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  Research Newsletter
Research Weekly Archive
Case Research Weekly  
December 10, 2007  
Sponsored Projects News and Updates
NIH Reduces Error Correction Window
NIH will reduce the “error correction window” (i.e. the time allowed after the submission deadline to address NIH system identified errors/warnings) from five (5) business days to two (2) business days for all electronically submitted grant applications with submission deadlines on or after January 8, 2008.

This change will mean that electronic applications will be considered “on-time” if all of the following criteria are met:
  • All required registrations must be complete prior to the initial submission.
  • Initial successful submission to Grants.gov must have a timestamp on/before 5:00 p.m. local time of the applicant organization on the receipt date.
  • Applicants must correct errors and/or warnings within the two business days following the receipt date (referred to as the “error correction window”).
  • All application corrections must be in response to a system-identified error/warning (application submissions with additional changes may be refused).
If final submission is sent after the receipt date, a cover letter attachment must be included identifying the system-identified errors/warnings that have been corrected. The two business days provided to view the assembled application image in eRA Commons will remain unchanged.

It is NIH’s ultimate goal to define “on-time” submission as having an error-free application (i.e., passes Grants.gov and eRA Commons system-enforced business rules without errors) with a Grants.gov timestamp on/before 5:00 p.m. local time of the applicant organization on the receipt date. NIH temporarily relaxed the definition of “on-time” submission by allowing a five business day “error correction window” for the first six electronic application receipt cycles following the initial transitions to electronic applications. The “error correction window” allowed applicants to adjust to the system-enforced business rules and ensured that Grants.gov and NIH system processing times did not interfere with successful submission. Progress on both fronts has allowed them to close this window which helps speed up the process of getting the applications in to review and ultimately award.

Since beginning the NIH Electronic Submission of Grant Applications Program in December 2005, both NIH and the applicant community have gained valuable experience with the electronic process and forms. NIH now receives 80% of its applications electronically through Grants.gov using the SF424 (R&R) form set. Experience and system improvements have led to a significant rise in the number of applicants that successfully complete the submission process within two attempts. Over 93% of applicants submitting to the November 5, 2007 R01 receipt date successfully completed the process within two submission attempts. They also have measured dramatic improvements in Grants.gov and NIH response times so applicants can now quickly turn around any needed error corrections. The November 5 applicants experienced an average response time (from submission to Grants.gov to receiving a response from NIH) of 33 minutes and a median response time of 10.42 minutes.

NIH remains committed to ensuring applicants are not penalized for Grants.gov or NIH system issues that are beyond their control and has contingency plans in place to handle those situations. The “error correction window” is a separate concept and has no effect on the contingency policies.

 
Strategic Plans at NIH
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
The NHLBI has announced a new strategic plan to guide its next decade of research, training, and education to reduce the national burden of cardiovascular, lung, blood, and sleep disorders.

The plan sets forth three major goals that cover the scientific continuum from bench to bedside and address basic, clinical, and translational research. Realizing the future envisioned in the plan will require collaboration with many other organizations, both public and private, and with other agencies of the Federal government.

Powerful new research approaches in the fields of genetics, genomics, and imaging provide unprecedented opportunities to achieve one of the three goals: to increase understanding of the molecular and physiological basis of health and disease. An example of a new program to address this goal is one that will link genetic data from long-standing groups of clinical study participants with data about their health indicators and characteristics, and then make the data available to researchers — with appropriate privacy safeguards.

A second goal is to enhance knowledge of the clinical mechanisms of disease and thereby identify better approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Addressing this goal will be enabled by new clinical research networks designed to investigate innovative approaches to promote establishment of standard treatment protocols to test new basic science discoveries and then foster rapid dissemination of research findings to health care professionals and the public.

The final goal is to improve the translation of research into practice for the benefit of personal and public health by seeking a better understanding of the processes for health behavior change. Approaches to be employed include those that will tie the development of guidelines for clinical practice to up-do-date scientific evidence and then promote their use through appropriately designed public education programs.

