Pursuing research that advances public health entails striving to be worthy of public trust. We know that our grantees work hard to ensure that research is carried out with the highest standards of integrity and is free of bias. Public and private research collaborations are increasingly complex, and so it is important for us to continuously evaluate how these relationships might affect NIH funded research. NIH, through the Department of Health and Human Services has issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANPRM). Through this Notice, we are seeking comments from the public on possible changes to the existing regulations that we often refer to as the "Financial Conflict of Interest" regulations.

NIH is pleased to announce two new Recovery Act funded programs which seek to recognize and encourage innovative research and technology among small businesses and for-profit ventures--the Small Business Catalyst Awards for Accelerating Innovative Research (R43) and the Biomedical Research, Development, and Growth to Spur the Acceleration of New Technologies (BRDG-SPAN) Pilot Program (RC3).

NIH received over 20,000 applications for the Recovery Act-funded Challenge Grants program. This number roughly equals the total number of applications that NIH receives for any one of its three major review rounds each year and will require over 18,000 scientists to participate in the peer review process.

If you wish to resubmit an application prepared for the NIH Challenge Grants opportunity, you must wait to receive your peer review summary statement and submit your revised application for the October deadline or any deadline thereafter. When you do so, be sure to submit it as a new application and appropriately modify the application to meet the requirements of the new FOA or activity code. Do not include an Introduction describing changes and improvements or mark text to indicate changes.

Use of the new electronic Research Administration (eRA) Commons Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) reporting module will be required as of July 1, 2009. The FCOI module allows institutions to initiate and prepare FCOI reports electronically, to submit those reports, to search and view FCOI reports previously submitted through the Commons, to edit or rescind reports, and to create and access a history of institutional actions.

Training project directors and administrators can now streamline their load of paper forms through xTrain, a module in the eRA Commons. xTrain is now open to all institutions registered with the Commons. Using xTrain also speeds up the NIH approval process and reduces the chance of data entry errors associated with paper forms.

Implementation of many of the Enhancements to Peer Review began with the May 2009 review meetings, and some applicants are already receiving summary statements with scores determined under the new system. If you need help understanding your grant application's review scores, read on…

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There’s a lot to consider when you are developing a budget for your research grant application. While the best resources at your disposal are the sponsored research programs office at your institution, your departmental administrative officials, your mentors and your peers, we have compiled some tips and reminders that may be helpful for preparing your budget. For more detailed information, visit our Developing Your Budget webpage . We offer a brief overview below.