Notice Number: NOT-OD-07-047

Key Dates
Release Date: February 21, 2007

Issued by
The Office of the Director, NIH (administered by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) on behalf of NIH and all component Institutes and Centers)

The Office of the Director, NIH, plans to issue a Request for Applications (RFA) in the spring of 2007, with review and funding expected by September 30, 2007, for NIH Director’s New Innovator Awards. This new program extends the concept of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Awards (http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/pioneer/) to support new investigators of exceptional creativity who propose innovative approaches that have the potential to produce an unusually high impact on significant problems in biomedical and behavioral research. The NIH Director’s New Innovator Awards will provide grant support to highly innovative new investigators who have not yet obtained a traditional R01 grant. Applicants must hold an independent research position at a domestic institution, and be within 10 years of their terminal degree (l997 or later). The proposed research may be in any scientific area relevant to the mission of NIH (biological, behavioral, clinical, social, physical, chemical, computational, engineering and mathematical sciences). The project description in the grant application will be briefer than that required for R01s and will emphasize the significance of the project, what makes the approaches exceptionally innovative, how the applicant will address risks and challenges, and the applicant’s qualifications for this award. The review criteria will emphasize the importance and potential impact of the scientific problem, the novelty and innovativeness of the approach, and evidence of the applicant’s potential for creative and innovative research. Presentation of preliminary data relevant to the project will be allowed, but is not required. Letters of reference are not required and will not be accepted.

Awards will be made for up to $300K direct costs per year plus applicable Facilities and Administrative costs, for five years. It is anticipated that approximately 14-16 awards will be made.

Inquiries

For further information regarding this potential RFA, please contact (preferably by e-mail):

Judith H. Greenberg, Ph.D.
Director, Division of Genetics and
Developmental Biology
National Institute of General
Medical Sciences
National Institutes of Health
Building 45, Room 2As25, MSC 6200
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-6200
Phone: 301-594-4469
E-mail: [email protected]