The NHLBI Strategic Plan: Shaping the Future of Research is available at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/strategicplan/.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
In May 2007, the NIMH launched the process to develop a new Strategic Plan that will serve as a guide to the Institute for advancing mental health science over the next 3-5 years. The Institute has now completed a draft of this Strategic Plan, and seeks public feedback before the main text is finalized.

The document is written such that the Institute’s Strategic Objectives build upon one another, with themes from the first Objectives mentioned and interwoven with later ones. The finished version will include additional materials, including stories of discovery that highlight collaborative efforts and recent research advances.

NIMH encourages you to read the draft Strategic Plan and provide any comments you may have via the email address noted in the Plan (strategicplanning2@nih.gov). The draft Plan can be accessed at the following website: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/strategic-planning-reports/nimh-draft-strategic-plan.shtml.

Comments will be accepted by email through December 21, 2007.

 
COGR Issues Guidance on Managing DOD F&A Cap
On November 13, 2007, the following provisions of the FY2008 DOD Appropriations Bill became law:
“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds made available in this Act may be used to pay negotiated indirect cost rates on a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement (or similar arrangement) entered into by the Department of Defense and an entity in excess of 35 percent of the total cost of the contract, grant, or agreement (or similar arrangement): Provided, that this limitation shall apply only to contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements entered into after the date of the enactment of this Act using funds made available in this Act for fiscal year 2008 for basic research.”
COGR has developed a guidance document to help clarify the implications of this legislation and the implementation issues for those institutions affected by this cap on indirect costs.

For more information, please review the documents at the following links:

http://ora.ra.cwru.edu/ospa/FYI/COGR_Guidance_DOD35.doc

http://ora.ra.cwru.edu/ospa/FYI/Dec1_2007_DOD_Memo_Section8115.pdf.

 
Research ShowCASE 2008 - Call for Presentations
April 16th and 17th, 2008

Join the hundreds of faculty, staff, and students in presenting your latest research and scholarship at Research ShowCASE 2008!

This year’s program includes more cash prizes, including ten Grand Prizes of $1,250 each. The prizes will be awarded to the top ten winners in the graduate student poster contest.

In addition to provocative panels, Research ShowCASE 2008 will explore today’s changing urban profile with participation from the Baker Nord Center’s CityScapes project, exploring the city as a crucible of creative change. The Functional Electrical Stimulation Center will demonstrate the miracle of movement with the application of electrical currents to either generate or suppress activity to the nervous system, enabling the movement of paralyzed limbs. SIM man, an interactive medical training robot that breathes and has a pulse, will also be attending.

For details on submitting your presentation go to: http://ora.ra.cwru.edu/showcase/Presentation.html.

Please note the deadline for submitting an abstract to Research ShowCASE 2008 - January 31, 2008.

For more information: http://showcase.case.edu.

We look forward to seeing you at ShowCASE.

 
Funding Opportunities
NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant Program
The NCRR Shared Instrument Grant (SIG) program solicits applications from groups of NIH-supported investigators to purchase or upgrade commercially available instruments that cost at least $100,000. The maximum award is $500,000. Types of instruments supported include confocal and electron microscopes, biomedical imagers, mass spectrometers, DNA sequencers, biosensors, cell sorters, X-ray diffraction systems, and NMR spectrometers among others.

This funding opportunity will use the NIH S10 mechanism.

The NCRR intends to commit approximately $43 million in FY2009 to fund approximately 125 new awards. Since the cost of the various instruments will vary, it is anticipated that the size of awards will also vary. The total amount awarded and the number of awards will depend on the funds available for the SIG program.

Awards are for one year and for direct costs only. Cost sharing is not required.

Eligible institutions include domestic non-profit organizations, public or private institutions, such as universities, colleges and hospitals.

Eligible principal investigators include any technically qualified research scientists. To be eligible to apply, three or more NIH funded investigators (Principal Investigators of active P01, R01, U01, R35, R37, DP1 or DP2 research grants) who will be users of the requested instruments must be identified.

