October 3, 2007
News Articles
Opportunities and Resources
Advice Corner
New Funding Opportunities
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News Articles |
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Fiscal Year 2008 Begins With Interim Funding
As usual, we are starting the fiscal year under a stopgap spending bill, called a continuing resolution. By authorizing agencies to operate at the previous fiscal year's funding levels, CRs keep the federal government running until Congress passes this year's appropriations bills.
While the federal government remains on a CR, NIAID is funding a limited number of grants. We are awarding competing R01 applications to the 10.0 percentile; in the next few weeks we will post additional information at Paylines and Budget about continuing grants and other policies.
Please remember that the 10.0 percentile provisional payline is not a true payline. It is an administrative measure that allows us to fund high-scoring grants while the budget picture is still unclear.
We do not send Email Alerts for the provisional payline. As soon as we receive our true paylines and financial management plan, we will send you alerts as the information comes in. To sign up to receive those emails,  Subscribe to Email Alerts.
Observers expect the current CR, which lasts through November 16, to be the first of a series -- as of today, Congress has not passed any of its 12 annual appropriations bills.
What's Next for Peer Review?
To start designing a better peer review process, NIH has gathered comments and suggestions from the research community, working groups, and its own staff. Here's what happens next.
By February 2008, NIH will lay out the next steps, including pilots of new approaches. The pilots and other evaluations will start by March 2008. Watch for details at Enhancing Peer Review at NIH.
Although the Request for Information expired on September 7, 2007, NIH still welcomes suggestions at PeerReviewRFI@mail.nih.gov.
And NIH has added a Washington, D.C., meeting on Monday, October 22, 2007, to discuss peer review with advocacy groups. See the updated Calendar of Events. You can read about the other regional meetings in our previous article, "Share Your Views on Peer Review -- In Person."
Electronic Application: New Guides and More
If you've signed up for eSubmission News and Updates, you know that NIH has issued new Grant Application Guides and postponed the Adobe form transition.
You can get
the updated Application Guides and see a summary of changes at Notable Edits to the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guides.
Regarding the transition, NIH will continue to use the PureEdge forms through the March 2008 submission deadlines and perhaps beyond. We'll let you know when the switch will occur as soon we hear the news.
For details on these topics, read the full announcement at September 13, 2007, Items of Interest. To get future updates, be sure you subscribe to eSubmission News and Updates.
NIH Announces 2007 New Innovator and Pioneer Awards
As part of the Roadmap, NIH awarded its first New Innovator Awards and fourth round of Pioneer Awards.
Totaling more than $105 million, the 12 NIH Pioneer Awards and 29 New Innovator Awards are funding highly innovative investigators with five-year grants.
Monies are generous: the five years total $2.5 million in direct costs for each Pioneer Award, $1.5 million for each Innovator Award.
Read more in the NIH press release, NIH Director Invests in Innovation, New Investigators.
People Report: New Posts, Special Tributes, Awards
At the September Council meeting, NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., announced new positions for senior scientific staff, paid tribute to departed colleagues, and noted key scientific awards.
Senior Staff Promotions and Hires
Irene Glowinski, Ph.D., has become deputy director of the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) after serving as director of its Office of Scientific Coordination and Program Operations since 2000. Before coming to DMID, she held key science management positions in the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, including assistant chief, Office of Scientific Review.
Welcome Liza Dawson, Ph.D., to her new position as chief of the Human Subjects Protection Branch, Division of AIDS. Liza came from NIH’s Office of Science Policy where she was a Health Science Policy Analyst. Before that post, she was a bioethicist in the Fogarty International Center and faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Bioethics Institute.
Congratulations to Robert Johnson, Ph.D., the new chief of DMID’s Office of Regulatory Affairs. Robert began his DMID career in 2002 as a regulatory affairs specialist and then became project officer for the modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) smallpox vaccine advanced development program in DMID’s Office of Biodefense Research Affairs.
In Memoriam
Dr. Fauci took a moment to remember two friends and colleagues: Stephen Straus and Tony Itteilag.
Stephen Straus, M.D., who died in May after a three-year battle with brain cancer, was the first director of NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Under his leadership, research on complementary and alternative medicine earned legitimacy as a research area that could help improve public health. He developed a challenging agenda for scientific research and research training that created broad interest and collaboration while upholding rigorous scientific standards.
