ANNOUNCEMENTS
 

Brown Bag Lunch Workshop for PIs & Researchers

NIH Grant Submissions and Updates for 2010
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Jackson Hall 6-135
12 noon - 1 pm      (see flyer)

SPA and Clinical Trials Class

Two offerings of the new "SPA and Clinical Trials" class have been added to the fall SPA training roster. This class covers budget development and compliance issues for clinical trials along with a question and answer section facilitated by a knowledgeable SPA Grant Administrator.
The schedule for this class is October 27 and December 8, 10:00-11:30, 665 McNamara.  To register, send an email to ersstraining@umn.edu.

Transition of Institutional Training and Institutional Career Development Programs to Electronic Submission for due dates on/after January 25, 2010

This notice announces the transition of applications for Institutional Training and Institutional Career Development Programs to electronic submission through Grants.gov using the SF424 (R&R) forms for due dates on or after January 25, 2010. The following programs will transition:

• Institutional National Research Service Awards (T32, T34, T35, T36, T90)
• Other institutional training grants (D43, D71, T01, T02, T03, T14, T15, T37, TU2, U2R)
• Institutional career development programs (K12)

ALL applications in response to announcements for these grant programs must be submitted electronically (paper applications will not be accepted). Applications first submitted in paper that are being resubmitted as amended applications must now use electronic submission via Grants.gov using the SF424 (R&R) forms.  Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) for these programs are being updated and are expected to be posted by November 25, 2009.  Applicants will need to access the applicable FOA after that date to obtain the appropriate application package and instructions.  

The SF424 (R&R) Application Guide is also being revised to include Part 1.8  Supplemental Instructions for Preparing an Institutional Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) applications.  Supplemental instructions for K12 applications will be included in individual FOAs.

NIH Restructuring and Shortening Proposals Due January 25 and Later

Beginning with proposals due January 25, 2010 and later, NIH will be mandating the use of restructured and shorter application forms for new, renewal, and resubmitted competitive proposals. The new forms and Grants.gov packages will not be made available by NIH until December 2009. SPA will notify the community when they become available. Because existing forms packages may not be used for due dates on or after January 25, 2010, investigators and their departmental staff should not download or use the existing Grants.gov forms or PHS 398 forms for these proposals.

Major changes include the following:

• Research Plan:  Three sections of the current Research Plan (Background and Significance, Preliminary Studies/Progress Report, and Research Design and Methods) will be consolidated into a new single section within the Research Plan entitled Research Strategy, and will be limited to 12 pages plus one additional page for Specific Aims. This is a considerable reduction from the current page limits, which allows 25 pages for these sections in an R01 application.
  Page limits for the Research Strategy section may vary for other types of applications.
• Resources:  The Facilities and Other Resources section will be changed to require a description of how the scientific environment will contribute to the probability of success of the project, unique features of the environment, and for Early Stage Investigators, the institutional investment in the success of the investigator (e.g. resources, classes, etc.).
• Biographical Sketch:  A new Personal Statement will be incorporated, and the list of publications will be limited to a maximum of 15 - chosen on the basis of recency, importance to the field, and relevance to the proposed research.

The complete details of all the changes are in NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-09-149, Restructured Application Forms and Instructions for Submissions for FY2011

PHS 2590 Revised – New Policy Changes

August 31, 2009 - The “Continuation Progress Report for a DHHS Public Health Service Grant” (PHS 2590, rev. 06/09) instructions and forms have been revised and reflect several important policy changes.  The revised PHS 2590 will be accepted immediately for all progress reports and will be required for all annual progress reports due on/after October 1, 2009.   Revisions include a new All Personnel Report, new Assurance for Institutions Receiving Awards for Training of Graduate Students for Doctoral Degrees, Inclusion of Changes to Innovative Potential, Changes to the Biographical Sketch, and a new item related to Human Embryonic Stem Cells (hESCs). For more details and important associated dates, see NIH Guide NOT-OD-09-139.

Medicine Research Newsletter

October 2009 Newsletter