New Opportunities - EXPIRED

Application Receipt Deadline:
October 14, 2007 - Electronic version
(Sunday by 12:00 midnight)
October 29, 2007 - Originals with Institutional Signatures.

Approximate Award Date: March 1, 2008

Funds must be requested for the continuation of any project started in previous years supported by New Opportunities funds, even if funds for subsequent years were requested in the past. Evidence must be presented that the projects are accomplishing their goals.

Since the support provided under this mechanism will be awarded in the last year of the current grant, it is especially important that applicants for these projects realize that the support is for one year only (3/1/2008 – 2/28/2009) and must be spent by the end of that period.

Applications for New Opportunities funds may include any of the specific areas listed below, as identified as allowable by the NIAID Program Office (others may be acceptable - discuss with the MARCE Research Coordinator).

Highest priority areas:

• Product development related activities (Trans-Center or individual) such as advanced proof of concept, preclinical studies, phase I testing, technology transfer assistance (but not patent related activities), etc.

• New Collaborative projects involving investigators at two or more Centers.

• Trans-Center collaborations on existing projects, e.g., establishing collaborations between related projects so work is more synergistic.

• Training, especially for biosafety/biosecurity, animal care and use, etc.

Lower priority areas:

• Shared, large equipment for use within a Center or a region. Any such requests must clearly justify widespread immediate need for the equipment.

• Workshops or conferences for the entire Biodefense Network.

• Immunization costs for laboratory workers.

• Trans-Center resources such as new scientific Cores, e.g., a GMP core, PK/PD/Tox testing, assay development.

Not allowed:

• Additional Developmental Project or Career Development funds.

• Alteration and renovation (A&R) funds for facilities necessary to conduct the Center-funded research, if A&R funds were not included in the original RCE award or given subsequently in the second year-New Opportunity money. No RCE can receive more than $500,000 A&R funds total over the lifetime of the grant.

• Supplements to existing projects unless for specific product development activities (see above).

• Funds for extension of Developmental Projects beyond their current time limits.

• Funds to bring current Developmental Projects up to Research Project level.

• Supplements to projects/activities that had significant carryover funds.

Up to $1,250,000 in total costs may be available to the MARCE as a whole for all approved applications submitted through this New Opportunities funding mechanism. This cap will not apply to Trans-Center projects involving multiple RCEs such as network core facilities, network-wide conferences/workshops, and other activities that benefit the entire NIAID Biodefense Network, but will include collaborative research projects between two or more Centers.

Please contact the MARCE Research Coordinator, Jennifer Snyder, Ph.D., prior to preparing an application for input regarding whether the concept you will be proposing fits within the scope of allowable activities.

Applications must include the following:

• Face page.

• Budget pages (detailed budget, budget justification, and checklist pages).

• Up to five pages of text including an abstract, specific aims, research/project plan, and justification of the project in relation to the Strategic Plan for the Center. (Include a brief progress report if submitting an application for continuing funding for an existing New Opportunities Project.)

• Literature cited.

• Vertebrate animal and human subjects protection sections. Any project that includes any human subjects work must also include the NIAID concept proposal form.

Use PHS398 forms and follow the PHS398 instructions for formatting. A customized set of PHS398 forms is attached at the end for your convenience. Submissions must be signed by the PI of the application and the designated Institutional Official(s).

Review and Approval:

• The MARCE’s Management and Oversight Committee (MOC) will provide the first level of review. The Director of the MARCE will then submit a prioritized list of applications to NIAID Program staff.

• MARCE-specific applications will also be reviewed by a panel consisting of NIAID Program staff, as well as program consultants, as the NIH deems necessary.

• The Trans-Center applications will also be reviewed by a panel consisting of NIAID program staff, RCE PIs, as well as program consultants, as necessary.

• Funding of projects must be approved by NIAID Program and Grants Management staff.

Submission of Application:
Completed applications are to be submitted electronically in a single word document and emailed to rcegrants@medicine.umaryland.edu by midnight on Sunday, October 14, 2007. The original application including the face page with PI and institutional signatures should be mailed to the MARCE Administrator at the address listed below, and must be received no later than October 29, 2007.

Gloria Smedley, MBA
MARCE Research Administrator
Center for Vaccine Development
University of Maryland, School of Medicine
685 W. Baltimore St., Room 480
Baltimore, MD 21201
gsmedley@medicine.umaryland.edu
Phone: (410) 706-5328

MARCE contact for further information:
Jennifer Snyder, Ph.D.
MARCE Research Coordinator
jsnyder@medicine.umaryland.edu
Phone: (410) 706-5330