Grant Writing Introduction

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Grant Writing Introduction

• Overview of Grantwriting
• NIH

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Grant Writing Introduction Overview

• Why Seek Funding? It
• Provides resources (e.g., time/money/RAs) to
  enable research.
• Attracts top students.
• Can enhance salary (up to 3 months funded summer
  support).
• Enables interdisciplinary (and other)
  collaborations (you can pay other people to work
  on the project).
• Often viewed as a measure of quality research by
  Deans and others.
• Facilitates tenure (required in some programs).
• Supports your unit/University (overhead,
  reputation).
• Enhances the reputation of communication field.

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What are Potential Sources of Funding?

• Foundations/Corporate Sources of Funds Internal
  University Resources
• Overall possibilities
• http//www.infoed.org/new_spin/spinmain.asp
• Foundations
• http//foundationcenter.org/findfunders/
  http//foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_education.
  jhtmljsessionidXMUBUJN4SKHEPTQRSI4CGW15AAAACI2F
  
• For example Spencer foundation-
  http//www.spencer.org/programs/grants/research_g
  rants.htm
• http//www.agmconnect.org/RCP/guide1.htm
• Corporate
• http//foundationcenter.org/findfunders/topfunders
  /top50giving.html (top 50 corporate funders)
  http//www.ncte.org/about/grants/sources/107742.ht
  m
• Internal funds http//www/usc.edu/research/vice_p
  rovost/awards/zumberge.html

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Do you have a Commercialization Partner?

• Would the research youd like to do be relevant
  to product development for commercialization? a
  marketing strategy? Validating the effectiveness
  of a product? Then the following might be a good
  way to go (especially if you have a corporate,
  experienced grant-getting partner with
  connections (e.g., to DOD)
• SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Award
  Mechanisms
• STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) Award
  Mechanisms

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State Agencies (California) http//www.ucop.edu/sr
phome/

• University AIDS Research Program
• http//uarp.ucop.edu/
• California Breast Cancer Research Program
• http//www.cbcrp.org/research/

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Sources of Federal Government Funding
http//www.grants.gov/ http//www.fedbizopps.gov/
http//www.bnl.gov/techxfer/wfo/wfo_federal.asp

• National Science Foundation
• http//www.nsf.gov
• Dept. of Health and Human Resources
• NIH http//www.nih.gov
• Office of Minority Health http//www.cdc.gov/omh
• Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Adm.
• http//www/samhsa.gov/index.aspx
• CDC
• http//www.cdc.gov
• Administration on Aging
• http//www.aoa.gov/

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Sources of Federal Government Funding

• Defense Grants
• http//www.acq.osd.mil/ddre/research/
• DTRA
• http//www.dtra.mil/
• DARPA
• http//www.darpa.mil/
• AFRL(AFOSR)
• http//www.afosr.af.mil/
• ARO
• http//www.arl.army.mil/main/main/default.cfm?Acti
  on29Page29
• ONR
• http//www.onr.navy.mil/default.asp
• Department of Education
• http//www.ed.gov/index.jhtml
• http//www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/grantapps/index
  .html

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Grant Funding

• Whats the Match?
• What are you bringing to the table?
• What do they want? How can you tell?

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Whats the Match?

• You
• Whats your 5-year strategic plan for your
  career?
• How does this project fit into it?
• resources, expertise, skills have or could
  leverage, build?

• Funder
• Who funds projects relevant to your goals?
• Whats the match between your goals and agencys
  goals/mission/ funding priorities, constraints,
  cost/benefit analysis?
• Do they provide awarded grant abstracts to check
  on the match?

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NIH

• NIH Funding Agency Focus
• Background on NIH

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How Are The NIH Institutes Organized?
Director
Intramural Director
Extramural Director
Intramural Program
Extramural Program
Research Laboratories on NIH Campus and Elsewhere
Divisions/Centers/ Branches (Managing External
Funding)
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NIH Extramural Funding Components
How Is The NIH Organized?
INSTITUTES CENTERS
National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Center for Complementary and National Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
National Institute on Aging (NIA) Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) John E. Fogarty International Center (FIC)
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD)
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center (CC)
National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) Center for Scientific Review (CSR)
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Center for Information Technology
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Division of Safety (DS) National Library of Medicine (NLM)
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
National Eye Institute (NEI)
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
National Institute for Nursing Research (NINR)
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) Does not make Extramural Awards

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NIH Funding Agency Focus

• Which Agency will review your proposal? This
  could impact your funding success.
• Start with an overall description of each
  located here
• http//www.nih.gov/icd/

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Which Agency at NIH?