There is no limit on the number of applications an institution may submit provided the applications are for different types of equipment.

Renewal (formerly “competing continuation” or “Type 2”) applications are not permitted. Applicants may submit a “resubmission” application, but such applications must include an “Introduction” addressing the previous peer review critique (Summary Statement).

Multiple PDs/PIs are not allowed under the S10 mechanism.

For general information on SF424 (R&R) Application and Electronic Submission, see these Web sites: SF424 (R&R) Application and Electronic Submission Information: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm

General information on Electronic Submission of Grant Applications: http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/

Special Application Submission/Receipt Date(s): March 24, 2008

Initial merit review convened by CSR.

The complete notice can be found at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-08-036.html.

 
Tech Transfer News
AUTM Releases 2006 Licensing Survey
More than $45 billion was spent in research and development activities at U.S. academic centers in 2006, up from $42 billion in 2005, according to the FY 2006 Licensing Activity Survey released by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). The survey also documented 553 startups launched in 2006 and 697 new products introduced into the market last year, compared to 527 in 2005.

The report includes thirteen success stories about contributions that range from a new medication for HIV to a clothing and accessory solution for lymphedema sufferers. The Survey demonstrates how technology transfer professionals assist researchers in bringing these new products and services to market for the benefit of society and the economy. With statistical contributions from more then 189 respondents, the Survey is the most comprehensive report of its kind.

Link: http://autm.net/about/dsp.pubDetail2.cfm?pid=41.

 
Sponsored Projects News and Updates
December Science Cafe - Nanotechnology
This is a reminder about December’s Science Café Cleveland, which will take place on Monday, Dec. 10th at Great Lakes Brewing Company; drinks will begin at 6:00 pm and the discussion will start closer to 6:30 pm.

This month’s topic is nanotechnology: "What can nano do for you?"

Our featured guests will be Dr. Steven Eppell (Case Biomedical Engineering) and Dr. Alexis Abramson (Case Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering).

You can get more details of this and other science cafés at our web site: http://www.case.edu/affil/sigmaxi/.

NEXT MONTH'S TOPIC: Declining amphibians featuring Mrs. Kathy Krynak (Animal Keeper, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo) and Mr. Tim Krynak (Naturalist, Cleveland Metroparks).

 
Compliance News
CREC News

In an effort to streamline and keep current the options to obtain continuing credits in the Continuing Research Education Credit (CREC) Program, a few of the online choices for obtaining credit have been removed.

CREC participants can still take advantage of the multiple options offered by CITI, including the Basic Training, the Refresher Course and the Good Clinical Practices Course. In addition, the catalogue of taped seminars with associated quizzes will be expanding.

The Research Seminar Series will also continue, with some sessions available for CREC, while others will focus on Responsible Conduct in Research topics and Sponsored Projects areas.

Please check the Research Seminar Series online calendar of events to see the Spring Semester offerings.

Link: http://ora.ra.cwru.edu/research/orc/education/onlinecalendar.cfm.

 
Introduction to Grant Proposal Writing

Monday, January 28, 2008
8:00 am - 11:30 am
Wolstein Research Building Auditorium, Room 1413

 Back by popular demand, we are once again sponsoring a nationally-recognized expert to present "An Introduction to Grant Proposal Writing". Dr. Robert A. Lucas, Director of the Institute for Scholarly Productivity, and the author of “The Grants World Inside Out" will discuss:

  • How to identify fundable ideas;
  • How to locate likely sponsors;
  • How to develop a strong and convincing proposal;
  • How to draft a foundation letter of inquiry;
  • and many other granting skills
This session WILL NOT focus exclusively on biomedical disciplines or NIH funding, but rather the material will be applicable to all disciplines. Refreshments will be served.

Register Early! Space is limited.

Link: http://ora.ra.cwru.edu/research/orc/education/onlinecalendar.cfm.

 

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