Dr. Fauci commented, “Steve was one of the kindest and most compassionate clinicians I have known and served as a mentor for many young investigators who have become extraordinary physician scientists in their own right.”
Anthony Itteilag was the NIH Deputy Director for Management and Chief Financial Officer.
After retiring from NIH in 2001, he joined NIAID as a consultant and made significant contributions to the Institute's organizational redesign. He died on September 11, 2007, after a brief illness and will be sorely missed.
Physician Researcher of the Year Award
In NIAID’s Division of Intramural Research, Thomas Nutman, M.D., has received the Physician Researcher of the Year award from the Physicians Professional Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General. He is deputy chief of the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases and head of the Helminth Immunology Section and Clinical Parasitology Units.
Dr. Fauci Receives Lasker Award
NIAID Council members commended Dr. Fauci, who was recently honored with a 2007 Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service for developing major public health programs in AIDS and biodefense. Read more at the Anthony S. Fauci Awarded Lasker Award for Public Service press release.
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Opportunities and Resources |
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Find Specimens, Reagents, Data, or Collaborators
Take advantage of the many programs highlighted at NIAID's Resources for Researchers to enhance your research. As many researchers have already discovered, these NIAID-sponsored resources can serve as a great source of data, reagents, specimens, and even collaborators.
In future issues of this newsletter, we plan to highlight resources sponsored by each of the NIAID program divisions. Stay tuned.
Deadline Extended: HIV/AIDS Grantsmanship Workshop in India
In conjunction with the Microbicides 2008 conference in India, NIH will sponsor two events:
- Grantsmanship Workshop for Junior-Level Investigators on Saturday, February 23, 2008
- Mentoring Meetings on February 25, 26, and 27, 2008
These venues will give postdoctoral fellows, trainees, and other investigators opportunities to develop grant-writing skills, network with leading HIV/AIDS researchers, and seek research collaborations.
For the workshop on February 23, NIH staff will present information on funding processes, application writing, career development, and other topics.
The February 25 to 27 meeting will feature talks from experts in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention science, a mock study section, and "Meet with Successful Grantees and Experts" sessions.
Apply to participate and for scholarships by October 15, 2007. Read more and apply at Workshop Overview.
Plan Ahead to Collaborate With MACS Investigators
Start the concept approval process early if you plan to apply for an upcoming request for applications on Research on HIV/AIDS and Drug Use in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS).
You'll need to ensure your collaboration concept has plenty of time to get through MACS clearance before applications are due.
The RFA was announced in a September 13, 2007, Guide notice from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Although the RFA won't be out until later this fall, you can get started now based on the topic areas described in the notice.
See MACS Forms for the Collaboration Concept Sheet. You can get MACS-related advice from Joana Roe at jroe@niaid.nih.gov or 301/435-3759.
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Advice Corner |
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Reader Question on Dummy Applications
An anonymous reader asks:
"Have you considered making up a dummy electronic application so we can use that as an example for how to fill in the blanks?"
We decided against creating a dummy application because the advanced fields all depend on your application's details and type. Since the instructions are field-by-field, the recently updated Grant Application Guides are your best resource.
We have posted a Model SBIR Phase II Application and Summary Statement, which could be handy if you are applying for that type of grant.
Long term, we plan to post more real applications. However, as we mentioned in a previous issue, we expect it will take at least a year before application data are old enough that investigators would be willing to have their applications appear online.
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New Funding Opportunities |
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- PAR-08-003, NIAID Science Education Awards
- RFA-NS-08-003, Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats (CounterACT) Advanced Development Cooperative Agreements
- RFA-AI-07-039, Mechanisms, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Radiation Injury from a Nuclear Accident or Terrorist Attack
- RFA-AI-07-038, Radiation Combined Injury: Radiation Exposure in Combination with Burn, Wound, Trauma, or Infection
- RFA-AI-07-036, Medical Countermeasures to Enhance Platelet Regeneration and Increase Survival Following Radiation Exposure
- RFP-BAA-NIH-BARDA-NIAID-DMID-AI2007007, Biodefense Vaccine Enhancement
See these and older announcements on our NIAID Funding Opportunities List. |