• Click on the link to the Center for Scientific
  Review
• http//cms.csr.nih.gov/
• Under Peer Review Meetings select
• Review group descriptions (check these out)
• Study Section Rosters (click link) Check these
  people out!
• Decide if there are any RFA (set asides), RFPs
  (conracts)
• that might be relevant to your work you want to
  apply for,
• these might be funded by specific agencies.
• Determine probability of funding via a given
  agency
• http//grants1.nih.gov/grants/award/success.htm
• Check out grants funded by a given agency
• http//crisp.cit.nih.gov/

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Success Rates by Institutes http//grants1.nih.gov
/grants/award/success/Success_ByIC.cfm (2005)
Institute or Center Success Rate Awarded Total Cost Awarded Success Rate
NCI 6,325 1,292 439,817,442 20.40
NIAAA 666 203 65,869,642 30.50
NIAID 4611 1,164 490,432,321 25.20
NICHD 2,835 505 142,877,320 17.80
NIMH 2,710 569 178,136,443 21.00
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Which Award Mechanism?

• If you dont already have your Ph.D.
• F31 Minority Supplement (Must be African
  American, Hispanic, Native American, Alaskan
  Native, or Pacific Islander) or Supplement for
  disabled students.
• F30 Individual Predoctoral Awards (Must be
  enrolled in MD/Ph.D. program)
• F31 Predoctoral Fellowship Awards (Must have
  completed qualifying exams for dissertation
  research/training)
• Training Grants (faculty have to submit these
  but you could work on these with them)

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Which Award Mechanism?

• If you have your Ph.D. and need more mentoring
  (new investigator- no prior NIH funding orange
  awards)
• K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development
  Award (3-5 years of additional supervised
  research)
• K25 Mentored Quantitative Research Career
  Development Award (if switching to biomedical
  field with background in statistics/math
  previous background not focused on disease).F32
  Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (in similar
  field)
• Dont need 3-5 years additional supervised
  research experience (but havent competed
  successfully for funding yet)
• K22 Career Transition Award
• K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career
  Development Award (need clinical doctoral degree
  or equivalent)K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist
  Development Award (Clinical Doctoral Degree)
• K24 Midcareer investigator award in Patient
  oriented researcK26 Midcareer investigator award
  in Mouse Pathobiology Research
• RO3 Small Grant (not much preliminary data)
• R01 Traditional Research Grants (note new
  investigator status if you are one)
• R15 Area grants (restricted by institutional
  NIH activity)
• R21 Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant
  (up to 275K 2 years)

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Typical Timeline for a New Individual Research
Project Grant Application (R01)

• There are three overlapping cycles per year

• Submit in February (June, October)
• Review in June (October, February)
• Council in September (January, May)
• Earliest award in December (April, July)

Note Some grants on a different schedule (e.g.,
AIDS grants Continuation grants, etc. check
always!

• Cycle 1----
• Cycle 2----
• Cycle 3----

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Agency Review Criteria (NIH)

• Significance
• Approach
• Innovation
• Investigators
• Environment
• Other

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• Significance
• (also see Gerin, W. (2006). Writing the NIH
  Grant Proposal A Step-by-Step Guide . Thousand
  Oaks, CA Sage Publications buy this book if you
  are thinking about writing an NIH grant-- very
  helpful!)
• Does the study address an important problem?
• If the aims of the application are achieved, how
  will scientific knowledge or clinical practice be
  advanced?
• What will be the effect of these studies on the
  concepts, methods, technologies, treatments,
  services, or preventative interventions that
  drive this field?

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• Approach
• Are the conceptual or clinical framework,
  design, methods, and analyses adequately
  developed, well integrated, well reasoned, and
  appropriate to the aims of the project?
• Does the applicant acknowledge potential problem
  areas and consider alternative tactics?

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• Innovation
• Is the project original and innovative?
• For example, does the project challenge existing
  paradigms or clinical practice?
• Does it address an innovative hypothesis or
  critical barrier to progress in the field?
• Does the project develop or employ novel
  concepts, approaches, methodologies, tools, or
  technologies for this area?

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• Investigators
• Are the investigators appropriately trained and
  well suited to carry out this work?
• Is the work proposed appropriate to the
  experience level of the principal investigator
  (PI) and other researchers?
• Does the investigative team bring complementary
  and integrated expertise to the project?

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• Environment
• Does the scientific environment in which the
  work will be done contribute to the probability
  of success?
• Do the proposed studies benefit from unique
  features of the scientific environment, or
  subject populations, or employ useful
  collaborative arrangements?
• Is there evidence of institutional support?

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• Other
• Protection of Human Subjects
• Inclusion of Women, Minorities, and Children
• Care and Use of Vertebrate Animals
• Budget
• Foreign applications

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First Step in Writing a New Grant
What do we need to do? How will this get done? By whom? In what order? How will you coordinate with one another and the PIs?
Specific Aims (1 page) Include hypotheses/questions
Review Work Done (1 page) Include Preliminary work Include Literature review References (10)
Think about/brainstorm regarding Pilot Studies (be able to talk about these)
Identify Grant Source Possibilities (consider criteria including possible success rates) Identify Potential Reviewers (detail analysis of these individuals and chances of funding for alternative possibilities)