12/11/2009 Writing a NIH Grant Application Ellen Puré, PhD, Professor and Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, Wistar Institute Mitchell Schnall MD, PhD, Matthew J. Wilson Professor of Research Radiology

12/11/2009 The NIH 27 institutes and centers Most have active extramural grants programs Under different local leadership and local missions ◦ There are many small differences in operation among the institutes ◦ United by common extramural purpose and language

12/11/2009 The Institute & Centers

12/11/2009 The Institute & Centers

12/11/2009 Types of applications: How are they judged?  K grants (career development) Trainee, training environment, project  R grants (research projects) Research project  P grants (multi-investigator grants:PPG, center etc) Research projects, “the group is stronger than the sum of its parts”

12/11/2009 Mechanics: Standard grant components  Face Page  Budget/justification  Bio sketch /other support  Resources / Environment  Approach Specific aims:1 page Research strategy: 12 pages – Significance, Innovation, Approach, Prelim data Bibliography Human / Animal Studies

12/11/2009 Strategy assembling application  Identify collaborators early: collect bio/other support ASAP  Complete resources and environment ahead of time (can leverage boiler plate sections if available)  Budget at least 2 weeks before deadline (take a break from the science to complete)-but start at least 3 months in advance!  Details of animal/human studies can go outside of the research strategy (overall description in the research strategy)  Can use appendix for supporting documents, however the Approach section should be self contained. (?not any more?)

12/11/2009 Where does my application go? grants.gov NIH eRA Commons Application Division of Receipt & Referral Institute or Center SRO & Study SectionReview

12/11/2009  What, exactly, is the review process? The procedure by which each grant application submitted to the NIH receives a fair, independent, expert, and timely evaluation, free from inappropriate influences, so the NIH can support the most promising research. Two steps: – Peer review panels: generates score /percentile – Institute council review: relevant for large grants/borderline grants

12/11/2009 Review Criteria: R grant  Significance  Investigator  Innovation  Approach  Environment  Overall Evaluation Each scored 1-9 overall evaluation is not derived from individual components only overall evaluation is voted by the study section component scores serve to identify areas of strength/weakness

12/11/2009 Some Statistics  Center for Scientific Review (CSR) Receives over 80,000 applications/year Recruits over 17,000 external experts  This is the volume of your competition How do I make my application rise to the top?

12/11/2009 Grantsmanship words to live by:  Think first…..write second!!!!  Vet!  Logic and clarity trumps density Focus on the “pitch”  A grant is a marketing document (not a clinical trial protocol)  Your primary audience is the review panel  Understand the reviewer’s job, make it easy  Assume a diverse set of reviewers  You share responsibility of a “bad review”