Notice Number: NOT-RM-12-010
Key Dates
Release Date: January 23, 2012
Receipt Date: February 15, 2012
Earliest Anticipated Start Date: June 1, 2012
Issued by
Office of Strategic Coordination (Common Fund)
Purpose
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) announces the availability of funds to support administrative supplements to NIH grantees, currently funded through RFA-RM-09-006, to extend statistical analyses of Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) data. The research proposed in the administrative supplement request must be within the scope of the peer-reviewed activities specified within the parent grant. The supplemental funds are available for the current year, fiscal year 2012.
Background
The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project, an NIH Common Fund Initiative (http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/GTEx), aims to provide a resource to the scientific community with which to study the relationship between genetic variation and regulation of gene expression. This project will collect and analyze multiple human tissues from donors who have been characterized for germline genetic variation through dense genotyping. By treating global RNA expression levels as quantitative traits, loci with polymorphisms that are highly correlated with variations in expression will be identified as expression quantitative trait loci, or eQTLs.
As part of the GTEx project, NIH set aside funds for an request for applications (RFA) to develop statistical methods for analysis of eQTLs (RFA-RM-09-006: Novel statistical methods for human gene expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis). In that RFA, applicants were notified that the GTEx data might not be available during the project funding period and were therefore advised to work with other datasets or to model datasets for these studies. However, with the anticipated availability of the first GTEx data, to be released by the Summer of 2012, there exists an opportunity to further develop and apply methods of eQTL analysis to GTEx data, thereby enhancing the value of the dataset to the general research community. In addition to other means of sharing data that the applicant proposes, applicants are expected to submit methods and results files to NCBI to be integrated with other GTEx data. Applicants should indicate their plans for data analysis and sharing of results during the supplement period.
Eligibility
Supplement funds under this program are limited to grants awarded under RFA-RM-09-006. Before submitting an application for an administrative supplement, grantees are strongly encouraged to communicate with the Program Officer of their funded NIH grant to discuss the planned application.
This program will support up to five administrative supplements to existing R01 grants. Only one supplement request may be submitted per grant.
Budget Information
In fiscal year 2012, the Common Fund plans to commit approximately $800,000 total costs towards this administrative supplement program, with up to 5 awards anticipated. The Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) on the parent grant must use the supplemental funds to support work within the scope of the parent grant. The duration of the award is limited to one year. Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs will be paid at the full, negotiated rate. Applicants should provide a detailed budget justification for personnel costs, equipment, supplies, and other expenses. The purchase of equipment is allowed.
Post-Award Requirements
The awardee(s) will be required to participate in GTEx Statistical Methods teleconferences, as well as up to two in-person meetings. In addition, awardee(s) will be expected to participate in data cleaning exercises. A two-page progress report addressing the progress of the supplement-funded activities should be included in the final progress report of the parent grant as a part of the grant close-out process.
Submitting an Application
Applications must be received on or before February 15, 2012. Do not send applications to the Center for Scientific Review. NIMH procedures for submitting administrative supplements are posted at: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/research-funding/grants/administrative-supplements-to-research-grants-and-cooperative-agreements.shtml under the heading “How to Apply for an Administrative Supplement.”
All Administrative Supplement requests should be submitted by the PD(s)/PI(s) of the parent grant electronically via the following link: https://wwwapps.nimh.nih.gov/ssf/
When prompted, please log into the system with your eRA Commons ID and Password. Please select Administrative Supplement when prompted for the type of supplement.
Review and Award Criteria
Applications that are complete and responsive to the goals of the supplement announcement will be administratively reviewed for scientific and technical merit by a committee of NIH staff. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Awards will be determined on the basis of technical feasibility and the progress on the parent grant. Preference will be given to supplement requests where the likelihood for success is highest. The added value of the activity to the parent grant will also be taken into consideration. All funding decisions are final and not subject to appeal. Resubmission applications will not be considered.Inquiries
Applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss their plans for responding to this Notice by phone or e-mail. Scientific inquiries should be directed to:
Patrick Bender, Ph.D.
Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science
National Institute of Mental Health
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 7190, MSC 9645
Bethesda, MD 20892-9645
Telephone: (301) 443-6653
Email: [email protected]
and Human Services (HHS)
