This Program Announcement Expires on August 27, 2005, unless reissued. VISION RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT GRANTS (R24) RELEASE DATE: January 24, 2002 PA NUMBER: PAR-02-050 UPDATE: The following update relating to this notice has been issued: April 14, 2006 (NOT-OD-06-060) - See this notice for the Expiration of PAR-02-050 Vision Research Infrastructure Development Grants (R24) PARTICIPATING INSTITUTES AND CENTERS (ICs): National Eye Institute (NEI) (http://www.nei.nih.gov) RECEIPT DATE: August 27 each year THIS PAR CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION o Purpose of the PAR o Research Objectives o Mechanism of Support o Eligible Institutions o Individuals Eligible to Become Principal Investigators o Where to Send Inquiries o Submitting an Application o Peer Review Process o Review Criteria o Award Criteria o Required Federal Citations PURPOSE OF THIS PAR The objective of the Vision Research Infrastructure Development Grant (R24) is to provide small groups of investigators who have achieved independent National Eye Institute (NEI) funding with additional, shared support to enhance their own and their institutions" capability for conducting vision research. The award is designed for institutions in which three or more investigators hold independent NEI research awards (see eligibility section below for details). Secondary goals of the program are to facilitate collaborative studies of the visual system and its disorders, and to attract scientists of diverse disciplines to research on the visual system. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES This award is made to enhance the environment and capability to conduct research in institutions holding seven or fewer NEI research project grants. The Research Infrastructure Grants are organized into discrete units or modules, each devoted to a specific activity that would be impractical, less efficient, or undesirable to support on an individual research project. This can include the purchase and maintenance of a shared instrument. Some sharing of Research Infrastructure Grant resources and services with other NIH-funded collaborators and with investigators new to vision research is encouraged. Applicants may request one or two modules. Modules are based on function: o Resource Modules usually provide laboratory services, facilitate the production of materials for research, or support the purchase, maintenance, and technical support of shared equipment. Examples include, but are not limited to: Confocal Microscopy, Tissue and Cell Culture, Laboratory Animal Resources, and DNA Microarray Facilities. Resource modules may also help support computer experts, biostatisticians, and other individuals who can assist or collaborate with participating investigators in conducting laboratory or applied clinical research. o Service Modules support essential technical services provided by one or more highly skilled persons. Examples of this kind of module are Machine Shops, Electronics Shops, and Photographic Services. o Biostatistics/Epidemiology Modules may be used to enhance applied clinical research programs through the application of advanced epidemiologic and biostatistical methodology to vision research projects. For groups of three or more NEI-funded investigators conducting applied clinical research, the types of qualifying funding are expanded to include NEI cooperative agreements (U01 and U10)or research and development contracts (N01). For a specific module on a Research Infrastructure grant to be funded, the module must be used to a moderate or extensive degree by at least three investigators, each holding one or more of the types of awards specified above. The module usage requirement is the minimum, a larger number of NEI- funded investigators using modules to a moderate or extensive degree would generally strengthen an application. MECHANISM(S) OF SUPPORT This PAR will use the NIH R24 Resource-Related Research Project award mechanism. As an applicant, you will be solely responsible for planning, directing, and executing the proposed project. The total direct costs for an application submitted in response to this PAR may not exceed $750,000 over a five year period. The total project period for an application submitted in response to this PAR may not exceed five years. ELIGIBLE INSTITUTIONS You may submit an application if your institution has the following characteristics: o For-profit or non-profit organizations o Public or private institutions, such as universities, colleges, hospitals, and laboratories o Units of State and local governments o Eligible agencies of the Federal government o Domestic Institutions holding an NEI Core Grant for Vision Research (P30) are not eligible for the Vision Research Infrastructure Development Grant (R24). To be eligible, an institution must have, on the receipt date, three or more investigators with NEI-funded research project grants (R01), Bioengineering Research Partnership Awards or Collaborative Research on Therapy for Visual Disorders Awards (R24), FIRST Awards (R29), MERIT Awards (R37), Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Awards (K08), Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Awards (K23), or Midcareer Investigator Awards in Patient-Oriented Research (K24). Noncompeting extensions of these awards, made with or without additional funds, are eligible. No other mechanisms or source of research support will be considered in determining eligibility, except in the following special case: qualifying funding of investigators applying for a Biostatistics/Epidemiology module may include NEI-supported cooperative agreements (U01 or U10) or research and development contracts (N01) which conduct applied clinical research. Eligibility will be confirmed by NEI staff. No more than two Vision Research Infrastructure Development Grants will be made to any single applicant organization. For multicampus institutions, no more than two Vision Research Infrastructure Development Grants will be made to each campus. Joint applications may be submitted by investigators at neighboring, independent institutions. INDIVIDUALS ELIGIBLE TO BECOME PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS Any individual with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research is invited to work with their institution 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 programs. WHERE TO SEND INQUIRIES We encourage your inquiries concerning this PAR and welcome the opportunity answer questions from potential applicants. Inquiries may fall into three areas: scientific/research, peer review, and financial or grants management issues: o Direct your questions about scientific/research issues to: Ralph