EXPIRED
Department
of Health and Human Services
Participating Organizations
National
Institutes of Health (NIH) (http://www.nih.gov)
Components of
Participating Organizations
National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) (http://www.niaaa.nih.gov)
Title: Behavioral
Mechanisms in the Transition to Habitual
Alcohol Seeking and Drinking (R01)
Announcement Type
New
Update: The following update relating to this announcement has been issued:
NOTICE: Applications submitted in response to this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for Federal assistance must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov) using the SF424 Research and Related (R&R) forms and the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.
APPLICATIONS MAY NOT BE SUBMITTED IN PAPER FORMAT.
This FOA must be read in conjunction with the application guidelines included with this announcement in Grants.gov/Apply for Grants (hereafter called Grants.gov/Apply).
A registration process is necessary before submission and applicants are highly encouraged to start the process at least four weeks prior to the grant submission date. See Section IV.
Request For Applications (RFA) Number: RFA-AA-08-007
Catalog of Federal
Domestic Assistance Number(s)
93.273
Key Dates
Release/Posted Date: November 27, 2007
Opening Date: February 20,
2008 (Earliest date an application may be submitted to Grants.gov)
Letters of Intent Receipt Date(s): February 20, 2008
NOTE: On time submission
requires that applications be successfully submitted to Grants.gov no later
than 5:00 p.m. local time (of the applicant institution/organization).
Application Submission/Receipt
Date(s): March 20, 2008
Peer Review Date(s): May 2008
Council Review Date(s): August 2008
Earliest Anticipated Start Date(s): September 1, 2008
Additional Information To
Be Available Date (Activation Date): Not Applicable
Expiration Date: March 21, 2008
Due Dates for E.O. 12372
Not
Applicable
Additional
Overview Content
Executive Summary
Table of Contents
Part I Overview Information
Part II Full Text of Announcement
Section I. Funding Opportunity
Description
1. Research Objectives
Section II. Award Information
1. Mechanism of Support
2. Funds Available
Section III. Eligibility
Information
1. Eligible Applicants
A. Eligible Institutions
B. Eligible Individuals
2. Cost Sharing or Matching
3. Other - Special Eligibility Criteria
Section IV. Application and
Submission Information
1. Request Application Information
2. Content and Form of Application Submission
3. Submission Dates and Times
A. Submission, Review, and
Anticipated Start Dates
1.
Letter of Intent
B. Submitting an Application Electronically
to the NIH
C. Application Processing
4. Intergovernmental Review
5. Funding Restrictions
6. Other Submission Requirements
Section V. Application Review
Information
1. Criteria
2. Review and Selection Process
A. Additional Review Criteria
B. Additional Review Considerations
C. Sharing Research Data
D. Sharing Research Resources
3. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates
Section VI. Award Administration
Information
1. Award Notices
2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements
A. Cooperative Agreement Terms and Conditions of Award
3. Reporting
Section VII. Agency Contact(s)
1. Scientific/Research Contact(s)
2. Peer Review Contact(s)
3. Financial/Grants Management Contact(s)
Section VIII. Other Information
- Required Federal Citations
Part II
- Full Text of Announcement
Section I. Funding Opportunity Description
1. Research Objectives
Purpose
Alcoholism involves transitions from occasional controlled drinking, through habitual use to compulsive harmful drinking that is difficult to regulate. Repeated alcohol drinking may produce distressing withdrawal symptoms following alcohol cessation. The avoidance of withdrawal symptoms increases the motivation to seek alcohol, yet it does not fully explain some of the addictive-like characteristics associated with dependence such as the persistence of relapse to drinking. Relapse is often precipitated by cues, such as people, places, or drug paraphernalia. Indeed, the cue-dependent activation of habitual alcohol-seeking has been hypothesized to play a major role in relapse after a long period of abstinence. It is not well understood, however, how these cues come to control behavior and elicit relapse.
Motivational and emotional systems enabling behaviors necessary for survival must adapt to changing circumstances. This behavioral adaptation in the form of learning is supported by networks that integrate neocortex with subcortical regions such as the amygdala, hypothalamus, striatum and hippocampus. In the course of learning and memory, the function and activity of these networks are modified through extracellular and intracellular molecular signaling mechanisms. Research suggests that alcohol exerts its effects through the very same neural pathways and mechanisms contributing to learning may be key to its ability to establish addictive-like behavior. The direct evidence, however, linking alcohol’s pharmacological actions to well-defined learning mechanisms as they pertain to the development of alcoholism is not clear.
This initiative offers opportunities to increase our understanding of learning and memory processes in the development of habitual alcohol seeking and consumption. The purpose of this initiative is to identify: 1) alcohol’s effects upon neural substrates of learning and memory as they contribute to behavioral characteristics of alcohol dependence; and 2) the role of implicit cognitive factors and their underlying neural substrates in the transition to uncontrolled drinking and relapse.
Background
The brain changes as a result of experience to engender memories of past events, to anticipate probable future events, and integrate actions necessary for survival. Throughout the course of these events, behavior adapts in the form of learning. For example, learning the significance of a cue and connecting that information with an appropriate response require the storage of specific patterns of information in the brain. This stored information provides an internal representation of the cue, its value and what it predicts. It is also dependent on the cross-talk between cortical and subcortical networks of sensory and memory systems that record the details of experience. Many theories propose that addiction results when brain systems involved in normal learning and memory functions are distorted by the actions of addictive drugs. Although much is known about the ways in which neural functioning is altered by alcohol at the cellular and molecular level, we are only beginning to learn how these alterations contribute to behavioral characteristics of addiction. In order to fully understand the development of alcoholism, it is important to examine alcohol s effects upon neural substrates of learning and memory as they relate to behavioral characteristics of alcohol dependence.
During initial stages of alcohol use, behaviors involved in alcohol procurement and use are characterized by deliberate actions directed toward achieving desired outcomes such as alcohol’s pharmacological effects. At this stage, alcohol drinking is influenced by various social factors such as parents, peers, and culture and may be directed toward alcohol intoxication. During later stages, procurement and use actions become more inflexible, stereotyped and automatic. Indeed, prolonged exposure to alcohol produces dependence. Under these conditions, drinking seems to be tied to a narrow set of highly specific settings and events. As such, cues associated with drinking precipitate feelings of craving and often trigger unintended relapse episodes in people trying to maintain abstinence. Therefore, it appears that alcoholism involves a reduction in deliberative, explicit, goal directed actions, and the increased involvement of automatic, implicit, habitual behaviors. Recent research is beginning to identify neural substrates of these distinct modes of behaving. A goal of this FOA is to examine whether alcohol’s actions on these substrates lead to addictive-like behavior by promoting implicit cognition and automatic, habitual behavior.
