1. Grants Basics for Postdocs
Presented by:
Nancy Schwartz and Erin Heckler, Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs
and
Aaron House, University Research Administration
Friday, November 18th, 4:00pm
BSLC 008
BSD Postdoctoral Association

2. Quick Postdoc Grant Facts
Current stats:
65 or 20% of BSD Postdocs have Fellowships:
NIH Training Grants T32 (18)
Individual NIH Fellowships F32 (7) or K99 (2)
Individual NSF Fellowships (2)
International Fellowships (12)
Private Foundation / Corporate Fellowships (16)
Chicago Biomed Consortium (4)
Chicago Fellows Program (1)
IL Dept of Health (1)
USDA (1)
Either as Postdoc Fellows or Postdocs Scholars (with a grant)

3. BSD Postdoc Funding Webpage

4. Understanding the NIH Our mission: 27 Institutes and Centers (IC):
to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and
the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.
27 Institutes and Centers (IC):
Each have different:
Missions and priorities
Budgets
Funding Strategies
Funding Opportunities (FOA):
Grants.gov
NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
Issued by each IC, often multiple ICs participate
Types of FOA:
PA – Program Announcement
Parent Announcement – type of program announcement, usually many IC, e.g. F32, K99
RFA - Request for Application

5. Federal Postdoctoral Grants
NIH NRSA Institutional Training Grants – T32
44 Training Grant slots for Postdocs at UChicago:
Restrictions:
US Citizen or Green Card Holder
Can only hold a Postdoc fellowship from NIH for 3 years total
Your PI needs to be affiliated with the Training Grant
Your research needs to fall within the scope of the Training Grant
Apply directly to the Training Grant Director at UChicago

6. Federal Postdoctoral Grants
NIH NRSA Individual Postdoc Fellowships – F32
The purpose of the Kirschstein-NRSA postdoctoral fellowship is to enhance the research training of promising postdoctoral candidates who have the potential to become productive, independent investigators in scientific health-related research fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers.
Restrictions:
US Citizen or Green Card Holder
Can only hold a Postdoc fellowship from NIH for 3 years total (including TG time)
Three annual deadlines to apply: April, August, December 8
Need at least 3 letters of recommendation
NRSA Payback for T32 and F32 NRSA Fellowships:

7. Federal Postdoctoral Grants
NIH Pathway to Independence K99/R00
The purpose of the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) program is to increase and maintain a strong cohort of new and talented, NIH-supported, independent investigators. This program is designed to facilitate a timely transition of outstanding postdoctoral researchers with a research and/or clinical doctorate degree from mentored, postdoctoral research positions to independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions. The program will provide independent NIH research support during this transition in order to help awardees to launch competitive, independent research careers.
Provides: Up to 2 years of mentored postdoctoral training, plus up to 3 years of support as a tenure-track assistant professor.
Restrictions:
No citizenship requirements
Three annual deadlines to apply: February, June, October 12
Resubmission/Revision deadlines: March, July, November 12

8. Changes at NIH NINDS NRSA Individual Postdoc Fellowships – F32
The purpose of this award is to support outstanding scientific training of highly promising postdoctoral candidates with outstanding mentors. Candidates are eligible to apply for support from this program from ~12 months prior to the start of the proposed postdoctoral position to within 12 months after starting in postdoctoral position. Based on the early timeframe of eligibility, and the discouragement of inclusion of preliminary data, this NINDS F32 seeks to foster early, goal-directed planning and to encourage applications for bold and/or innovative projects by the candidate that have the potential for significant impact. Applications are expected to incorporate strong training in quantitative reasoning and the quantitative principles of experimental design and analysis. Support by this program is limited to the first 3 years of a candidate's activity in a specific laboratory or research environment, so as to further encourage early fellowship application and timely completion of “mentored training” of the postdoctoral candidate in a single environment.
Restrictions:
US Citizen or Green Card Holder
Can only hold a Postdoc fellowship from NIH for 3 years total (including TG time)
Three annual deadlines to apply: February, June, October 12
Difficult to resubmit if you don’t start early
Need at least 3 letters of recommendation

9. Changes at NIH
NRSA Stipend Increases for 12/1/16
F99 / K00 only at NCI – for grad students in 3rd/4th year
Ethics Requirements:
Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)
NEW Rigor and Reproducibility  also new requirements for grant submission
BioSketch Format update (Contributions to Science section)
Limits on Post-submission material NOT-OD
Parental Leave Policy for Trainees NOT-OD
New How to Apply Guides

10. Federal Postdoctoral Grants
National Science Foundation (NSF) Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biology
Requires citizenship or permanent resident status
Less than 6 months of postdoc experience
Deadline first Tuesday in November
Note: proposal guide updated
Department of Defense (DOD/CdMRP)
Usually need to have less than 4 years of postdoc experience
Only certain areas of research have postdoc grants

11. Funding Opportunities for Postdocs
HHMI Hanna H Gray Fellowships (new)
Transition award to increase diversity in biomedical research, see announcement for details
Less than 12 months as postdoc
No citizenship requirements
Deadline Feb 15
Marine Biological Lab - Whitman Center Early Career Awards
4-10 week research residency, Deadline Dec 15

12. Funding Opportunities for Postdocs
American Heart Association (3)
2 deadlines per year (Winter/Summer)
Visa holders may apply
Need to have no more than 5 years of postdoctoral training
Three BSD postdoc fellowships currently
American Cancer Society (1)
Deadline April and October
Eligibility: US citizens, non-citizen nationals, or permanent residents
Less than 4 years of postdoctoral training

13. Funding Opportunities for Postdocs
Life Sciences Research Foundation (1)
Susan G. Komen for the Cure (2)
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Arnold O Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowships (1)
Damon Runyon (1)
Dannon Microbiome
Plus more… see:
Most have restrictions of less than 1-5 years of postdoc training.

14. Grant Preparation 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 When to start?
For F and K awards, the review process takes 9 months
Writing, assembling package and submitting takes at least one month
Most grants last 3 years, and UChicago has a 5 year term limit for postdocs, so ideally you want your grant to start by the end of your 2nd year as a postdoc
Some career awards last 5 years beyond PhD, require more independence and productivity and you apply in 4th year of postdoc (read announcements carefully as these are changing)
Months before deadline 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Assess
Brainstorm, call program officers / grant contacts. Determine opportunity
Due Date
Outline and write application
Get feedback from review committee, others. Re-write, edit, proofread.
Submit to URA
Set up your own review committee;
Determine human / animal subj reqs

15. Grant Preparation What is required? How to be successful?
DATA, good idea, research plan worth exploring
Mentoring plan with your PI
Letters of recommendation
Right funding source
Navigating the application process
How to be successful?
Choosing the right source
Addressing a BIG question
Impact of project (incremental is risky)
Good mentor is invaluable

16. Campus Resources Websites:
BSD Postdocs - and quarterly seminars. The Postdoc Office can put you in touch with other postdocs who have funding.
URA -
Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) -
(Clinical Research, K Award Workshop every Fall)
Newsletters:
Weekly PDA Bulletin -
BSD Funding newsletter -
ITM Newsletter

17. General Resources Websites:
Science -
UPenn -
NIH Reporter -
NSF Award Search -
The NIH and NSF websites have a lot of information on all grant steps, start your preparation there. 
Newsletters:
Weekly NIH Funding Notices -
Professional societies