NINDS Funding Strategy- FY 2012

The NINDS budget for FY 2012 is $1,625,902,000. NINDS balances investigator-initiated research with targeted solicitations that address mission-critical scientific opportunities and public health needs. Across all scientific and disease areas, programs are tailored to the different requirements of basic, translational, and clinical research. The Institute continues to place a high priority on maintaining an adequate number of competing research project grants to sustain productive research teams, support new investigators, and encourage innovative research. NINDS evaluates the mission relevance of all institute initiatives and of all requests to submit applications for large investigator-initiated projects. The Institute reviews programs in consultation with members of the NINDS Advisory Council and other outside experts, and the results inform decisions concerning future program directions and funding.

Research Project Grants (RPGs) and Centers

These are the main mechanisms of support for investigator-initiated research. They include single investigator awards (e.g., the traditional research project grant or R01 and other mechanisms), Small Business Innovative Research Grants (R43, R44), Small Business Technology Transfer Grants (R41, R42), Cooperative Agreements (U01), and multi-component awards, e.g., Program Projects (P01) Centers (P50), and Core Center Grants (P30).

Non-Competing Research Awards: The FY 2012 appropriation level (P.L. 112-74) specified non-competing awards will be issued without cost of living/inflationary adjustments in FY 2012; however adjustments for special needs (such as equipment and added personnel) will continue to be accommodated.

Inflationary Increases for Future Years: Inflationary increases for future year commitments will be discontinued for all competing and non-competing research grant awards issued in FY 2012, however adjustments for special needs (such as equipment and added personnel) will continue to be accommodated.

FY 2012 awards that have already been issued will be revised to adjust the award level and future year commitments in accordance with these principles.

Competing RPGs

We have set aside approximately $145 million of the total funds available for competing awards to fund unsolicited grants not in response to special initiatives. New (Type 1), competing renewal (Type 2), and competing supplement (Type 3) grants will be funded based on percentile rank order. NINDS is funding applications with scores up through the 14.0 percentile. We anticipate that approximately 20% of all eligible competing Research Project Grant applications will be funded this year.

Modular grants will be awarded at an average of 87.5% of the Council-recommended direct cost level. Non-modular applications that request more than $250,000 direct costs in any year, will be awarded at an average of 82.5% of Council-recommended direct costs.

Special Initiatives

An additional $110 million available for competing awards have been set aside for funding major clinical trials and special initiatives, including Requests for Applications (RFAs) and Program Announcements with set-aside funds (PASs).

• New Investigators: Helping new investigators transition to independence is a high priority for NIH, and is an important funding consideration for NINDS. Each Council round, NINDS funds additional R01 applications from new investigators with percentiles beyond the formal payline, based on funds available. NINDS will continue to support new investigators on R01 equivalent awards at success rates equivalent to that of established investigators submitting new R01 equivalent applications.
• RFA/PA’s: Funding has been set aside for grants responding to specific solicitations (Request For Applications and Program Announcements) approved by the Institute and its Council for understudied or new fields of research important to the NINDS mission.
• Bridge Awards: In certain cases, the Institute may use the R56 grant mechanism to provide limited, interim research support that enables an investigator to gather additional data necessary for submission of a revised application. This mechanism has been published in the NIH Guide (NOT-NS-10-004, see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-NS-10-004.html). Please note that investigators cannot apply for R56 awards.
• Major Clinical Trials: Multi-center clinical trials and other types of fixed-protocol clinical studies generally have large budgets and substantial NINDS staff involvement. Funds are set aside each fiscal year to fund new competing clinical trials, the use of which depends on the scientific merit of applications received. All such applications are extensively discussed by the NINDS Council, which makes funding recommendations to the NINDS Director. Budgets for individual awards are set each year by staff after careful consideration of the resources that will be needed to follow study protocols.

Duration of Grants

The NIH is required to fund competing RPGs in such a manner that the average length of these awards does not exceed four years. To achieve this four-year average, NINDS will award four years of support for many applications that requested and were recommended for 5 years. A limited number of 5-year awards will be approved based on percentile rank of application, type of research (e.g. longitudinal studies and clinical trials may require 5 years to be completed), and new investigator status of applicant.

Research Training and Career Development

• NINDS funds individual predoctoral fellowships (F30 and F31), individual postdoctoral fellowships (F32), senior fellowships (F33), institutional grants (T32, T35, K12, and R25), and several career development grants, including the Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01), Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08), Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23), Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award (K25), Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24), Independent Scientist Award (K02), and the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00). The approximate total NINDS budget for training, fellowship, and career development awards is $70 million.
• NINDS Training and Career Development Office

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Special Supplement Funding

Approximately $10 million has been set aside in FY2012 for special supplements, including supplements for collaborative activities to promote translational research.

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Merit Awards (Javits)

The NINDS Advisory Council may designate up to 12 competing applicants per year as Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Awards. These awards are made in two segments, an initial four-year award, followed by a subsequent three year award with staff review and Council concurrence for progress and expanded scope of project. Investigators may not apply directly for a Javits Award. These awards are made to distinguished investigators who (1) have a record of substantial contributions on the "cutting edge" of some field of neurological science, and (2) can be expected to be highly productive for a seven-year period. Any application selected for nomination would be expected to be exemplary of the investigator's body of work and would have been judged especially meritorious by a peer review group (study section). For more information, see the Javits Award description.

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NINDS/NIH Policy for Accepting Applications Exceeding $500,000 Per Year

The NIH supports research projects with large budgets but needs to consider such awards as early as possible in the budget and program planning process. Therefore, applicants must seek agreement to accept assignment from NINDS staff at least 6 weeks prior to the anticipated submission of any application requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs for any year. Applicants with clinical research applications over $1,000,000 must contact NINDS staff a minimum of 3 months prior to the next submission deadline. (See below).

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-02-004.html

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NINDS Policy for Accepting Clinical Research Applications Exceeding $1,000,000 Per Year Applicants planning to submit an application for a clinical research project requesting $1,000,000 or more in direct costs for any year must contact NINDS staff a minimum of 3 months prior to the next submission deadline for new grant applications. The applicant must obtain agreement from the NINDS staff that the Institute will accept the application for consideration for award. Any application subject to this policy that does not receive permission to submit will be returned to the applicant without review. For purposes of this policy "clinical research" is as defined in the 1997 Report of the NIH Director's panel on Clinical Research. According to this definition, clinical research includes (a) Patient-oriented research (including research on the mechanisms of human disease, therapeutic interventions, clinical trials, and the development of new technologies); (b) Epidemiological and behavioral studies; and (c) Outcomes research and health services research. Excluded from this definition are in vitro research studies that utilize human tissue that cannot be linked to a living individual or research that does not involve human participants. http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-NS-01-012.html.