Research on cognitive processes involved in alcohol use that draws on people’s subjective awareness of their behavior could be viewed as having limited relevance to understanding alcoholism given that addiction appears to be ingrained and habitual. Dependent individuals often know that drinking alcohol is harmful, but they persist in drinking anyway with seemingly little explicit thinking involved. For example, stimuli associated with alcohol use (such as the picture of a beer bottle) may exert an attentional bias that directs actions toward alcohol use without conscious awareness. Thus, there is a greater need to understand the role of implicit cognition in the development of alcohol addiction. Cognitive research has begun to focus on implicit or automatic processes that operate outside conscious control as important in addiction and in relapse. An aim of this initiative is to stimulate research in this area as it pertains to alcohol dependence.
Many studies have used implicit cognitive assessments, such as the Implicit Association Test, to study alcohol dependence. There is also a need to understand the psychological processes that the tests are designed to measure and the relationship between these measures and the more commonly used explicit assessments. Understanding the role that implicit cognition plays in dependence may suggest ways to help individuals exercise control over their well-learned addictive behaviors. In addition, very little attention has been directed toward understanding the neurobiological substrates associated with various forms of implicit cognition. As these become better known, effects of alcohol on these substrates can be examined to reveal functional changes at various stages of dependence.
Human research paradigms afford the opportunity to study alcoholism in the context of implicit and explicit attentional and decision-making systems. Similar processes can be examined in animals using instrumental learning paradigms. For example, animals can be taught to emit a voluntary behavior such as a lever press in order to receive a desired outcome such as access to an alcohol solution. Following training, it is possible to assess whether lever pressing continues to be directed toward the goal of obtaining alcohol by altering the perceived value of the alcohol solution. This can be achieved by pairing alcohol with the illness-inducing agent lithium chloride outside of the instrumental-learning apparatus (i.e., outcome devaluation). If lever-pressing decreases following this reward devaluation procedure, it would indicate that alcohol self-administration was a deliberate, goal-directed action. If lever-pressing was not affected following alcohol devaluation, it is inferred that the original goal (i.e., obtaining alcohol) is no longer important and that lever-pressing has become a habitual, automatic behavior. One goal of this initiative is to identify conditions under which alcohol self-administration is goal-directed and conditions under which it is a habitual response that is no longer sensitive to its consequences. A related goal is to examine the role of alcohol actions on neurobiological substrates of these distinct modes of behaving in promoting the transition from controlled to habitual drinking.
Recent evidence suggests the dorsal striatum as a substrate of goal-directed learning. Goal-directed behavior is supported by the dorsomedial striatum (DMS). DMS lesions abolished sensitivity of instrumental behavior to outcome devaluation. Under conditions promoting habitual behavior (i.e., insensitivity to outcome devaluation), dorsolateral striatum (DLS) lesioning endowed sensitivity to outcome devaluation. It has been suggested that the transformation of deliberate, goal-directed actions into automatic, habitual responses involves the serial adaptation of distinct cortico-basal ganglia networks involving these distinct striatal regions.
The dorsal striatum is sensitive to acute alcohol exposure and results in synaptic plasticity that promotes dependence by reducing control of goal-directed processes and enhancing habitual behavior. Alcohol administration at levels associated with alcohol drinking inhibited and even reversed the direction of synaptic plasticity in the DMS. This suggests that ethanol drinking suppresses synaptic strengthening of neurons necessary to support goal-directed behavior. In another study, alcohol activated the Fyn kinase-mediated phosphorylation of the NR2B subunit of NMDA receptor in the dorsal striatum, but not the ventral striatum, leading to long-term facilitation of NR2B subunit activity. The authors proposed that alcohol-induced facilitation of NR2B receptors in dorsal striatum may promote habitual alcohol drinking. These and other studies suggest alcohol may promote addiction by selectively inhibiting neural substrates of goal-directed behavior and enhancing control by neural substrates of habitual behavior. Additional research is needed linking alcohol-induced changes in neuroplasticity in well defined neuroanatomical learning substrates to the behavioral characteristics of alcohol dependence.
Environmental cues also come to elicit automatic responses when they are reliably associated with an alcohol reinforcer through Pavlovian conditioning. These responses include approach behaviors, as evident in place conditioning studies, as well as motivational, perceptual and cognitive anticipatory responses. Some theories of addiction postulate that the conditioned hedonic responses elicited by drug paired cues are a key feature of addiction. The influence of these conditioned responses on voluntary behavior is revealed by presenting an alcohol-paired cue while the rat has the opportunity to press a lever that has previously produced alcohol reward. A recent study examining non-alcohol rewards suggests that goal-directed actions were resistant to the influence of such cues, yet, the same behavior, once it became habitual was potentiated by these conditioned cues. This illustrates that distinct learning processes combine to strengthen behavioral control by environmental cues.
Hedonic and motivational aspects of addiction-like behavior may also be promoted by nuclei within the amygdala that have been shown to perform distinct functions in supporting Pavlovian conditioning. This endows cues with the ability to elicit hedonically-relevant anticipatory responses in addition to evoking automatic, inflexible drug-taking actions. For example, the central nucleus (CeA) supports conditioned approach behavior and the enhancement of instrumental behavior independent of the specific reinforcer, whereas the basolateral amygdala (BLA) supports the reinforcer-specific enhancement of instrumental behavior as well as ability of cues to reinforce instrumental behavior (i.e., conditioned reinforcement). Alcohol selectively influences a subset of these processes, perhaps through its actions in the amygdala. Alcohol-associated cues invigorate lever-pressing reinforced by alcohol and by other appetitive reinforcers, a process associated with the CeA. On the other hand, cycles of alcohol intoxication and withdrawal produce selective deficits in this CeA-dependent process (i.e., conditioned activation of goal-directed behavior) while leaving BLA-dependent conditioned reinforcement intact. Additional studies are needed to examine effects of chronic alcohol exposure on alcohol-related cues in terms of specific Pavlovian conditioning processes that may contribute to addiction-like aspects of alcohol dependence.
Cues associated with drug reinforcers are often studied in paradigms that model relapse to drug seeking (e.g., reinstatement paradigm) which do not dissociate Pavlovian conditioning processes. Examining these processes using paradigms that distinguish forms of Pavlovian conditioning supported by the CeA and by the BLA would reveal whether a history of drug exposure perturbs them in ways that might contribute to the behavioral characteristics of alcohol dependence. Thus, it would be desirable to examine reinstatement phenomena and associated Pavlovian conditioning processes at various stages of alcohol experience. Alcohol intoxication and withdrawal dysregulate ERK signaling and glutamate transmission in the amygdala. This maybe especially interesting as it relates to ERK signaling dependent phenomena such as progressively enhanced cue-induced reinstatement of drug seeking over time.
