for NIH than last year, the Senate subcommittee that makes recommendations for NIH's FY 2008 budget finished its markup for the President's Budget request. The markup is one of many steps in the lengthy process that will lead to our final budget in fall or winter.
NIH's budget would increase to $29.4 billion if Congress adopts the recommendations of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. For most NIH institutes and centers, that would boost funding by about 2.1 to 2.6 percent and would raise NIAID's budget by 2.3 percent.
For the House markup, see our June 18, 2007, article, "Progress on NIH's FY 2008 Budget." Read more about the budget process starting at Planning and Budget Cycle.
Tomorrow! Online Session on New Electronic Application Forms
Tune in July 19 for an online session on the transition from PureEdge to PDF-based Adobe forms for electronic application. The Grants.gov Stakeholder Webcast will be from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Meanwhile, you can read more about the Grants.gov 2007 System Deployment With Adobe Forms.
As you may recall, this e-seminar was originally scheduled for May 3. We wrote about the transition to PDF-based forms in our April 30, 2007, article, "Grants.gov Will Use Platform-Independent Adobe Forms."
Are You "New"?
NIH's definition of a new principal investigator continues to evolve in your favor. If you are appointed as PI for an ongoing major grant but you weren't listed as PI on the original application, you still qualify as a new investigator.
For example, if your institution assigned you to be the PI of an existing R01 grant, NIH would still consider you to be a new applicant when it's time to apply for your own.
Read more about the advantages of being a new PI under Do You Qualify for Independent Support?
We've updated Are You "New"? in our New Investigator Guide to NIH Funding to
reflect this change.
Federal Holiday Means More Application Viewing Time
It's official: federal holidays do not count toward the two-day application viewing window in the eRA Commons. That gives you extra time to check your application image and make sure you're satisfied with what you see.
Recent feedback prompted NIH to issue a June 22, 2007, Guide notice which now excludes all federal holidays from the viewing window.
You may have already heard about the holiday exclusion if you subscribe to the eSubmission Listserv. Sign up to receive information and updates on electronic submission, or go to eSubmission News and Updates.
Applicants Continue to Do Well With R01 Electronic Submission
Kudos to those who submitted their R01 application last month with few or no errors. According to the latest numbers, many of you deserve our congratulations.
For the June 5 receipt date, 75 percent of applicants passed Grants.gov and eRA Commons validations on their first try, and 95 percent passed on their second.
Since this was only round two for R01s, NIH is pleased that investigators are faring well with electronic submission.
If you do have trouble submitting or registering, see Finding Help at NIH's Electronic Submission of Grant Applications. The page explains which organization to contact depending on where you are in the process.
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Opportunities and Resources |
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Human Microbiome Project -- Figuring Out What’s Bugging Us
Though the human body can’t live without microbes, we do not know the health impact of shifts in our inner microbial populace or the interplay between its genomes and ours.
This biology puzzle is one NIH aims to attempt to solve with a new Roadmap 1.5 initiative. The Human Microbiome Project will explore the health roles of microorganisms -- not just some but the whole collection, known as the microbiome.
The Human Microbiome Project will be one of four NIH Roadmap projects for fiscal year 2008. Several NIAID staff are actively participating on the NIH team for this project.
For a given body site, the project will support demonstration projects to see if changes in the human microbiome can be correlated with a healthy phenotype or disease. The project also strives to identify relationships between changes in the human microbiome and response to vaccines or treatments.
Over the course of five years, these studies will create resources for the scientific community including a reference set of genomes from different body sites, new technologies, and new and improved bioinformatic tools.
These resources will advance basic and applied research of new diagnostics and treatments including prevention strategies to maintain or reestablish a healthy microbiome.
NIAID expects to continue participating in new and ongoing Roadmap initiatives. We'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, watch NIH Roadmap for news.
Funding for U.S.-Egypt Collaborations
Every year, American and Egyptian scientists get funding to collaborate on research projects thanks to the U.S.-Egypt Joint Science and Technology Fund. Health-related applications in areas covered by NIAID's mission have fared well in the past.
