Notice Regarding the Availability of Competitive Supplements to Study Sex/Gender Differences in Drug Abuse

Notice Number: NOT-DA-07-006

Key Dates
Release Date: December 15, 2006

Issued by
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), (http://www.nida.nih.gov)

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is pleased to announce its interest in receiving grant applications for competitive supplements aimed at furthering our understanding of sex/gender differences in drug abuse. The purpose of this competitive supplement program is to increase the number of NIDA-funded investigators who conduct sex/gender analyses and take a sex/gender-based approach in their NIDA-supported research. This program is part of NIDA’s efforts to foster the integration of a sex/gender-based approach in all areas of drug abuse research.
Applicants must hold a NIDA RO1 award that will have at least one year remaining at the time of the issuance of the competitive supplement award. The duration of the award may not exceed the end date of the active parent grant. The proposed research must be clearly within the scope of the parent grant.

Investigators are invited to submit an application for a competitive supplement for any of the following three types of studies:

1. Underpowered Human Subjects Studies. For many NIDA-funded studies, testing for sex/gender differences is precluded because the proposed study sample is too small to test for statistical differences. A supplement can be submitted for the purpose of adding additional subjects so as obtain sufficient statistical power to permit conducting a sex/gender analysis.

2. Animal Models. Most of NIDA-supported animal research is conducted with only male subjects. Nevertheless, there is a growing animal model literature indicating that when drug abuse researchers compare male and female subjects, sex differences frequently are observed. Further, research has begun to examine the genetic, hormonal, organizational, neurochemical, and pharmacokinetic basis of these differences. This grant supplement program will permit PIs to request funds to conduct limited parallel studies in female subjects in order to assess differences between males and females.
3. Secondary Data Analyses. Investigators who have data sets, either completed or in progress, for which there is statistical power for a sex/gender analyses, but for which such analyses were not proposed in the parent grant, may request funds to test for sex/gender differences. Such requests are appropriate only when there is clear justification for why the resources of the parent grant are insufficient to fund the required work.

Responsiveness to Notice:

An application requesting funds in any of the three qualifying categories above will be considered responsive to this notice if it (a) provides a thorough background review of the sex/gender differences literature that is relevant to the parent grant, (b) describes how that literature serves as the rationale for the need for sex/gender data analyses in the parent grant, (c) sets forth specific, theory-based hypotheses regarding sex/gender differences, (d) describes how taking a sex/gender-based approach will further the aims of the parent grant, (e) describes how taking a sex/gender-based will further the significance of the parent grant, and (f) in the case of secondary data analysis, provides clear justification for why the resources of the parent grant are insufficient to fund the required work.

Competitive supplements may be submitted through the Research Project Grant (Parent R01) funding announcement using the electronic SF424 (R&R) application:

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-07-070.html

Inquiries
For additional information or questions, please contact:

Cora Lee Wetherington, Ph.D.
Women & Gender Research Coordinator
National Institute on Drug Abuse
6001 Executive Blvd., Rm 4282, MSC 9555
Bethesda, MD 20892-9555 (For overnight mail: Rockville, MD 20857)
Phone: (301) 435-1319
Fax: (301) 594-6043
E-mail: wetherington@nih.gov