Another circuit that may underlie diminished control by consequences is the reciprocal connection between orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the BLA. OFC has been implicated by both neuroimaging and lesion studies to be involved in coding reward value such that the OFC uses associative information to represent predicted rewards in the future. For example, following extinction or reversal training, patients with frontal lobe damage have difficulties extinguishing or reversing associations that have been established to reinforcing events. Instead, they respond as if no change had occurred. Similarly, rats with OFC lesions exhibited no change in conditioned responding in the presence of cues that signal the devalued unconditioned stimulus (i.e., food), suggesting an inability of a cue to gain access to representations of associated reinforcement.
As the role of the OFC is to signal the value of expected outcomes, losing this signaling mechanism may account for the propensity of addicts to continue to seek drugs despite the negative consequences associated with such behavior. Thus, inappropriate actions or decisions that are common to addiction may be the result of impairment in the orbitofrontal cortex or its afferent or efferent projections. How the loss of this signal impacts other downstream subcortical structures, in addition to the above-mentioned orbitofrontal-amygdalar circuit, and the role it plays in the behavioral characteristics of alcohol dependence remains to be determined. This is especially important in light of recent findings showing that prefrontal cortex maturation in humans continues well into the early twenties. Furthermore, the neuroanatomical connections between amygdala and prefrontal cortical areas are not fully developed until adult life which may explain why adolescents might be at heightened risk of experimenting with and becoming addicted to alcohol and other drugs of abuse.
A history of alcohol intoxication and withdrawal may affect the orbitofrontal cortex and consequently disrupt its behavioral functions. Alcohol exposure alters GABA neurotransmission possibly through the reconfiguration of the subunits constituting the GABA(A) receptor complex in rat. Moreover, alcohol-induced changes in GABA (A) receptor function may be due to alterations in GABA(A) subunit mRNA levels in the OFC and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex but not in the anterior cingulate cortex in nonhuman primate model of excessive alcohol consumption. However, it needs to be determined whether changes in OFC-dependent behavior following alcohol exposure are related to changes in molecular and neurophysiological functions in the OFC and/or other downstream brain regions that are implicated in the behavioral and cognitive characteristics of alcohol dependence.
Evidence from clinical and animal studies implicates the anterior cigulate cortex (ACC) as a critical component in mediating alcohol craving and relapse. For example, abnormalities in cerebral blood flow and glucose metabolism in the anterior cingulate gyrus have been found in alcohol-dependent subjects during exposure to alcohol-related cues and during performance of cognitive tasks. Further, activation of ACC by alcohol-associated cues was inversely correlated with the availability of dopamine D2 receptors in the ventral striatum, suggesting that reinstatement of alcohol drinking may depend on dopaminergic dysfunction in the ventral striatum. However, it should be noted that other cellular and molecular changes may play a role in synaptic plasticity. Thus, the underlying mechanism associated with the above-mentioned neurophysiological changes and their relationship to the behavioral and cognitive sequelea of alcohol dependence requires further investigation.
Summary
A complete understanding of alcoholism will require complex, multifactorial explanations that encompass individual differences variables, neurocircuitries and systems, and actions occurring over a long timeframe. A goal of this initiative is to support research examining alcohol’s effects upon neural substrates of experimentally-defined learning, motivational and cognitive processes that contribute to alcohol procurement and use. Of special interest is to understand how these enduring actions functionally alter these processes to engender the behavioral and cognitive characteristics of alcohol dependence. Nevertheless, the foregoing review supports the timeliness of efforts to examine alcohol effects on dissociable learning and memory processes with an eye toward explaining alcohol dependence. In addition, there are many excellent paradigms in animals that model phenotypes associated with alcohol dependence such as heavy drinking, loss of control and relapse. To be responsive to this FOA, these phenotypes should be analyzed in terms of well-defined learning and cognitive processes and their neural substrates, as well as alcohol’s pharmacological actions upon these substrates. Finally, the transition from non-addictive alcohol procurement and use to habitual alcohol use appears to involve a diminishing role of deliberative, goal-directed actions and the emergence of automatic responses to cues and contexts associated with drinking. Recent interest in implicit cognitive and decision making processes provides an opportunity to examine these factors as they relate to alcohol dependence in humans.
Research Objectives
Examples of research areas of interest to NIAAA include but are not limited to the following:
See Section VIII, Other Information - Required Federal
Citations, for policies related to this announcement.
Section
II. Award Information
1. Mechanism of Support
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)
will use the NIH
Research Project Grant (R01) award
mechanism. The applicant will be
solely responsible for planning, directing, and executing the proposed project.
This FOA uses Just-in-Time information concepts. It also uses the modular as well as the non-modular budget formats (see the Modular Applications and Awards section of the NIH Grants Policy Statement. Specifically, if you are submitting an application with direct costs in each year of $250,000 or less (excluding consortium Facilities and Administrative [F&A] costs), use the PHS398 Modular Budget component provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Package and SF424 (R&R) Application Guide (see specifically Section 5.4, Modular Budget Component, of the Application Guide).
U.S. applicants requesting more than $250,000 in annual direct costs and all foreign applicants must complete and submit budget requests using the Research & Related Budget component found in the application package for this FOA. See NOT-OD-06-096, August 23, 2006.
Competing renewal (formerly competing continuation ) applications will not be accepted. At this time, it is not known if this FOA will be reissued.
2. Funds Available
Because the nature and scope of the proposed research will vary from
application to application, it is anticipated that the size and duration of
each award will also vary. Although the financial plans of the Institutes and
Centers (ICs) provide support for this program, awards pursuant to this funding
opportunity are contingent upon the availability of funds and the submission of
a sufficient number of meritorious applications.
The participating organization(s) NIAAA intends to commit approximately $2 M dollars in FY2008 to fund 3-5 applications.
NIH grants policies as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement will apply to the applications submitted and awards made in response to this FOA.
Facilities
and Administrative (F&A) costs
requested by consortium participants are not included in the direct cost
limitation. See NOT-OD-05-004,
November 2, 2004.
Section
III. Eligibility Information
1. Eligible Applicants
1.A. Eligible Institutions
You may submit an application(s) if your institution/organization
has any of the following characteristics:
1.B. Eligible Individuals
Any individual with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as the Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) is invited to work with his/her organization to develop an application for support. Individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as well as individuals with disabilities are always encouraged to apply for NIH support.
More than one PD/PI, or multiple PDs/PIs, may be designated on the application for projects that require a team science approach that clearly does not fit the single-PD/PI model. Additional information on the implementation plans and policies and procedures to formally allow more than one PD/PI on individual research projects is available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/multi_pi. All PDs/PIs must be registered in the NIH eRA Commons prior to the submission of the application (see http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/preparing.htm for instructions).