The Fund covers two types of awards: joint research grants and training visits.
Joint Research Grants Program
The Joint Research Grants program encourages research collaboration between American and Egyptian scientists. Typically the maximum grant is $60,000 for one to three years. This year the program will also award four multi-collaborator grants of $180,000.
Apply by October 22, 2007. Read the Program Announcement for details.
Junior Scientist Development Visit Grant
If you received your Ph.D. within the last ten years, you may qualify for the Junior Scientist Development Visit Grant. As part of this exchange program, the $15,000 award supports a nonacademic training visit to the other country for under six months.
Apply by October 29, 2007. See the Program Announcement.
For more information on these programs, see the contacts listed at U.S.-Egypt Joint Science and Technology Fund.
New AIDS Research Funding Opportunities
American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) offers two new funding opportunities.
Psychoactive Drugs and HIV
AmfAR will fund research on the effects of psychoactive drugs and mental health issues on HIV transmission.
Faculty-level researchers affiliated with a nonprofit institution can qualify for a one-year grant of up to $120,000. Two-year fellowships provide $125,000 in total funding to postdoctoral or equivalent investigators who are sponsored by an experienced investigator.
Send your letter of intent by July 26, 2007. For details, go to Targeted RFP: The Effects of Psychoactive Drugs and Mental Health Issues on HIV Transmission and Acquisition.
Fellowship for New Researchers
Researchers who are new to the HIV/AIDS field should look into amfAR's Mathilde Krim Fellowship in Basic Biomedical Research. Funding supports the awardee's ongoing HIV research and facilitates a transition to a career in HIV/AIDS biomedical research.
The Krim Fellowship supports two years of postdoctoral research and possibly one additional year of research during the first year of a tenure-track position.
Send a letter of intent by July 26, 2007. Read more in the General RFP: Mathilde Krim Fellows in Basic Biomedical Research.
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Advice Corner |
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Commons Confusions
Today's eagle-eyed applicants tend to watch information on their competing applications in the eRA Commons closely. The downside is that some information you might spot in the Commons is a temporary placeholder, and some of the terminology is unclear.
Here are a few tips to help interpret information on your application's study section assignment, program officer, and status.
Study Section
At first you might not see the expected study section in the assignment field. Instead, it may show the umbrella organization, the integrated review group.
For example, CSR initially assigns AIDS applications to the AIDS and Related Research (AARR) integrated review group by default. That data item is updated over the next few days when your application is assigned to the study section that performs the peer review.
Program Officer
The Commons assigns you a temporary IC contact person to call until your program officer is assigned. For NIAID, it is Allan Czarra, deputy director of the Division of Extramural Activities. You may see his name there for days or weeks, depending on how long the assignment process takes.
While Mr. Czarra can help you interpret your eRA Commons data and will advise you on how to handle any problems with your application, he cannot tell you who your NIAID program officer is before that information appears in the Commons.
We covered this in more detail in our March 29, 2007, article, "My NIAID Contact Is . . . Who?"
Application and Funding Status
The Commons provides a list of eRA Commons Statuses and a short definition, but you may still need help decoding system terminology.
For example, some applicants get excited when they see a "Pending Award" status for their application. But that doesn't mean an award is in process.
Even some applications that are ultimately not funded will show the "Pending Award" status in the Commons for the remainder of the fiscal year. Read more about deferred applications in Is Your Application Deferred for a Funding Decision?
Also, the Commons automatically requests just-in-time information for applications in a broad range, from 0.1 to the 20 percentile for R01s. Don't assume this means the check is in the mail -- only some of these applications may get funded.
If your application is likely to be funded, a grants management specialist will contact you.
After you get your summary statement, you should talk to your program officer to find out your chances of funding and to get advice on the next steps.
Contact the Commons Help Desk for advice on interpreting the system.
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New Funding Opportunities |
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See these and older announcements on our NIH Funding Opportunities Relevant to NIAID. |
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