Office of Proposal Development Texas A

1
Finding and Winning Funding at NIH

• Office of Proposal Development
• February 27, 2007

2
Office of Proposal Developmenthttp//opd.tamu.edu
/

• Unit of the Vice President for Research
• Supports faculty in the development and
  preparation of research and educational proposals
• Junior faculty research
• Center-level initiatives
• Multidisciplinary research teams
• Research affinity groups
• Diversity in the research enterprise

3
Office of Proposal Development Website
http//opd.tamu.edu/

• Funding opportunities
• Upcoming seminars
• Proposal resources
• Resources for junior faculty
• Craft of Grant Writing workbook
• Presentations from past seminars

4
Office of Proposal Development Staff

• Mike Cronan Center-level proposals, AM System
  partnerships, new proposal and training
  initiatives, mikecronan_at_tamu.edu
• Lucy Deckard New faculty initiative,
  fellowships, physical science-related proposals,
  equipment and instrumentation, interdisciplinary
  materials group, OPD web management,
  l-deckard_at_tamu.edu
• Phyllis McBride Craft of Proposal Writing
  training, NIH and related agency initiatives in
  the social and behavioral sciences, editing and
  rewriting, p-mcbride_at_tamu.edu
• Jean Ann Bowman Ecological and environmental
  sciences/agriculture-related proposals and
  centers, jbowman_at_tamu.edu
• Robyn Pearson Education, liberal arts, social
  behavioral sciences, and humanities-related
  proposals, support for interdisciplinary research
  group development, educational proposals, editing
  and rewriting, rlpearson_at_tamu.edu
• John Ivy NIH and related agency initiatives in
  the biomedical sciences, partnerships with the
  TAMU Heath Science Center, johnivy_at_tamu.edu
• Libby Childress Scheduling, resources, training
  workshop management, project coordination,
  libbyc_at_tamu.edu

5
Panelists

• Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni, Ph.D. Professor and
  Head, Dept. of Veterinary Integrative
  Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine
  Biomedical Sciences, TAMU
• David McMurray, Ph.D. Regents Professor, Dept.
  of Microbial and Molecular Pathogenesis, College
  of Medicine, HSC
• Joe Sharkey, MPH, Ph.D. Associate Professor,
  Dept. of Social and Behavioral Health, School of
  Rural Public Health, HSC

6
Panelists (cont.)

• Deborah Bell-Pedersen, Ph.D. Associate
  Professor, Department of Biology, College of
  Science, TAMU
• K.C. Donnelly, Ph.D. Professor and Head, Dept.
  of Environmental and Occupational Health, School
  of Rural Public Health, HSC
• Fuller Bazer, Ph.D. Associate VP for Research,
  Distinguished Professor and O.D. Butler Chair in
  Animal and Life Science, College of Agriculture
  and Life Sciences, TAMU

7
NIH in a Nutshell

• From a one-room laboratory in 1887 to one of the
  worlds foremost research entities
• Mission To uncover new knowledge that will lead
  to better health for everyone
• Basic scientific research in pursuit of
  fundamental knowledge about the nature and
  behavior of living systems
• Applied scientific research to extend healthy
  life and reduce the burdens of illness and
  disability
• Consists of the Office of the Director, 20
  Institutes, and 7 Centers

8
NIH Extramural Research

• Supports mission by funding research in
• Causes, diagnosis, prevention, and cure of human
  diseases
• Processes of human growth and development
• Biological effects of environmental contaminants
• Understanding of mental, addictive and physical
  disorders
• Directing programs for the collection,
  dissemination, and exchange of information in
  medicine and health, including the development
  and support of medical libraries and the training
  of medical librarians and other health
  information specialists.

9
NIH Areas of Research Interest

• Serve as broad categories of NIH-sponsored
  research that show potential for future benefits
• Encourage institutes to develop new initiatives
  within these areas
• Applied in a variety of ways, depending on the
  institute

10
NIH Funding Priorities FY 2007

• Genes, Environment, and Health
• Biodefense
• Pandemic influenza
• NIH Roadmap for Medical Research
• NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research
• New investigators
• Clinical research translation
• Specific disease research
• HIV/AIDS
• Diabetes
• Parkinsons disease
• Alzheimers disease
• Post-genomics research

11
NIH Budget FY 2007

• 28.6 billion
• Majority of funds are earmarked for extramural
  research
• Receives 35,000 research project grant
  applications each year
• 22 of those applications succeed in gaining
  research funding

12
Identify NIH Funding Opportunities

• NIH Office of Extramural Research
• http//grants1.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm
• http//grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html
• Search by keyword
• Browse by Requests for Applications (RFAs)
• Browse by Program Announcements (PAs)
• Automatic funding alerts
• Institutes and Centers (IC) homepages
• Listed at http//www.nih.gov/icd
• Go to IC homepage
• Browse or search their Research Funding or
  "Extramural Funding section

13
Identify NIH Funding Opportunities

• Grants.gov
• http//www.grants.gov/search/agency.do
• Search by keyword
• Search by funding opportunity number
• Search by CFDA number
• Search by category
• Search by agency
• Automatic funding alerts