The decision of whether to apply for a single PD/PI or multiple PD/PI grant is the responsibility of the investigators and applicant organizations and should be determined by the scientific goals of the project. Applications for multiple PD/PI grants will require additional information, as outlined in the instructions below. The NIH review criteria for approach, investigators, and environment have been modified to accommodate applications involving either a single PD/PI or multiple PDs/PIs. When considering multiple PDs/PIs, please be aware that the structure and governance of the PD/PI leadership team as well as the knowledge, skills and experience of the individual PD/PIs will be factored into the assessment of the overall scientific merit of the application. Multiple PDs/PIs on a project share the authority and responsibility for leading and directing the project, intellectually and logistically. Each PD/PI is responsible and accountable to the grantee organization, or, as appropriate, to a collaborating organization, for the proper conduct of the project or program, including the submission of required reports. For further information on multiple PDs/PIs, please see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/multi_pi.
2.
Cost Sharing or Matching
This program does not require cost sharing as defined in the current NIH
Grants Policy Statement.
3. Other-Special
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants may submit more than one application, provided
each application is scientifically distinct.
Section IV. Application and Submission Information
To download a SF424 (R&R) Application Package and
SF424 (R&R) Application Guide for completing the SF424 (R&R) forms for
this FOA, link to http://www.grants.gov/Apply/ and follow the directions provided on that Web site.
A one-time registration is required for institutions/organizations at both:
PDs/PIs should work with their institutions/organizations to make sure they are registered in the eRA Commons.
Several additional separate actions are required before an applicant institution/organization can submit an electronic application, as follows:
1) Organizational/Institutional Registration in Grants.gov/Get Started
2) Organizational/Institutional Registration in the eRA Commons
3) Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) Registration in the NIH eRA Commons: Refer to the NIH eRA Commons System (COM) Users Guide.
Both the PD/PI(s) and AOR/SO need separate accounts in the NIH eRA Commons since both are authorized to view the application image.
Note that if a PD/PI is also an NIH peer-reviewer with an Individual DUNS and CCR registration, that particular DUNS number and CCR registration are for the individual reviewer only. These are different than any DUNS number and CCR registration used by an applicant organization. Individual DUNS and CCR registration should be used only for the purposes of personal reimbursement and should not be used on any grant applications submitted to the Federal Government.
Several of the steps of the registration process could take four weeks or more. Therefore, applicants should immediately check with their business official to determine whether their organization/institution is already registered in both Grants.gov and the Commons. The NIH will accept electronic applications only from organizations that have completed all necessary registrations.
1. Request Application Information
Applicants must download the SF424 (R&R)
application forms and SF424 (R&R) Application Guide for this FOA through Grants.gov/Apply.
Note: Only the forms package
directly attached to a specific FOA can be used. You will not be able to use
any other SF424 (R&R) forms (e.g., sample forms, forms from another FOA),
although some of the "Attachment" files may be useable for more than
one FOA.
For further assistance, contact GrantsInfo: Telephone
301-710-0267, Email: GrantsInfo@nih.gov.
Telecommunications for the hearing impaired: TTY
301-451-5936.
2. Content and Form of Application Submission
Prepare all applications using the SF424 (R&R) application forms and in accordance with the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide for this FOA through Grants.gov/APPLY.
The SF424 (R&R) Application Guide is critical to submitting a complete and accurate application to NIH. There are fields within the SF424 (R&R) application components that, although not marked as mandatory, are required by NIH (e.g., the Credential log-in field of the Research & Related Senior/Key Person Profile component must contain the PD/PI’s assigned eRA Commons User ID). Agency-specific instructions for such fields are clearly identified in the Application Guide. For additional information, see Frequently Asked Questions Application Guide, Electronic Submission of Grant Applications.
The SF424 (R&R) application is comprised of data arranged in separate components. Some components are required, others are optional. The forms package associated with this FOA in Grants.gov/APPLY will include all applicable components, required and optional. A completed application in response to this FOA will include the following components:
Required
Components:
SF424 (R&R) (Cover component)
Research & Related Project/Performance Site
Locations
Research & Related Other Project Information
Research & Related Senior/Key Person
PHS398 Cover Page Supplement
PHS398 Research Plan
PHS398 Checklist
PHS398
Modular Budget or Research
& Related Budget, as appropriate (See Section
IV.6., Special Instructions, regarding appropriate required budget component.)
Research & Related Budget (required for foreign applications)
Optional
Components:
PHS398 Cover Letter File
Research & Related Subaward Budget Attachment(s) Form
Foreign Organizations (Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entity)
NIH policies concerning grants
to foreign (non-U.S.) organizations can be found in the NIH Grants Policy
Statement at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2003/NIHGPS_Part12.htm#_Toc54600260.
Applications from foreign organizations must:
Proposed research should provide special opportunities for furthering research programs through the use of unusual talent, resources, populations, or environmental conditions in other countries that are not readily available in the United States or that augment existing U.S. resources.
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS
Applications with Multiple PDs/PIs
When multiple PDs/PIs are proposed, NIH requires one PD/PI to be designated as the "Contact PI, who will be responsible for all communication between the PDs/PIs and the NIH, for assembling the application materials outlined below, and for coordinating progress reports for the project. The contact PD/PI must meet all eligibility requirements for PD/PI status in the same way as other PDs/PIs, but has no other special roles or responsibilities within the project team beyond those mentioned above.
Information for the Contact PD/PI should be entered in item 15 of the SF424(R&R) Cover component. All other PDs/PIs should be listed in the Research & Related Senior/Key Person component and assigned the project role of PD/PI. Please remember that all PDs/PIs must be registered in the eRA Commons prior to application submission. The Commons ID of each PD/PI must be included in the Credential field of the Research & Related Senior/Key Person component. Failure to include this data field will cause the application to be rejected.
All projects proposing Multiple PDs/PIs will be required to include a new section describing the leadership of the project.
Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan: For applications designating multiple PDs/PIs, a new section of the research plan, entitled Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan (Section 14 of the Research Plan Component in the SF424 (R&R)), must be included. A rationale for choosing a multiple PD/PI approach should be described. The governance and organizational structure of the leadership team and the research project should be described, including communication plans, process for making decisions on scientific direction, and procedures for resolving conflicts. The roles and administrative, technical, and scientific responsibilities for the project or program should be delineated for the PDs/PIs and other collaborators.
If budget allocation is planned, the distribution of resources to specific components of the project or the individual PDs/PIs should be delineated in the Leadership Plan. In the event of an award, the requested allocations may be reflected in a footnote on the Notice of Award.
Applications Involving a Single Institution
When all PDs/PIs are within a single institution, follow the instructions contained in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.
Applications Involving Multiple Institutions
When multiple institutions are involved, one institution must be designated as the prime institution and funding for the other institution(s) must be requested via a subcontract to be administered by the prime institution. When submitting a detailed budget, the prime institution should submit its budget using the Research & Related Budget component. All other institutions should have their individual budgets attached separately to the Research & Related Subaward Budget Attachment(s) Form. See Section 4.8 of the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide for further instruction regarding the use of the subaward budget form.
