The Land of Monsters

Fighty Squirrel, PhD, Awe.Some.

For academics, being courageous is part of the deal. You fight for your ideas and observations in clear, concise language. You lay out a problem, share your data and propose a model or a solution. The next person comes along, kicks at the base of your idea with their data, adds their thoughts, and this forces you to refine your […]

Rock and a Hard Place

Fighty Squirrel, PhD, Awe.Some.

Yesterday Vanderbilt played host to NIH Director Francis Collins who spoke about “Exceptional Opportunities in Biomedical Research”.  Collins told a full house and an overflow room that big initiatives like sequencing the human genome and making brain ‘connectomes’ are essential to sparking innovation and fundamentally changing both large and small science. Trickle down effects enable technological leaps even for smaller teams. […]

NIH News: New Genomic Data Sharing Policy

The Edge for Scholars

Work in genetics and plan to submit a grant after January 25, 2015?  Then you should read the following: Implementation of the NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy for NIH Grant Applications and Awards Full NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy Dr. Sally Rockey’s discussion of the new policy

Rock Talk: Biosketch Changes and New Efforts to Maximize Fairness in Peer Review

The Edge for Scholars

Changes to the Biosketch We’re set for a major change in how you portray your body of work when applying for NIH funds.  With strong support from NIH leadership, we will be rolling out a new biosketch format. The new NIH biosketch emphasizes your accomplishments instead of just a list of publications, which, as previously […]

News: Major Change to NIH Resubmission Policy

The Edge for Scholars

[T]oday we have announced a policy change. While the new policy still allows a single resubmission per application, ideas that were unsuccessfully submitted as a resubmission (A1) may now be presented in a new grant application (A0) without having to substantially redesign the content and scope of the project. The resubmission of an idea as […]

Rock Talk: NIH Recovers a Significant Portion of Funds Lost Due to Sequestration

The Edge for Scholars

Much good news here: Because of the increased NIH budget as compared to last year, and due to the cycle of out-year commitments, we should ultimately be making more competing awards in FY 2014. Undergraduate and graduate student stipends will increase by 2%, and entry level postdoctoral stipends will be increased to $42,000 with 4% […]

Rock Talk: NIH Human Subjects Training Earns AMA CEUs

Rebecca Helton, MA

NIH supports critical research that advances human health, while protecting the rights and welfare of the research participants who are integral to research success. NIH’s human subjects protection policies ensure the conduct of quality research and provide the proper stewardship of NIH funding. Some of you may have taken human subjects training offered at your […]

Rock Talk: New Reforms to Federal Grant Policies

Rebecca Helton, MA

In February last year I blogged about the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)’s request for comments on proposed federal grant policy reforms. These policies, contained in multiple documents known as circulars, contain Fed-wide regulations on spending, not just for research grants. Many grantees and stakeholder organizations came forth and contributed comments. This information was […]

Rock Talk: PubMed Gets Interactive

Rebecca Helton, MA

Today NIH’s National Library of Medicine (NLM) is bringing a new way of sharing and exchanging research information, fully integrated with the PubMed website, to a wider audience. For the last few months, NLM has been running a pilot of a commenting system for PubMed’s massive database of biomedical literature. The system, PubMed Commons, allows […]

Cash-Strapped NIH May Ask Universities to Limit Grant Applications

Rebecca Helton, MA

At a time of dwindling federal budgets, the National Institutes of Health is considering one sure-fire way to raise record-low grant-approval rates: Have researchers apply for fewer grants. From the Chronicle of Higher Ed: Cash-Strapped NIH May Ask Universities to Limit Grant Applications