14
Identify NIH Funding Mechanisms

• NIH funding mechanisms page
• http//grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/funding_progr
  am.htm
• Describes the types of funding mechanisms
  available
• Numerous funding mechanisms
• Not all institutes support all funding mechanisms
• Popular funding mechanisms
• R01 Research Project Grant
• R03 Small Research Project Grant
• R21 Developmental Research Grant
• K99/00 Pathway to Independence Award

15
NIH Career Development Awards

• K Kiosk
• http//grants1.nih.gov/training/careerdevelopmenta
  wards.htm
• Some directed at retraining, professional career
  development, and recognition of career success
• K01 Mentored Research Scientist Award
• Provide mentored career development in a new
  research area
• K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
• Development of independent clinical research
  scientist
• K02 Independent Scientist Award
• Develop career of newly independent, funded
  scientist 5 yr, 75 effort
• K05 Senior Scientist Award
• Recognize outstanding scientist with sustained
  level of high productivity 5 yr, 75 effort
• K99/R00 NIH Pathway to Independence (PI) Award
• 2 years mentored postdoctoral research 3 years
  independent research in tenure track position (or
  equivalent)

16
Identify NIH Grant Cycles

• NIH submission dates/deadlines page
• http//grants.nih.gov/grants/dates.htm
• Three grant cycles per calendar year
• Deadlines vary according to funding mechanism
• New R01s Feb 5, Jun 5, Oct 5
• New R03s and R21s Feb 16, Jun 16, Oct 16
• New K awards Feb 12, June 12, Oct 12
• NB Deadlines for renewals, resubmissions,
  revisions, and AIDS/AIDS-related submissions
  differ from the above

17
Identify Projects Funded by NIH

• CRISP online database http//crisp.cit.nih.gov/
• Includes abstracts of all projects that have
  already been funded by all Public Health Service
  agencies
• National Institutes of Health
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Food and Drug Administration
• Health Resources and Services Administration
• Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
  Administration

18
Understand the NIH Review Process

• Center for Scientific Review
• http//cms.csr.nih.gov/
• News and Reports
• Peer Review Meetings
• Resources for Applicants
• Describes the peer review process
• Offers a video of a mock review session gt NIH
  Grant Review Process Video
• Provides a list of study section rosters

19
Understand the NIH Review Process

• Review process is merit-based
• All applications receive three individual reviews
• Streamling Reviewers identify those they believe
  in the bottom 50
• Study Section discusses the top 50 of
  applications (i.e., applications that have not
  been streamlined)
• Priority score (100-500) and percentile ranking
  are sent to PI
• Summary statement is sent to PI
• Scientific Review Administrator prepares a
  written summary of your proposal based on
  reviewers comments and Study Section discussion

20
Know the NIH Review Criteria

• Investigator
• Education, training, relevant experience
• Environment
• Suitability of facilities and institution support
• Significance
• Ability of the project to improve health
• Approach
• Feasibility of methods and appropriateness of
  budget
• Innovation
• Originality of research

21
Write for Reviewers

• Reviewers are
• Smart
• Accomplished
• Dedicated
• Fair

22
Write for Reviewers

• Reviewers also are
• Busy
• Overworked
• Tired
• Skeptical
• May not be as knowledgeable about the details of
  the proposed topic as is the PI

23
Revisions

• Three strikes youre out
• Read the reviewers comments
• Take a break
• Re-read the comments
• Dont take them personally
• Read the reviewers comments, AGAIN
• Begin working on the revisions, incorporating the
  revisions that you think make your proposal
  better than the previous submission
• If you have a question about a particular
  comment, contact the SRA

24
Albert Einstein on Grant Writing

• If you can't explain something simply, you don't
  understand it well.
• Most of the fundamental ideas of science are
  essentially simple, and may, as a rule, be
  expressed in language comprehensible to everyone.
• Any fool can make things bigger, more complex,
  and more violent. It takes a touch of geniusand
  a lot of courageto move in the opposite
  direction.

25
Helpful Links

• NIH grants tutorials
• http//www.niaid.nih.gov/ncn/grants/default.htm
• Grant Application Basics
• How to Plan a Grant Application
• How to Write a Grant Application
• How to Manage Your Grant Award
• Advice on Research Training and Career Awards
• Annotated R01 Grant Application

26
Whats new at NIH?

• Electronic proposal submissionPHS398 ? SF424 via
  Grants.gov

Jan. 19, 2007
27
Whats new at NIH?

• K99/R00 (Jan. '06)
• Mentored postdoctoralindependent investigator
  transition
• Smaller page limitation on R01s under discussion

28
Whats new at NIH?

• Multiple PIs
• Initiated May '06
• Initially few RFAs and PAs during assessment

29
Questions and Panel Discussion

• Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni, Ph.D. Veterinary
  Integrative Biosciences, CVM
• David McMurray, Ph.D. Microbial and Molecular
  Pathogenesis, College of Medicine
• Joe Sharkey, MPH, Ph.D. Social and Behavioral
  Health, SRPH
• Deborah Bell-Pedersen, Ph.D. Biology, College
  of Science
• K.C. Donnelly, Ph.D. Environmental and
  Occupational Health, SRPH
• Fuller Bazer, Ph.D. Animal Science, COALS