Research Enterprise Newsletter - February 2008: Grants & Contracts News
Cotten departs GCM for M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Melinda Cotten, director of the Office of Grants and Contracts Management, is leaving VUMC on February 22 to become the executive director of the Office of Sponsored Programs at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Gordon Bernard, M.D., assistant vice chancellor for Research, said that a national search has been launched to fill Cotton's position. "That will be hard to do, indeed," Bernard said. "Melinda has introduced such strong business practices and resilient organizational structures that not only will the transition be smooth, but we will time to find the right person to replace Melinda." Libby Salberg, associate director of GCM, will act as the institutional official for VUMC until an appropriate candidate can be hired.
NIH announces Fiscal Operations Plan for FY2008
The NIH recently announced its Fiscal Operations Plan for FY2008, which includes $29.2 billion in funding, or 1 percent more than FY2007. The NIH will continue to manage its portfolio of investments in biomedical research as described in the FY 2007 Fiscal Policy Notice (see NOT-OD-07-030 and NOT-OD-07-049). This includes continuing to address the need for a highly productive pool of researchers by providing support for new investigators and sustaining established investigators, who have little or no additional research support. The following NIH fiscal policies are instituted in FY2008:
- Non-Competing Research Awards: The FY 2008 appropriation as specified in P.L. 110-161 provides NIH a 1 percent inflation allowance to NIH investments in research supported by research grants. Implementation requires a reduction to previously established commitments, based on a 3 percent inflation allowance. Accordingly, each Institute and Center (IC) will use its own discretion to allocate the adjustment among its non-competing research grants (modular and non-modular) to ensure compliance with the 1 percent inflation allowance provided in its FY 2008 committed level. Future year commitments will be adjusted accordingly, as consistent with the FY 2007 fiscal policy. This policy does not apply to Career Awards, SBIR/STTRs, and Ruth L. Kirschstein-National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Fellowships & Institutional Training Grants. Non-competing awards previously issued in FY 2008 at reduced levels will be revised to restore funds to the level indicated above. (see NOT-OD-08-001).
- Competing Research Awards: Each NIH Institute and Center (IC) will manage its competing portfolio using funds that have not been committed for non-competing awards. Consistent with the FY 2008 Congressional action, the FY 2008 average cost of competing grants is allowed to increase by 1 percent over FY 2007 when compared to similar policies. It is estimated this will allow ICs to support the NIH investigator pool with approximately 9,700 new and competing RPGs. The following guidelines will apply to competing research awards in FY 2008:
- Maintain the number of new investigators comparable to the average of the most recent five years.
- Continue to use the NIH Director's Innovator Awards within the Common Fund and NIH Pathway to Independence Awards as previously described.
- Continue to use the NIH Directors Bridge Award Program, which provides continued but limited bridge funding to meritorious investigators whose applications were close to the funding range of the relevant IC and have minimal other support. This program provides NIH with a flexible NIH-wide tool to help balance the grant cycling variation challenges and support other approaches to sustain established grantees and first time competing renewals. As in FY 2007, this program is designed to provide only one-year of continued but limited funding.
- Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA): Funds for stipends, tuition and training-related expenses are held at FY 2007 levels (see NOT-OD-07-057).
NIH Clinical Collection Now Available
The NIH Clinical Collection (NCC), a plated array of approximately 450 clinically tested compounds, is now available for distribution through nihclinicalcollection.com, with a cost recovery charge of $805. Similar collections of FDA-approved drugs are rich sources of undiscovered bioactivity and therapeutic potential. The clinically tested compounds in the NCC are highly druglike, with known safety profiles. These compounds can provide starting points for medicinal chemistry optimization and for high-affinity targets. The compounds come as a ready-to-screen kit. The NCC was assembled by the National Institutes of Health through the Molecular Libraries Roadmap Initiative as part of its mission to enable the use of compound screens in biomedical research.
