Volume 11, number 4: october 1, 2004
FEDERAL NEWS
Enhanced Public Access to NIH Research Information
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) plans to facilitate enhanced public access to NIH health related research information by requesting that its grantees and supported Principal Investigators provide the NIH with electronic copies of all final version manuscripts for publication. This would include all research grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts, as well as National Research Service Award (NRSA) fellowships.
NIH will archive all final manuscripts and any appropriate supplementary information in PubMed Central (PMC), NIH’s digital repository for biomedical research. Six months after publication, the manuscript will be made available freely to the public through PMC. This digital archive is expected to be fully searchable to enhance retrieval and can be shared with other international digital repositories to maximize archiving and to provide widespread access to this information. It is anticipated that investigators applying for new and competing renewal support from the NIH will utilize this resource by providing links in their applications to their PubMed archived information. NIH believes that this practice will increase the efficiency of the application and review process. To read the full notice, click here.
The NIH encourages comments concerning its proposed Public Access Policy, especially observations on short term impacts and suggestions for mitigating them. Please submit your responses via the NIH website on or before November 16, 2004.
NIH Announces New Address for Centralized Receipt of Progress Reports
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is centralizing receipt and initial processing of all NIH non-competing progress reports due on or after October 1, 2004. This new business process affects only non-competing progress reports currently mailed directly to NIH Institutes/Centers (IC). It does not change the Center for Scientific Review mailing address used for all new and competing grants. Progress reports for grants to other Department of Health and Human Services agencies that use the PHS2590 or the 416-9 should continue to use the mailing addresses noted for those agencies.
The new centralized mailing address
for all NIH Institutes/Centers is:
Division of Extramural Activities Support, OER
National Institutes of Health
6705 Rockledge Drive, Room 2207, MSC 7987
Bethesda, MD 20892-7987 (for regular or US Postal Service Express mail)
Bethesda, MD 20817 (for other courier/express mail delivery only)
Phone: (301) 594-6584
For additional information concerning this change see Notice
OD-04-054
Contact: Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration
Tel.: 301-435-0938
E-mail: grantspolicy@mail.nih.gov
USDA Issues NRI Research Agenda for Fiscal Year 2005
The Agriculture Department’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) has released its new National Research Initiative (NRI) Competitive Grants solicitation, which invites proposals from a broad range of funding priorities. CSREES anticipates that approximately $150 million will be available for support of this program in FY 2005.
NRI grants will support high-priority fundamental and mission-linked research of importance in the biological, environmental, physical, and social sciences relevant to agriculture, food, and the environment, as well as competitively awarded research, extension, and education grants addressing key issues of national and regional importance to agriculture, forestry, and related topics. NRI topics range from biosecurity, which focuses on safeguarding U.S. agriculture from bioterrorism, to human nutrition and other broad categories that offer funding opportunities for researchers across disciplines and types of support. Click here for a full list of topics.
For more information click here.
Federal Biodefense Research FY 2005
The Federal Biodefense Research FY 2005 conference, to be held October 19 to 21 in Rockville, Maryland, will offer researchers in government, academia, and industry a chance to hear the government's top biodefense leaders discuss their research priorities, programs, and funding. This year's event will feature high-level representatives from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense (DOD), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Attendees will get the latest information about these agencies’ research plans and priorities; new product commercialization objectives; new biodefense research programs being funded; opportunities for participation; and the process for pursuing these opportunities.
The event will also feature the "State of the Art in Basic Biodefense Research" symposium, where eminent scientists will report on pathogen biology, host response, microbial genomic sequencing, and proteomics.
To register or obtain more information about this event visit the conference website.
NIGMS Funding of New Research Grant Proposals
Over the past two years, the National Institute of General Medical Science (NIGMS) has received a large, unanticipated increase in the number of new grant applications. NIGMS analyzed the applicant pool responsible for this increase and found that the majority of these applications are from new investigators who have not previously received significant NIH funding. A significant fraction of these are from fields that have not traditionally constituted a large portion of the NIGMS portfolio, such as engineering and physics.
The institute also analyzed the likelihood of success for these new
applicants. According to this study, applications from new investigators
have a larger likelihood of success, even in light of less favorable
priority scores, due to institute policies that favor these applications.
Contact: Dr. Jeremy M. Berg
Email: bergj@mail.nih.gov
Phone: (301) 594-2172
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Publishes Strategic Plan
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has posted a draft of its 2005-2011 strategic plan, outlining the agency’s goals and funding priorities. Researchers thinking about applying for grants from NOAA can view the strategic plan on the NOAA website.