J. Helmsen, Ph.D. Division of Extramural Research National Eye Institute Building EPS, Room 350 6120 Executive Blvd, MSC 7164 Bethesda, MD 20892-7164 Telephone: (301) 496-5301 FAX: 301-402-0528 Email: rh27v@nih.gov o Direct your questions about peer review issues to: Samuel C. Rawlings, Ph.D. Chief, Scientific Review Branch National Eye Institute Building EPS, Room 350 6120 Executive Blvd, MSC 7164 Bethesda, MD 20892-7164 Telephone: (301) 496-5561 FAX: 301-402-0528 Email: rawlings@nei.nih.gov o Direct your questions about financial or grants management matters to: William W. Darby Grants Management Officer National Eye Institute Building EPS, Room 350 6120 Executive Blvd, MSC 7164 Bethesda, MD 20892-7164 Telephone: (301) 496-5884 FAX: 301-402-0528 Email: wwd@nei.nih.gov SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION Applications must be prepared using the Public Health Service (PHS) 398 research grant application instructions and forms (rev. 5/2001). The PHS 398 is available at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html in an interactive format. For further assistance contact GrantsInfo, Telephone (301) 710-0267, Email: GrantsInfo@nih.gov. In preparing the application, follow the PHS 398 instructions, but substitute the following special instructions where indicated: o Form Page 1. The title and number of the PAR must be typed on line 2 of the face page of the application form and the YES box must be marked. o Form Page 2. Key Personnel are defined as the Principal Investigator, the Module Directors, the Biostatistician, and Participating Investigators who will use any module to a moderate or extensive degree. o Form Pages 4 and 5. a). Summary Budget. Provide overall summary budget pages for the initial and the entire budget period for the Research Infrastructure Grant, presenting the aggregate budget for all administrative and module activities. Provide a budget justification only for requests not contained in the separate module budgets that will follow (e.g., for administrative activities). b) Module Budgets. Provide separate budget pages and justifications for each module. Module budget requests and justifications should not be repeated elsewhere in the application. c) Allowable Costs. Requests for salary support for the Principal Investigator may not exceed 5% effort. Support for secretarial and administrative staff may be requested in the summary budget to the extent that it relates directly to the management of Core Grant activities, see the NIH guide announcement https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not94-276.html. Costs for all secretarial and administrative activities (including support for the Principal Investigator) ordinarily may not exceed 15% of the total direct costs of a Vision Research Infrastructure Development Grant award in any year. Salary support for up to 75% effort of a Biostatistician or Epidemiologist on a Biostatistics/Epidemiology Module may be requested, whether or not this individual is the Module Director. Technical support personnel salary, consultants, shared equipment, consumable supplies and Other Expenses directly related to the operation of the module (e.g., photographic supplies, electronics parts, tissue culture media, equipment maintenance contracts, computer time, lease of computer lines) may be requested. Alteration and Renovation costs are allowable but must be thoroughly justified. Cost sharing by the institution is strongly encouraged and these arrangements should be described in the application. d) Non-allowable Costs. Requests may not be made for salary support for Module Directors and Participating Investigators, Travel, Patient Care Costs, human subjects reimbursement, animal care per diem charges (boarding), and costs associated with seminars, conferences, workshops, etc. o Biographical Sketch Format Page. Biographical sketches should be provided for Key Personnel only. o Resources Format Page. Do not submit information on overall institutional or departmental resources. As described below, a Resources Format Page should be presented for each module. This should outline the facilities and equipment that would be available for the module. It should include the space, in terms of its location, capabilities, and availability for the participating investigators. Be sure to include the most important equipment items that would be made available. If a major equipment item (e.g., an electron microscope) is located in the individual research space of an investigator, the issue of its accessibility for participating investigators should be addressed in more detail. o Research Plan. This section should include the following five sections: a). Overview. Provide an overview of how the Research Infrastructure Development Grant would be used to enhance the capabilities of participating NEI-funded investigators and the institution for conducting vision research. If pertinent, describe how the grant services and resources would be used to help initiate or to continue collaborative studies, and/or to help attract scientists to research on the visual system. b). Administrative Arrangements. Describe how potential problems, such as establishing priorities for allocation of resources or scheduling for use of a module, will be handled. Use of an advisory committee is encouraged. c). Institutional Commitment. Describe and give examples of institutional commitment and support of the goal of fostering vision research. d). Modules. Present each module as a separate and internally complete section. Do not include module budgets and budget justifications in this section. Include the following information: 1. Resources Format Page(s). Describe the resources that will be available to support the module. 2. Module Supervision. The module should be directed, preferably, by an NEI-funded, independent investigator who has the expertise to supervise its use. Other arrangements may be proposed, but must be well-justified. 