Key Dates

Related Announcements

• July 28, 2021 - Materials to Enhance Training in Experimental Rigor (METER) (UE5 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO RFA-NS-21-033.

Issued by

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Purpose

The Office of Research Quality at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is issuing this notice to inform the extramural research community about principles of rigorous biomedical research that have not yet been selected for development into educational units by previous awardees of the Materials to Enhance Training in Experimental Rigor (METER) (UE5 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) funding opportunity. ?One receipt date remains for METER: October 10, 2023.

Background

METER and its companion funding opportunity Creating an Educational Nexus for Training in Experimental Rigor (CENTER) (UC2 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) together aim to facilitate teaching of fundamental principles of rigorous biomedical research by developing an innovative online educational resource for a broad range of scientists across multiple career stages and an array of learning environments. With help from the CENTER, METER awardees will compile and refine the core scholarly content for educational units on principles of rigorous biomedical research within this online resource. NINDS has funded the single CENTER and the first two rounds of METER awards. More information can be found on the NINDS website for the initiative.

Scope

Principles of rigorous biomedical research are cross-cutting concepts, processes, and practices that promote rigorous, transparent, and robust scientific experiments. These principles apply across a wide variety of scientific disciplines, techniques, and approaches. METER applicants are expected to develop each educational unit around a single principle of rigorous research (i.e., one principle per unit). For that reason, an individual educational unit is defined as a set of educational materials, lessons, and activities that collectively address a single principle of rigorous research. Although principles of rigorous research are expected to be widely applicable across biomedical research, the scientific examples employed within each educational unit for illustrative purposes are expected to be relevant to the neuroscience research community. METER applicants may propose creating materials for more than one educational unit/principle of rigorous research, and there is no specific limit to the number of units/principles each applicant can propose. Please consult the full METER funding opportunity for more information about its goals and how to apply.

For the final round of METER, principles of rigorous biomedical research that have not yet been selected for development into educational units (and are, therefore, high-priority for NINDS) include, but are not limited to:

• Blinding/Masking investigators during experimentation and analysis
• Identifying assumptions and sources of error (e.g., selection bias, measurement error, confounding variables)
• Recognizing and communicating experimental limitations
• Generating and evaluating scientific models (e.g., to design experiments, test predictions, and interpret results)
• Bolstering inferences through replication and further experimentation (e.g., triangulation, orthogonal approaches, generalization)
• Conceptualizing and measuring probability and uncertainty
• Accounting for statistical dependence (e.g., using nested designs, recognizing pseudoreplicates, distinguishing technical vs. biological replicates)
• Exercising a sound process for choosing appropriate descriptive statistics
• Creating formal plans for experimental design, execution, and analysis in advance
• Selecting and validating resources (e.g., reagents, animal models, instruments, outcome measures)
• Identifying limitations, validating results, and ensuring transparency of machine learning/artificial intelligence algorithms

This list is not exhaustive, and applicants are not restricted to proposing educational units around principles from this list. About 30-50 total educational units are expected to be incorporated into the online resource across the three METER rounds, so a breadth of topics is expected to be covered by the total body of funded METER applications.

Applicants who are considering applying for METER are strongly encouraged to consult with NINDS program staff early in the planning process for an application.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Devon Crawford, Ph.D.
Office of Research Quality
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Email: devon.crawford@nih.gov