Notice of Availability of Administrative Supplements for Neuroimaging Informatics Software Enhancement for Improved Interoperability and Dissemination (NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research)

Notice Number: NOT-EB-08-002

Key Dates
Release Date: March 6, 2008

Issued by
NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research (http://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov)

This notice is to announce the availability of supplemental funding, provided by the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research, to modify, document, or otherwise make more adoptable, interoperable, and usable existing neuroimaging informatics tools and resources. This notice replaces the earlier notice, EB-07-006 (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-EB-07-006.html). While the intent and focus of this notice is the same as the earlier one, this notice includes an updated timeline and some new details on evaluation criteria.

NIH has established an independent Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse (NITRC), www.nitrc.org , to facilitate the dissemination and adoption of existing neuroimaging informatics tools and resources. The NITRC provides access to neuroimaging informatics tools and resources and information about them to the neuroimaging research community at large. The NITRC also provides ongoing opportunities for public comment regarding particular neuroimaging informatics tools and resources in order to guide their development and enhance their use by the neuroimaging research community at large.  While the initial focus of the NITRC has been functional MRI (fMRI) and related structural MRI, the scope of clearinghouse is expected to expand.

The NITRC is supported by the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research (http://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov/), a framework to enhance cooperative activities among the NIH Office of the Director and 15 NIH Institutes and Centers that support research on the nervous system. By pooling resources and expertise, the Blueprint takes advantage of economies of scale, confronts challenges too large for any single Institute or Center, and develops research tools and infrastructure that serve the entire neuroscience community.

NIH Institutes and Centers support the development of sophisticated, high-quality neuroimaging informatics tools and resources.  Examples of such tools are algorithms and software for image segmentation, image registration, image processing pipelines, statistical analysis, spatial alignment and normalization, and data format translation. Examples of resources are knowledge environments, ontologies, well-characterized test datasets, data formats, and databases. To maximize their impact, these neuroimaging informatics tools and resources must be well-characterized and documented so that they can be adopted by the extended neuroimaging research community.  A few examples of efforts that could be funded through these supplements are: modification of code to accept new data formats, documentation of code, and enhancement of interoperability and adoptability of neuroimaging informatics tools and resources.

All efforts are expected to result in broader distribution and dissemination of tools and resources. When possible, these activities will be conducted in close cooperation with the NITRC. Grantees will engage in community activities with the NITRC to adopt community standards for interoperability and software engineering practices, to make modified and enhanced neuroimaging informatics tools and resources available and work with the NITRC to incorporate the modified and enhanced neuroimaging informatics tools and resources in the NITRC.  Investigators funded through this initiative will be expected to participate in a meeting in the Washington, D.C. area within a few months of the project start date.  This meeting will be designed to introduce investigators to one another, promote discussion of common interests, foster collaboration, and, where appropriate, identify opportunities for interoperability between funded resources.

Supplement requests will be assessed based on:

Particular funding preference will be given to support enhancements to tools that are already registered in the NITRC and have received feedback via the site requesting specific enhancements.

Current NIH grantees can request a $50,000 (direct cost) administrative supplement to support work for the purpose(s) stated above. The eligible parent grant mechanisms include R01, R33, R37, P01, P20, P30, P41, P50, P60, U01, U41, and U54. The parent grant should have at least 18 months remaining at the time the request is made.

A maximum of two administrative supplement applications may be submitted to supplement a single parent grant, as long as the objectives of the supplements are distinct. For example, one supplement may seek funds to enhance the graphical user interface for an existing neuroimaging informatics tool, while a second application to supplement the same parent grant may request funds to document the code and create a developers’ manual. The maximum for each supplement is limited to $50,000 in direct costs per year.
The following should be included within the request:

Requests will be accepted on an ongoing basis and administratively reviewed three times per year, in April, August and December.  The latest date to submit requests to be reviewed in the upcoming three administrative review meetings are: March 24, 2008; July 7, 2008; and November 3, 2008.  Requests should be 10 or fewer pages (no official form is required) and be sent by post or email (email preferred) to Dr. Zohara Cohen at the address given below. Requests must be signed by the authorized organization representative and scanned and attached as a pdf file if sent by email.

Inquiries

Direct questions and submit requests for supplemental funds to:

Zohara Cohen, Ph.D.
Program Director
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering
Democracy II, Suite 200
6707 Democracy Blvd
Bethesda, MD 20892
Telephone: 301-402-1127
Email: zcohen@mail.nih.gov


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