Grant Writing Introduction  Overview of Grantwriting  NIH

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.

What are Potential Sources of Funding? Foundations/Corporate Sources of Funds + Internal University Resources  Overall possibilities: –  Foundations UBUJN4SKHEPTQRSI4CGW15AAAACI2F UBUJN4SKHEPTQRSI4CGW15AAAACI2F For example Spencer foundation  Corporate (top 50 corporate funders) Internal funds

Do you have a Commercialization Partner?  Would the research you’d 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

State Agencies (California)  University AIDS Research Program –  California Breast Cancer Research Program –

 National Science Foundation –  Dept. of Health and Human Resources –NIH –Office of Minority Health  Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Adm. –  CDC –  Administration on Aging – Sources of Federal Government Funding

 Defense Grants –  DTRA –  DARPA –  AFRL(AFOSR) –  ARO –  ONR –  Department of Education – – Sources of Federal Government Funding

Grant Funding  What’s the Match? –What are you bringing to the table? –What do they want? How can you tell?

What’s the Match? You  What’s 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?  What’s the match between your goals and agency’s goals/mission/ funding priorities, constraints, cost/benefit analysis?  Do they provide awarded grant abstracts to check on the match?

NIH NIH: Funding Agency FocusNIH: Funding Agency Focus Background on NIH

How Are The NIH Institutes Organized? DirectorDirector Intramural Program Extramural Program Research Laboratories on NIH Campus and Elsewhere Divisions/Centers/Branches (Managing External Funding) Divisions/Centers/Branches Intramural Director Extramural Director

NIH Extramural Funding Components How Is The NIH Organized? INSTITUTESCENTERS 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

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:

Which Agency at NIH? Click on the link to the Center for Scientific Review 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 Check out grants funded by a given agency

Success Rates by Institutes (2005) Institute or Center Success Rate # Awarded Total Cost Awarded Success Rate NCI6,3251, ,817, % NIAAA ,869, % NIAID46111,164490,432, % NICHD2, ,877, % NIMH2, ,136, %

Which Award Mechanism? If you don’t 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)

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)  Don’t need 3-5 years additional supervised research experience (but haven’t 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)

Typical Timeline for a New Individual Research Project Grant Application (R01) –Submit in February (June, October) –Review in June (October, February) –Council in September (January, May) –Earliest award in December (April, July) –Submit in February (June, October) –Review in June (October, February) –Council in September (January, May) –Earliest award in December (April, July) Cycle Cycle Cycle Cycle Cycle Cycle There are three overlapping cycles per year: Note: Some grants on a different schedule (e.g., AIDS grants; Continuation grants, etc. check always!

Agency Review Criteria (NIH)  Significance  Approach  Innovation  Investigators  Environment  Other

Significance (also see ) (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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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

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)