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Home > Medical Professionals > Research > NIH Research Resources

NIH Research Resources

Recent and Important NHLBI and NIH Updates

Date: September 28, 2009

Upcoming Changes for Proposal Instructions and Submissions
NIH released NIH notice NOT-OD-09-149 announcing upcoming changes for proposal instructions and submissions that will take effect beginning with the NIH proposal deadline of Jan. 25, 2010.

Refer to this Web site for additional information on page limitations for various components of the grant application.

Changes include:

• Research plan page limit reduction and restructuring
• Modifications to the biosketch form
• Modifications to the resource page

See below for details on these changes and how they might affect your applications.

Page Limit Revision

• Those grant applications that presently allow a research plan of 25 pages will have a new limit of 12 pages effective Jan. 25, 2010.
• Those grant applications that presently allow a research plan of 12 pages will have a new limit of six pages effective Jan. 25, 2010.
• Those grant applications that presently allow a research plan of greater than 25 pages may or may not have a change in the page limitation. Please refer to the funding opportunity announcement associated with the specific grant application for page limitation instructions.

The following mechanisms will continue to allow a 25-page research plan until further notice:

• K12
• Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional NRSA Applications
• D43 (International Training Grants in Epidemiology)
• D71 (International Training Program Planning Grant)
• Education Projects (R25)

Restructuring of the Research Plan
The research plan presently includes four sections: 1) Specific aims; 2) Background and significance; 3) Preliminary studies/progress report; and 4) Research design and methods.

Effective Jan. 25, the research plan will have a different structure:

• Specific aims.
• Research strategy. This will absorb the sections we presently know as background and significance, preliminary studies/progress report and research design and methods.
• The Research Strategy will be divided into three subsections: Significance, innovation and approach.
• The subsection “Approach” will include preliminary studied (for new applications); or progress report (for renewal revision applications).

There is a table depicting this change in the notice.

Biosketch Modification
The current biosketch includes parts A, B, and C.

• A new Personal Statement will be incorporated as Part A.
• Former Parts A, B, and C will now be Parts B, C, and D.
• Applicants should limit the list of selected peer-reviewed publications to no more than 15. These 15 publications should be chosen on the basis of recency, importance to the field and relevance to the proposed research.
• Most funding mechanisms will continue to limit the biosketch to four pages, while others (such as the DP1 and DP2, pioneer award and innovator award) limit the biosketch to two pages.

Resources Page Modification
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.
• For early stage investigators, the institutional investment in the success of the investigator.

Some time in December 2009, NIH will post new application packages that are to be used beginning with the Jan. 25 NIH deadline. Please be sure to check the NIH Web site periodically for updated instructions and new applications packages.

Date: June 9, 2009

New Policies for New Investigators vs. Early Stage Investigators
See the Circulation article describing the new policies adopted by NHLBI for Early Stage Investigators (ESI) vs. New Investigators, by Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel, is important, and clearly lays out the new policies governing investigators at the early stage of their career. See Circulation 2009;119;1453-1455. 

New ARRA (Recovery) Web sites

• NIH ARRA (Recovery) Web site: http://www.nih.gov/recovery/index.htm
• NHLBI ARRA (Recovery) Web site: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/recovery/nhlbi-arra.html. Institutes have set up their own ARRA Web sites with institute specific requirements.

New “Enhancing Peer Review” (Including Training Mechanisms)

• Peer Review at NIH: Overview: http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/index.htm/
• Enhanced Review Criteria for Evaluation of Research Applications Received for FY2010: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-025.html
• Enhancing Peer Review: NIH announces New Scoring Procedures for Evaluation of Research Applications received for potential FY 2010 funding: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-024.html
• Enhancing Peer Review: Implementation Guideline: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-023.html
• Enhancing Peer Review: Guidance for Reviewers: http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/guidance_reviewers.html

Additional Resources

NIH Research Report Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT)
Access to reports, data and analyses of NIH research and development activities

CRISP Data Search
Search NIH funded scientific projects