3. Module Use and Impact. Describe how the module will enhance the research capabilities of investigators using the module, citing some specific examples. Characterize the extent to which the module will be used by each investigator, using the terms "limited", "moderate", or "extensive". This information should be summarized in a table (see example below) which gives the extent of module use for each proposed user. Image Analysis Module INVESTIGATOR LIMITED USE MODERATE USE EXTENSIVE USE Dr. A X Dr. B X Dr. C X Dr. D X APPLICATION RECEIPT DATES Applications submitted in response to this PAR will be accepted one time a year on August 27. If the receipt date falls on a weekend, it will be extended to the following Monday. SENDING AN APPLICATION TO THE NIH Submit a signed, typewritten original of the application, including the checklist, and three signed photocopies in one package to: Center for Scientific Review National Institutes of Health 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 1040, MSC 7710 Bethesda, MD 20892-7710 Bethesda, MD 20817 (for express/courier service) At the time of submission, two additional copies of the application MUST be sent to: Samuel C. Rawlings, Ph.D. Chief, Scientific Review Branch National Eye Institute Executive Plaza South, Suite 350 6120 Executive Blvd MSC Bethesda, MD 20892-7164 APPLICATION PROCESSING Applications must be received by or mailed before August 27. The CSR will not accept any application in response to this PAR that is essentially the same as one currently pending initial review unless the applicant withdraws the pending application. The CSR will not accept any application that is essentially the same as one already reviewed. This does not preclude the submission of a substantial revision of an application already reviewed, but such application must include an Introduction addressing the previous critique. PEER REVIEW PROCESS Applications submitted for this PAR will be assigned to the NEI. An appropriate scientific review group convened by the NEI in accordance with the standard NIH peer review procedures (http://www.csr.nih.gov/refrev.htm) will evaluate applications for scientific and technical merit. As part of the initial merit review, all applications will: o Receive a written critique o Be discussed and assigned a priority score o Receive a second level review by the National Advisory Eye Council. REVIEW CRITERIA In the written comments reviewers will be asked to discuss the following aspects of the application in order to judge the scientific and technical merit. The application as a whole, and each module separately, will be evaluated and rated. Each module will be separately evaluated with emphasis placed on assessing the quality and productivity of the research conducted by the primary users of the module, the benefits that would be derived from the module, and the quality of the products and efficiency of services provided by the module. Each of these criteria will be addressed and considered in assigning the overall score, weighting them as appropriate for each application. Note that the 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. o The strength of the research track record of the Participating Investigators. Does the overall level of independent, peer-reviewed research support from the NEI/NIH seem appropriate for the number of participating investigators? Is it likely that the participating investigators, as a group, will remain productive and competitive? o Is the Principal Investigator qualified and in a position to administer this Grant effectively? o Are procedures proposed or in place to ensure smooth administration of the grant overall and of the modules? Is there an advisory group? Is its composition appropriate? Are its responsibilities defined? If an advisory group is not proposed, are there alternative procedures to administer the Grant effectively? How will priorities be set, and how will issues regarding accessibility to Grant facilities be handled? o What is the extent of the commitment and support by the Institution to the goal of fostering research on the visual system and its disorders? Are examples provided of significant space commitments, faculty-position commitments, full or partial payment of salaries for support staff, purchases of equipment, financial support of new construction or renovation, etc.? o Is the module directed by an NEI-funded independent investigator with the appropriate scientific credentials? If other arrangements are proposed, are these appropriate? o How will the module enhance or facilitate the research efforts of the participating investigators? Will the module support a resource or service that would be impractical or less-efficient to support on an individual research grant? o What will be the overall level of use for the module? Is this level appropriate? o Are the resources appropriate? Are grant facilities easily accessible to members of the group? If not, will this be an impediment to full utilization of the module? o Is the proposed budget reasonable and of an appropriate duration in relation to the proposed research? Is each requested module budget item directly related to the operation of the module and justified adequately? If funds for renovation are requested, is the request appropriate considering available space and other resources? Are there any requests in the overall budget beyond those included in the budgets for the individual modules, are these appropriate and consistent with NEI guidelines? AWARD CRITERIA Applications submitted in response to a PAR will compete for available funds with all other recommended applications. The following will be considered in making funding decisions: o Scientific merit of the proposed project as determined by peer review o Availability of funds o Relevance to program priorities REQUIRED FEDERAL CITATIONS o HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS (hESC): Criteria for federal funding of research on hESCs can be found at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/stem_cells.htm and at https://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 (see http://escr.nih.gov). It is the responsibility of the applicant to provide 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. o URLs IN NIH GRANT APPLICATIONS OR APPENDICES: All applications and proposals for NIH funding must be self-contained within specified page limitations. Unless otherwise specified in an NIH solicitation, Internet addresses (URLs) should not be used to provide information necessary to the review because reviewers are under no obligation to view the Internet sites. Furthermore, we caution reviewers that their anonymity may be compromised when they directly access an Internet site. o 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 PAR 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. o AUTHORITY AND REGULATIONS: This program is described in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No. 93.867 and is not subject to the intergovernmental review requirements of Executive Order 12372 or Health Systems Agency review. Awards are made under authorization of Sections 301 and 405 of the Public Health Service Act as amended (42 USC 241 and 284) and administered under NIH grants policies described at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/policy.htm and under Federal Regulations 42 CFR 52 and 45 CFR Parts 74 and 92. 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.
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