When submitting a modular budget, the prime institution completes the PHS398 Modular Budget component only. Information concerning the consortium/subcontract budget is provided in the budget justification. Separate budgets for each consortium/subcontract grantee are not required when using the Modular budget format. See Section 5.4 of the Application Guide for further instruction regarding the use of the PHS398 Modular Budget component.
3. Submission Dates and Times
See Section IV.3.A for
details.
3.A.
Submission, Review, and Anticipated Start Dates
Opening Date: February 20, 2008 (Earliest date an application may be
submitted to Grants.gov)
Letters of Intent Receipt
Date(s): February 20, 2008
Application
Submission/Receipt Date(s): March 20, 2008
Peer
Review Date(s): May 2008
Council
Review Date(s): August 2008
Earliest
Anticipated Start Date(s): September 1, 2008
3.A.1. Letter of Intent
Prospective applicants are asked to submit a letter of intent that includes the following information:
Although a letter of intent is
not required, is not binding, and does not enter into the review of a
subsequent application, the information that it contains allows IC staff to estimate
the potential review workload and plan the review.
The letter of intent is to be sent by the date listed
in Section IV.3.A.
The letter of intent should be sent to:
Abraham
P. Bautista, Ph.D.
Chief,
Extramural Project Review Branch
Office
of Extramural Activities
National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
5635
Fishers Lane, Room 2029
Rockville,
MD 20852
Telephone:
(301) 443-9737
Fax: (301)
443-6077
Email: bautista@mail.nih.gov
3.B.
Submitting an Application Electronically to the NIH
To submit an application in response to this FOA, applicants should access this
FOA via http://www.grants.gov/Apply and follow steps 1-4. Note: Applications must only be submitted
electronically. PAPER APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
In order to expedite the review, applicants are requested to notify the NIAAA Referral Office by email bautista@mail.nih.gov when the application has been submitted. Please include the FOA number and title, PD/PI name, and title of the application.
3.C.
Application Processing
Applications may be submitted on or after
the opening date and must be successfully received by Grants.gov no
later than 5:00 p.m. local time (of the
applicant institution/organization) on the
application submission/receipt date(s). (See Section IV.3.A. for all dates.) If an application is not submitted by the receipt
date(s) and time, the application may be delayed in the review process or not
reviewed.
Once an application package has been successfully submitted through Grants.gov, any errors have been addressed, and the assembled application has been created in the eRA Commons, the PD/PI and the Authorized Organization Representative/Signing Official (AOR/SO) have two business days to view the application image.
Upon receipt, applications will
be evaluated for completeness by the Center for Scientific Review, NIH.
Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
There will be an acknowledgement of receipt of
applications from Grants.gov and the Commons. Information related to the
assignment of an application to a Scientific Review Group is also in the Commons.
Note: Since email can be unreliable, it is the responsibility of the applicant to check periodically on their application status in the Commons.
The NIH will not accept any application in response to this funding opportunity that is essentially the same as one currently pending initial review, unless the applicant withdraws the pending application. However, when a previously unfunded application, originally submitted as an investigator-initiated application, is to be submitted in response to a funding opportunity, it is to be prepared as a NEW application. That is, the application for the funding opportunity must not include an Introduction describing the changes and improvements made, and the text must not be marked to indicate the changes from the previous unfunded version of the application.
4. Intergovernmental Review
This initiative is not subject to intergovernmental
review.
5.
Funding Restrictions
All NIH awards are subject to the terms and
conditions, cost principles, and other considerations described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2003/index.htm
Pre-award costs are allowable. A grantee may, at
its own risk and without NIH prior approval, incur obligations and expenditures
to cover costs up to 90 days before the beginning date of the initial budget
period of a new award if such costs: are necessary to conduct the project, and
would be allowable under the grant, if awarded, without NIH prior approval. If
specific expenditures would otherwise require prior approval, the grantee must
obtain NIH approval before incurring the cost. NIH prior approval is required
for any costs to be incurred more than 90 days before the beginning date of the
initial budget period of a new award.
The incurrence of pre-award costs in anticipation of a
competing or non-competing award imposes no obligation on NIH either to make
the award or to increase the amount of the approved budget if an award is made
for less than the amount anticipated and is inadequate to cover the pre-award
costs incurred. NIH expects the grantee to be fully aware that pre-award costs
result in borrowing against future support and that such borrowing must not
impair the grantee's ability to accomplish the project objectives in the
approved time frame or in any way adversely affect the conduct of the project.
See the NIH Grants
Policy Statement.
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2003/index.htm
6. Other Submission
Requirements
PD/PI
Credential (e.g., Agency Login)
The NIH requires the PD/PI to fill in his/her Commons User ID in the PROFILE Project Director/Principal Investigator section, Credential log-in field of the Research & Related Senior/Key Person Profile component. The applicant organization must include its DUNS number in its Organization Profile in the eRA Commons. This DUNS number must match the DUNS number provided at CCR registration with Grants.gov. For additional information, see Registration FAQs Important Tips -- Electronic Submission of Grant Applications.
Organizational DUNS
The applicant organization must include its DUNS number in its Organization Profile in the eRA Commons. This DUNS number must match the DUNS number provided at CCR registration with Grants.gov. For additional information, see Frequently Asked Questions Application Guide, Electronic Submission of Grant Applications.
Warning: Please be sure that you observe the direct cost, project period, and page number limitations specified above for this FOA. Application processing may be delayed or the application may be rejected if it does not comply with these requirements.
PHS398 Research Plan Component Sections
While each section of the Research Plan component needs to be uploaded separately as a PDF attachment, applicants are encouraged to construct the Research Plan component as a single document, separating sections into distinct PDF attachments just before uploading the files. This approach will enable applicants to better monitor formatting requirements such as page limits. All attachments must be provided to NIH in PDF format, filenames must be included with no spaces or special characters, and a .pdf extension must be used.
All application instructions outlined in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide are to be followed, incorporating "Just-in-Time" information concepts, and with the following requirements for R01 applications:
Appendix Materials
NIH has published new limitations on grant application appendix materials to encourage applications to be as concise as possible while containing the information needed for expert scientific review. See http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-07-018.html.
Applicants must follow the specific instructions on Appendix materials as described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide (See http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm).
Do not use the Appendix to circumvent the page limitations of the Research Plan component. An application that does not observe the required page limitations may be delayed in the review process.
Note: While each section of the PHS398 Research Plan component needs to be uploaded separately as a PDF attachment, applicants are encouraged to construct the Research Plan component as a single document, separating sections into distinct PDF attachments just before uploading the files. This approach will enable applicants to monitor better formatting requirements such as page limits. All attachments must be provided to NIH in PDF format, filenames must be included with no spaces or special characters, and a .pdf extension must be used.
