Research Enterprise Newsletter - February 2009: CORE News
OOR leading response to NCRR Request for Information: Improving Core Facilities
The NIH's National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) recently issued a Request for Information (RFI): Improving Core Facilities. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input on how to improve NIH funded core facilities. Funding for these facilities can come from either NCRR or from other NIH Institutes and Centers. Specific areas of interest include ways to encourage optimum use of cores, ways to provide access to core facilities to investigators who currently lack that access and integration of policies governing core facility operation.
As a leader in the development and support of research core facilities and shared resources, Vanderbilt Medical Center will extend that leadership by coordinating a comprehensive response to this initiative. Vanderbilt's response will begin with input from the directors of NIH-funded research centers at VMC. Research center directors are uniquely positioned within our institution to provide valuable feedback from multiple perspectives: from research center member faculty; from the directors of associated shared resources; and from the investigators across the institution who use core facilities. It is important that these views are clearly represented for consideration by NCRR. The institutional response will be submitted to NCRR in late February.
Individual investigators are welcome to forward comments to the Office of Research and/or to respond directly to the NCRR Request for Information. The full NIH Guide Notice can be found at grants.nih.gov.
Please send comments or questions regarding this initiative to Susan Meyn.
Office of Research to implement Scholarships
The Office of Research will soon implement the Scholarship Mechanism for all research core facilities/shared resources. This system will ensure that research center support for a core or shared resource is more precisely linked to benefits for center member investigators. The Scholarship Mechanism will replace the current system of discounted service fees for center members, which results in inconsistent fees and disparate benefits to investigators. Discounted service fees also increase the risk for federal audit of core facility operations.
The new Scholarship Mechanism improves institutional compliance with federal policy for the operation of shared resources and core facilities receiving direct support from research centers. In this system, center support for a shared resource constitutes a scholarship pool, which may be divided and distributed to center members as credits, or scholarships, for use of the supported shared resource. Each contributing research center will determine the level of support for shared resources, and a system for scholarship distribution.
To support the administration of the Scholarship Mechanism, the Office of Research has developed a new module for CORES (Core Ordering and Enterprise Reporting System). The new interactive Scholarships module will facilitate real-time distribution, tracking and usage of scholarship credits. Research centers will be able to award scholarship credits, track usage, and update distributions. Investigators will receive automatic notification of scholarship awards, and will be able use credits in place of a cost center number when purchasing core services. Core managers will be able to process charges against scholarship credits and monitor usage.
All research core facilities and shared resources receiving direct support will use the Scholarship Mechanism, and once implemented, discounted service fees will no longer be offered to any Vanderbilt investigator. If you have questions about Scholarships, or about CORES and core facilities, please contact Susan Meyn in the Office of Research (322-0470).
Investigators encouraged to apply for NCRR Shared Instrumentation Grants
The NCRR Shared Instrument Grant (SIG) program solicits applications from groups of NIH-supported investigators to purchase or upgrade commercially available instruments that cost at least $100,000. The maximum award is $500,000. This program is designed to provide for the acquisition or updating of expensive shared-use instrumentation not generally available through other NIH mechanisms, such as the regular research project, program project, or center grant programs. Types of instrumentation supported include, but are not limited to, nuclear magnetic resonance systems, electron and confocal microscopes, mass spectrometers, protein and DNA sequencers, biosensors, x-ray diffractometers and cell sorters.
The Office of Research encourages Vanderbilt investigators to apply for funding through this program, and will work with eligible groups of investigators to prepare successful grant applications. For more information, refer to the NIH Program Announcement on grants.nih.gov.
Please direct additional questions or requests for assistance to Susan Meyn in the Office of Research (322-0470).
