How Can I Find Out Which Grants at My Institution Are About to End and Require Administrative Actions?

November 30, 2014

For an individual grant, the grantee can conduct a general search in eRA Commons using the grant number and see the project end date in the information displayed for that grant. (See the eRA Commons User Guide for more information.) Officials from a grantee organization who want to search for all grants that will end in the next three months for their entire organization can use this search tool ….

What is NIH’s Time Frame for Closing Out Grants After the Project End Date?

November 30, 2014

HHS policy stipulates that if the agency (NIH) cannot undertake a “bilateral closeout”—i.e., closeout with the cooperation between the grantee and the agency —within 180 days of the project end date, it must initiate “unilateral closeout”—i.e., closeout without receipt of acceptable final reports—for those grantees that are not in compliance with the policy. ….

Learn More About Collaborating with NIH’s Clinical Center

November 28, 2014

In 2012, NIH created a unique opportunity for extramural researchers to collaborate with our intramural scientists and use the exceptional resources of the NIH Clinical Center. I want to remind you of the third round of this program, called “Opportunities for Collaborative Research at the NIH Clinical Center”, in time for the upcoming pre-application date on December 10. ….

Implementing the Modified NIH Biosketch Format

November 26, 2014

Many people have been asking about the new NIH biosketch. As you may recall, in May 2014, NIH announced that we were piloting changes to the biosketch section of grant application forms. This modified format allows researchers to describe how their background and expertise relates to their proposed project. We will require this new format for most grant applications submitted for fiscal year 2016 funding, as described in a guide notice published today. This sounds like a long way off but remember that the first applications for FY 2016 funding begin with due dates of January 25, 2015. The new format is now available in the “additional format pages” section of the SF424 applications page. ….

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A Proposed HHS Regulation and NIH Policy to Further the Impact of Clinical Trials Research

November 19, 2014

Clinical trials play a vital role in transforming scientific research into medical interventions to improve human health. Transparency about the clinical trials underway and their subsequent results ensure potential participants can make informed decisions about potential trial participation and know how their participation may have helped others. …. Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced proposed regulations to implement the clinical trial reporting requirements established by the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act (FDAAA) of 2007. …. Importantly, today NIH also announced a proposal to apply these same proposed requirements to all NIH-funded clinical trials, whether subject to FDAAA or not. The proposed policy would require that every NIH-funded clinical trial be registered ….

Better Research Trainee Data through Streamlined Reporting Processes

November 17, 2014

Training of the next generation of biomedical scientists is a core responsibility of NIH and its partner grantee institutions.The NIH Advisory Council to the Director‘s Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group recommended that NIH should “develop a simple and comprehensive tracking system for trainees” as part of the broader challenge of gathering better biomedical workforce data. Unambiguous identification of NIH trainees was an absolutely critical first step in establishing the ability to examine contributing factors that lead to various post-training careers. Accordingly we started collecting information in this way by requiring that all post-doctorates and all graduate and undergraduate students listed in a grantee’s progress report have an eRA Commons ID (as of 2009 and 2013, respectively). The next important step is developing a system to automate the capture of trainee data that has long been provided by extramural institutions in their training grant applications. ….