Foreign Applications (Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entity)
Plan for Sharing Research Data
The precise content of the data-sharing plan will vary, depending on the data
being collected and how the investigator is planning to share the data.
Applicants who are planning to share data may wish to describe briefly the
expected schedule for data sharing, the format of the final dataset, the
documentation to be provided, whether or not any analytic tools also will be
provided, whether or not a data-sharing agreement will be required and, if so,
a brief description of such an agreement (including the criteria for deciding
who can receive the data and whether or not any conditions will be placed on
their use), and the mode of data sharing (e.g., under their own auspices by
mailing a disk or posting data on their institutional or personal website,
through a data archive or enclave). Investigators choosing to share under their
own auspices may wish to enter into a data-sharing agreement. References to
data sharing may also be appropriate in other sections of the application.
Applicants requesting more than $500,000 in direct costs in any year of the
proposed research must include a plan for sharing research data in their
application. The funding organization will be responsible for monitoring the
data sharing policy (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/data_sharing).
The reasonableness of the data sharing plan or the rationale for not sharing
research data may be assessed by the reviewers. However, reviewers will not
factor the proposed data sharing plan into the determination of scientific
merit or the priority score.
Sharing Research Resources
NIH
policy expects that grant recipients make unique research resources readily
available for research purposes to qualified individuals within the scientific
community after publication (See the NIH Grants Policy Statement http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2003/NIHGPS_Part7.htm#_Toc54600131).
Investigators responding to this funding opportunity should include a sharing
research resources plan addressing how unique research resources will be shared
or explain why sharing is not possible.
The adequacy of the resources sharing plan and any
related data sharing plans will be considered by Program staff of the funding
organization when making recommendations about funding applications. The effectiveness
of the resource sharing will be evaluated as part of the administrative review
of each Non-Competing
Grant Progress Report (PHS 2590). See Section VI.3.,
Reporting.
Section V. Application Review Information
1. Criteria
Only the review criteria described below will be
considered in the review process.
2. Review and
Selection Process
Applications that are complete and responsive to the
FOA will be evaluated for scientific and technical merit by an appropriate peer
review group convened by NIAAA in
accordance with the review criteria stated below.
As part of the initial merit review, all applications will:
Applications submitted in response to this funding opportunity will compete for available funds with all other recommended applications. The following will be considered in making funding decisions:
The goals of NIH supported research are to advance our understanding of biological systems, to improve the control of disease, and to enhance health. In their written critiques, reviewers will be asked to comment on each of the following criteria in order to judge the likelihood that the proposed research will have a substantial impact on the pursuit of these goals. Each of these criteria will be addressed and considered in assigning the overall score, weighting them as appropriate for each application.
Note that an application does not need to be strong in all
categories to be judged likely to have major scientific impact and thus deserve
a high priority score. For example, an investigator may propose to carry out
important work that by its nature is not innovative but is essential to move a
field forward.
Significance: Does this study address an important
problem? If the aims of the application are achieved, how will scientific
knowledge or clinical practice be advanced? What will be the effect of these
studies on the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or
preventative interventions that drive this field?
Approach: Are the conceptual or clinical
framework, design, methods, and analyses adequately developed, well integrated,
well reasoned, and appropriate to the aims of the project? Does the applicant
acknowledge potential problem areas and consider alternative tactics? For applications designating multiple PDs/PIs, does the
Leadership Plan ensure that there will be sufficient coordination and
communication among the PDs/PIs? Are the administrative plans for the
management of the research project appropriate,
including plans for resolving conflicts?
Innovation: Is the project original and innovative? For example: Does
the project challenge existing paradigms or clinical practice; address an
innovative hypothesis or critical barrier to progress in the field? Does the
project develop or employ novel concepts, approaches, methodologies, tools, or
technologies for this area?
Investigators: Are the PD/PI(s)
and other key personnel appropriately trained
and well suited to carry out this work? Is the work proposed appropriate to the
experience level of the principal investigator and other researchers? Does the PD/PI(s)
and investigative team bring complementary and integrated expertise to the
project (if applicable)?
Environment: Do(es) the scientific environment(s) in which the work will
be done contribute to the probability of success? Do the proposed studies
benefit from unique features of the scientific environment, or subject
populations, or employ useful collaborative arrangements? Is there evidence of
institutional support?
2.A.
Additional Review Criteria:
In addition to the above criteria, the following items
will continue to be considered in the determination of scientific merit and the
priority score:
Resubmission
Applications (formerly revised/amended applications): Are the responses
to comments from the previous scientific review group adequate? Are the
improvements in the resubmission application appropriate?
Protection of Human Subjects from Research Risk: The involvement of human subjects and protections from research risk relating
to their participation in the proposed research will be assessed. See the
Human Subjects Sections of the PHS398 Research Plan component of the SF424
(R&R).
Inclusion of Women, Minorities and Children in Research: The adequacy of
plans to include subjects from both genders, all racial and ethnic groups (and
subgroups), and children as appropriate for the scientific goals of the
research will be assessed. Plans for the recruitment and retention of subjects
will also be evaluated. See the Human Subjects Sections of the PHS398
Research Plan component of the SF424 (R&R)
Care and Use of Vertebrate Animals in Research: If vertebrate animals
are to be used in the project, the adequacy of the plans for their care and use
will be assessed. See the Other Research Plan Sections of the PHS398 Research
Plan component of the SF424 (R&R).
Biohazards: If materials or procedures are proposed that are potentially
hazardous to research personnel and/or the environment, determine if the
proposed protection is adequate.
2.B. Additional Review Considerations
Budget and Period of Support: The reasonableness of the proposed budget and the
appropriateness of the requested period of support in relation to the proposed
research may be assessed by the reviewers. The priority score should not be
affected by the evaluation of the budget.
Applications from Foreign Organizations: Whether the project presents special opportunities for furthering research programs through the use of unusual talent, resources, populations, or environmental conditions in other countries that are not readily available in the United States or that augment existing U.S. resources will be assessed.
2.C.
Sharing Research Data
The reasonableness of the data sharing plan or the
rationale for not sharing research data may be assessed by the reviewers.
However, reviewers will not factor the proposed data sharing plan into the
determination of scientific merit or the priority score. The funding
organization will be responsible for monitoring the data sharing policy (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/data_sharing).
2.D. Sharing Research
Resources
NIH policy expects that
grant recipients make unique research resources readily available for research
purposes to qualified individuals within the scientific community after
publication (See the NIH Grants Policy Statement http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2003/NIHGPS_Part7.htm#_Toc54600131).
Investigators responding to this funding opportunity should include a sharing
research resources plan addressing how unique research resources will be shared
or explain why sharing is not possible.
Program staff will be responsible for the
administrative review of the plan for sharing research resources.
