June 2017 Tipping Points

​

TIPPING POINTS: RESEARCH NEWS AND TIPS

1. Grant Writing Services Offered by the Research Office: The Research Office offers grant support to help investigators to submit their external and internal grant applications. Resources include assistance with biosketches, facilities and resources, authentication plans, letters of support, formatting of proposals, and all non-scientific parts of the application. Also we offer support for review of the scientific parts of the application, and any other miscellaneous grant support needed. Please contact sthil001@umn.edu for more details.

2. Federal RePORTER: Supports searching over 800,000 projects across 17 Federal research agencies, with trans-agency data updated annually. You can quickly drill down to projects funded by a certain agency or projects occurring in a particular state. Find collaborators, get to know the research interests of federal science-funding agencies, understand your institution’s sources of support, and prepare your applications and research plan equipped with additional knowledge. Please visit Federal RePORTER to explore this tool.

3. New Tutorials on Preparing and Submitting Your NIH Grant Application: Would you like a step-by-step guide on how to apply for a NIH grant? On NIH's How to Apply page, you will find four new interactive tutorials on the basics of preparing, writing, and submitting your application. Tutorials take between 4 to 11 minutes each to listen through, and you can easily jump ahead to chapters of interest, or navigate back to review something you’ve missed. These tutorials link to additional resources and transcripts.

4. New IRB Training Requirement: Effective July 1, 2017, all biomedical researchers and research staff involved in the conduct of human research must complete Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training regardless of the level of risk or funding source. Refer to the training page of the IRB website for more information about this new requirement.

Until next month, be well!

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Grand Challenges Exploration

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Grand Challenges Exploration: supports early-stage discovery research to expand the pipeline of ideas for solving our greatest global health and development challenges.  Initial grants will be for $100,000 for 18 months (Phase I). Promising projects can receive up to $1 million in additional funding (Phase II). The deadline is May 3rd 2017. Details about the awards are at http://grandchallenges.org/grant-opportunities

Maximizing Investigators' Research Award for Early Stage Investigators (ESI) (R35)

Maximizing Investigators' Research Award for Early Stage Investigators (ESI) (R35): An ESI is that person within 10 years of receipt of a terminal degree.  

The NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) has several divisions including Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biological Chemistry. This award will support the research program of investigators who are aligned with the NIGMS mission https://www.nigms.nih.gov/about/overview/pages/default.aspx

The purpose of this award is to increase flexibility for investigators to follow important new research directions as opportunities arise, rather than being bound to specific aims proposed in advance of the studies. It will also reduce the time spent by researchers writing and reviewing grant applications, allowing them to spend more time conducting research.  For more information visit (PAR-17-190).  Application Receipt/Submission Date(s): October 3, 2017; October 3, 2018; October 3, 2019, by 5:00

Grand Challenges Research Scholar Collaborative

Grand Challenges Research Scholar Collaborative: The second phase of the Provost's Grand Challenges Research Initiative will include both a competitive call for proposals from interdisciplinary teams (pre-proposals due March 20) and opportunities for extended interdisciplinary engagement through participation in a collaborative of Grand Challenges Research Scholars (nominations due March 1). Awards will focus on two spotlighted Grand Challenges areas: 1) Assuring Clean Water and Sustainable Ecosystems and 2) Fostering Just and Equitable Communities-or an integration of the two. Please review the detailed guidelines for the Phase 2 Grand Challenges Research Initiatives and consider collaborating with colleagues across disciplines. 

ALERT

ALERT: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that Powdered Surgeon’s Gloves, Powdered Patient Examination Gloves, and Absorbable Powder for Lubricating a Surgeon’s Glove present an unreasonable and substantial risk of
illness or injury. The FDA has banned these devices effective on January
18, 2017. Ban on powdered gloves

W.M. Keck Foundation's Science and Engineering and Medical Research Grants

W.M. Keck Foundation's Science and Engineering and Medical Research Grants: supports high-risk/high-impact projects, the development of promising new technologies, and to facilitate the purchase of advanced instruments. Research projects should focus on basic research and not be clinical in nature.  Awards range from $550,000 to $2M. The UMN deadline is 12/12/2016. One application will be chosen to be sent to the sponsor for consideration for funding. For details visit: 
http://apps.research.umn.edu/c/extramural/UMGuidelines.cfm?oppid=259&yearid=2017

Statistics in the life sciences

Statistics in the life sciences: Several recent articles offer a quick overview of common pitfalls and more robust approaches for data analysis. For more information consider: 

• Ten Simple Rules for Effective Statistical Practice in PLoS Computational Biology, 2016
• The ASA’s Statement on p-Values: Context, Process, and Purpose in The American Statistician, 2016
• Blind analysis: Hide results to seek the truth in Nature, 2015
• What is the question in Science, 2015
• Common misconceptions about data analysis and statistics in Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 2014

Multi-Site Pilot & Feasibility Studies for System-Level Implementation of Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Services (R34)

Multi-Site Pilot & Feasibility Studies for System-Level Implementation of Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Services (R34):  NIDA and NIAAA will support the development and testing of interventions, models, and/or frameworks that examine system-level implementation of evidence-based interventions, guidelines, or principles to improve the delivery, uptake, quality, and sustainability of substance use prevention and treatment interventions and services.  For more details see(PAR-16-456).  

How to get funding

How to get funding: the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) suggests these resources - 

• Special Feature: Grant Writing for Tight Times

• Faced with falling grant-approval rates, researchers need to work harder and smarter to get their projects funded. 
• The NIH R01 Tool Kit
• Getting to the Top of a Big Pile
• A Guide to NSF Success

UMN grant planning resources: http://www.research.umn.edu/forresearchers/resources.html
CoP grant planning resources: http://www.pharmacy.umn.edu/research/office-research
Grant editing services (internal and external) and statistical support from CTSI are available.
For assistance with your grant applications or questions please contact sthil001@umn.edu.

Grant-In-Aid of Research, Artistry, and Scholarship Program awardsin fall 2016

Grant-In-Aid of Research, Artistry, and Scholarship Program awardsin fall 2016: Deadlines are September 19, 2016 for PI to send proposal to approvers and September 22 for approvers to send the application to OVPR. The categories of funding available are:

1. Bridge funding
2. Fields with limited external funding
3. New assistant professors
4. New research direction
5. Shared equipment
6. Special requests for established investigators' pilot projects (lowest priority for funding)

For more details visit http://www.research.umn.edu/advance/gia.html