The adequacy of the resources
sharing plan and any related data sharing plans will be considered by Program
staff of the funding organization when making recommendations about funding
applications. The effectiveness of the resource sharing will be evaluated as
part of the administrative review of each Non-Competing Grant
Progress Report (PHS 2590), See Section VI.3.,
Reporting.
Model Organism
Sharing Plan: Reviewers are
asked to assess the sharing plan in an administrative note. The sharing plan
itself should be discussed after the application is scored. Whether a sharing
plan is reasonable can be determined by the reviewers on a case-by-case basis,
taking into consideration the organism, the timeline, the applicant's decision
to distribute the resource or deposit it in a repository, and other relevant
considerations
3.
Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates
Not Applicable
Section VI. Award Administration Information
1.
Award Notices
After the peer review of the application is completed, the PD/PI will be able
to access his/her Summary Statement (written critique) via the NIH eRA Commons.
If the application is under
consideration for funding, NIH will request "just-in-time"
information from the applicant. For details, applicants may refer to the NIH
Grants Policy Statement Part II: Terms and Conditions of NIH Grant Awards,
Subpart A: General.
A formal notification in the form of a Notice of Award
(NoA) will be provided to the applicant organization. The NoA signed by the
grants management officer is the authorizing document. Once all administrative
and programmatic issues have been resolved, the NoA will be generated via email
notification from the awarding component to the grantee business official.
Selection of an application for award is not an
authorization to begin performance. Any costs incurred before receipt of the
NoA are at the recipient's risk. These costs may be reimbursed only to the
extent considered allowable pre-award costs. See Section
IV.5., Funding Restrictions.
2.
Administrative and National Policy Requirements
All NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards include
the NIH Grants Policy Statement as part of the NoA. For these terms of
award, see the NIH
Grants Policy Statement Part II: Terms and Conditions of NIH Grant Awards,
Subpart A: General and Part
II: Terms and Conditions of NIH Grant Awards, Subpart B: Terms and Conditions
for Specific Types of Grants, Grantees, and Activities.
3.
Reporting
When multiple years are involved, awardees will be
required to submit the Non-Competing Grant
Progress Report (PHS 2590) annually and financial statements as required in
the NIH
Grants Policy Statement.
We encourage your inquiries
concerning this funding opportunity and welcome the opportunity to answer questions
from potential applicants. Inquiries may fall into three areas:
scientific/research, peer review, and financial or grants management issues:
1. Scientific/Research
Contacts:
Ivana
Grakalic, Ph.D.
Division of
Neuroscience and Behavior
National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
5635
Fishers Lane, Room 2050
MSC
9304
Bethesda, MD 20892-9304
Telephone:
(301) 443-7600
Fax: (301)
443-1650
Email: igrakalic@mail.nih.gov
2. Peer Review Contacts:
Abraham
P. Bautista, Ph.D.
Chief,
Extramural Project Review Branch
Office
of Extramural Activities
National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholisms
5635
Fishers Lane, Room 3039
Rockville, MD 20852
Telephone:
(301) 443-9373
Fax: (301)
443-6077
Email: bautista@mail.nih.gov
3. Financial or Grants
Management Contacts:
Ms.
Judy Fox
Chief,
Grants Management Branch
National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
5635
Fishers Lane, Room 3023
MSC
9304
Bethesda,
MD 20892-9304
Telephone:
(301) 443-4704
Fax: (301)
443-3891
Email: jfox@mail.nih.gov
Section
VIII. Other Information
Required Federal Citations
Use of Animals in Research:
Recipients of PHS support for activities involving
live, vertebrate animals must comply with PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of
Laboratory Animals (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/references/PHSPolicyLabAnimals.pdf)
as mandated by the Health Research Extension Act of 1985 (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/references/hrea1985.htm),
and the USDA Animal Welfare Regulations (http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/legislat/usdaleg1.htm)
as applicable.
Human Subjects Protection:
Federal regulations (45 CFR 46) require that
applications and proposals involving human subjects must be evaluated with
reference to the risks to the subjects, the adequacy of protection against
these risks, the potential benefits of the research to the subjects and others,
and the importance of the knowledge gained or to be gained (http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.htm).
Data and Safety Monitoring Plan:
Data and safety monitoring is required for all types
of clinical trials, including physiologic toxicity and dose-finding studies (Phase
I); efficacy studies (Phase II); efficacy, effectiveness and comparative trials
(Phase III). Monitoring should be commensurate with risk. The establishment of
data and safety monitoring boards (DSMBs) is required for multi-site clinical
trials involving interventions that entail potential risks to the participants
( NIH Policy for Data and Safety Monitoring, NIH Guide for Grants
and Contracts, http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not98-084.html).
Sharing Research Data:
Investigators submitting an NIH application seeking
$500,000 or more in direct costs in any single year are expected to include a
plan for data sharing or state why this is not possible (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/data_sharing).
Investigators should seek guidance from their
institutions, on issues related to institutional policies and local IRB rules,
as well as local, State and Federal laws and regulations, including the Privacy
Rule. Reviewers will consider the data sharing plan but will not factor the
plan into the determination of the scientific merit or the priority score.
Access to Research Data through the Freedom of
Information Act:
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular
A-110 has been revised to provide access to research data through the Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) under some circumstances. Data that are (1) first
produced in a project that is supported in whole or in part with Federal funds
and (2) cited publicly and officially by a Federal agency in support of an
action that has the force and effect of law (i.e., a regulation) may be
accessed through FOIA. It is important for applicants to understand the basic
scope of this amendment. NIH has provided guidance at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/a110/a110_guidance_dec1999.htm.
Applicants may wish to place data collected under this funding opportunity in a
public archive, which can provide protections for the data and manage the
distribution for an indefinite period of time. If so, the application should
include a description of the archiving plan in the study design and include
information about this in the budget justification section of the application.
In addition, applicants should think about how to structure informed consent
statements and other human subjects procedures given the potential for wider
use of data collected under this award.
Sharing of Model Organisms:
NIH is committed to support efforts that encourage
sharing of important research resources including the sharing of model
organisms for biomedical research (see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/model_organism/index.htm).
At the same time the NIH recognizes the rights of grantees and contractors to
elect and retain title to subject inventions developed with Federal funding
pursuant to the Bayh Dole Act (see the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
Beginning October 1, 2004, all investigators submitting an NIH application or
contract proposal are expected to include in the application/proposal a
description of a specific plan for sharing and distributing unique model
organism research resources generated using NIH funding or state why such
sharing is restricted or not possible. This will permit other researchers to
benefit from the resources developed with public funding. The inclusion of a
model organism sharing plan is not subject to a cost threshold in any year and
is expected to be included in all applications where the development of model
organisms is anticipated.
Inclusion of Women And Minorities in Clinical
Research:
It is the policy of the NIH that women and members of
minority groups and their sub-populations must be included in all NIH-supported
clinical research projects unless a clear and compelling justification is
provided indicating that inclusion is inappropriate with respect to the health
of the subjects or the purpose of the research. This policy results from the
NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 (Section 492B of Public Law 103-43). All
investigators proposing clinical research should read the "NIH Guidelines
for Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical Research (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-02-001.html);
a complete copy of the updated Guidelines is available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/women_min/guidelines_amended_10_2001.htm.
The amended policy incorporates: the use of an NIH definition of clinical research;
updated racial and ethnic categories in compliance with the new OMB standards;
clarification of language governing NIH-defined Phase III clinical trials
consistent with the SF424 (R&R) application; and updated roles and
responsibilities of NIH staff and the extramural community. The policy
continues to require for all NIH-defined Phase III clinical trials that: a) all
applications or proposals and/or protocols must provide a description of plans
to conduct analyses, as appropriate, to address differences by sex/gender
and/or racial/ethnic groups, including subgroups if applicable; and b)
investigators must report annual accrual and progress in conducting analyses,
as appropriate, by sex/gender and/or racial/ethnic group differences.
Inclusion of Children as Participants in Clinical
Research:
The NIH maintains a policy that children (i.e.,
individuals under the age of 21) must be included in all clinical research,
conducted or supported by the NIH, unless there are scientific and ethical
reasons not to include them.
All investigators proposing research involving human
subjects should read the "NIH Policy and Guidelines" on the inclusion
of children as participants in research involving human subjects (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/children/children.htm).
Required Education on the Protection of Human
Subject Participants:
NIH policy requires education on the protection of
human subject participants for all investigators submitting NIH applications
for research involving human subjects and individuals designated as key
personnel. The policy is available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-00-039.html.
Human Embryonic Stem Cells (hESC):
Criteria for federal funding of research on hESCs can
be found at http://stemcells.nih.gov/index.asp and at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-02-005.html.
Only research using hESC lines that are registered in the NIH Human Embryonic
Stem Cell Registry will be eligible for Federal funding (http://escr.nih.gov). It is the responsibility
of the applicant to provide in the project description and elsewhere in the
application as appropriate, the official NIH identifier(s) for the hESC line(s)
to be used in the proposed research. Applications that do not provide this
information will be returned without review.
NIH Public Access Policy:
NIH-funded investigators are requested to submit to
the NIH manuscript submission (NIHMS) system (http://www.nihms.nih.gov) at
PubMed Central (PMC) an electronic version of the author's final manuscript
upon acceptance for publication, resulting from research supported in whole or
in part with direct costs from NIH. The author's final manuscript is defined as
the final version accepted for journal publication, and includes all
modifications from the publishing peer review process.
NIH is requesting that authors submit manuscripts
resulting from 1) currently funded NIH research projects or 2) previously
supported NIH research projects if they are accepted for publication on or
after May 2, 2005. The NIH Public Access Policy applies to all research grant
and career development award mechanisms, cooperative agreements, contracts,
Institutional and Individual Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service
Awards, as well as NIH intramural research studies. The Policy applies to
peer-reviewed, original research publications that have been supported in whole
or in part with direct costs from NIH, but it does not apply to book chapters,
editorials, reviews, or conference proceedings. Publications resulting from
non-NIH-supported research projects should not be submitted.
For more information about the Policy or the
submission process, please visit the NIH Public Access Policy Web site at http://publicaccess.nih.gov/ and view
the Policy or other Resources and Tools, including the Authors' Manual.
Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable
Health Information:
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
issued final modification to the "Standards for Privacy of Individually
Identifiable Health Information", the "Privacy Rule", on August 14, 2002. The Privacy Rule is a federal regulation under the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 that governs the protection
of individually identifiable health information, and is administered and enforced
by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
Decisions about applicability and implementation of
the Privacy Rule reside with the researcher and his/her institution. The OCR
website (http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/) provides
information on the Privacy Rule, including a complete Regulation Text and a set
of decision tools on "Am I a covered entity?" Information on the
impact of the HIPAA Privacy Rule on NIH processes involving the review,
funding, and progress monitoring of grants, cooperative agreements, and
research contracts can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-03-025.html.
URLs in NIH Grant Applications or Appendices:
All applications and proposals for
NIH funding must be self-contained within specified page limitations. For
publications listed in the appendix and/or Progress report, Internet addresses
(URLs) or PubMed Central (PMC) submission identification numbers must be used
for publicly accessible on-line journal articles. Publicly accessible
on-line journal articles or PMC articles/manuscripts accepted for publication
that are directly relevant to the project may be included only as URLs or PMC submission identification numbers accompanying the full reference
in either the Bibliography & References Cited section, the Progress Report
Publication List section, or the Biographical Sketch section of the NIH grant
application. A URL or PMC submission identification number citation may be
repeated in each of these sections as appropriate. There is no limit to the
number of URLs or PMC submission identification numbers that can be cited.
Healthy People 2010:
The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving
the health promotion and disease prevention objectives of "Healthy People
2010," a PHS-led national activity for setting priority areas. This FOA is
related to one or more of the priority areas. Potential applicants may obtain a
copy of "Healthy People 2010" at http://www.health.gov/healthypeople.
Authority and Regulations: This program is described in the
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance at http://www.cfda.gov/ and is not subject to the
intergovernmental review requirements of Executive Order 12372 or Health
Systems Agency review. Awards are made under the authorization of Sections 301
and 405 of the Public Health Service Act as amended (42 USC 241 and 284) and under Federal Regulations 42 CFR Part 52 and 45
CFR Parts 74 and 92. All awards are subject to the terms and conditions, cost
principles, and other considerations described in the NIH
Grants Policy Statement.
The PHS strongly encourages all grant recipients to
provide a smoke-free workplace and discourage the use of all tobacco products.
In addition, Public Law 103-227, the Pro-Children Act of 1994, prohibits
smoking in certain facilities (or in some cases, any portion of a facility) in
which regular or routine education, library, day care, health care, or early
childhood development services are provided to children. This is consistent
with the PHS mission to protect and advance the physical and mental health of
the American people.
Loan Repayment Programs:
NIH encourages applications for educational loan
repayment from qualified health professionals who have made a commitment to
pursue a research career involving clinical, pediatric, contraception,
infertility, and health disparities related areas. The LRP is an important
component of NIH's efforts to recruit and retain the next generation of
researchers by providing the means for developing a research career unfettered by
the burden of student loan debt. Note that an NIH grant is not required for
eligibility and concurrent career award and LRP applications are encouraged.
The periods of career award and LRP award may overlap providing the LRP
recipient with the required commitment of time and effort, as LRP awardees must
commit at least 50% of their time (at least 20 hours per week based on a 40
hour week) for two years to the research. For further information, please see: http://www.lrp.nih.gov.
Weekly TOC for this Announcement
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices
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