News & Views item - September 2009

 

 

115 NIH Grants for "High-Risk Research and Innovation. (September 25, 2009)

The US National Institutes of Health has announced that it is awarding US$348 million to specifically encourage investigators to explore bold ideas that have the potential to catapult fields forward and speed the translation of research into improved health.

 

The three categories, the number of grants and the funding for 2009 are:

The total funding provided to this competing cohort over a five-year period is estimated to be $348 million and the New Innovator total includes US$23 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus package).

 

 NIH Director Francis Collins said: "The appeal of the Pioneer, New Innovator, and now the T-R01 programs, is that investigators are encouraged to challenge the status quo with innovative ideas, while being given the necessary resources to test them. The fact that we continue to receive such strong proposals for funding through the programs reflects the wealth of creative ideas in science today."

 

In its announcement the NIH stated: "The NIH Director's T-R01 Program is new this year. Named for the standard investigator-initiated research project that the NIH supports, the R01, the T-R01s provide a new opportunity for scientists that is unmatched by any other NIH program."

 

The institutes emphasised that no budget cap is imposed on the T-R01 grant requests and preliminary results are not required. "Scientists are free to propose new, bold ideas that may require significant resources to pursue. They are also given the flexibility to work in large, complex teams if the complexity of the research problem demands it."

 

 "The appeal of the Pioneer, New Innovator, and now the T-R01 programs, is that investigators are encouraged to challenge the status quo with innovative ideas, while being given the necessary resources to test them," said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. "The fact that we continue to receive such strong proposals for funding through the programs reflects the wealth of creative ideas in science today."

Accelerating the current pace of discovery through the support of highly innovative research is an ongoing effort at the NIH, but the NIH Director's T-R01 Program is new this year. Named for the standard investigator-initiated research project that the NIH supports, the R01, the T-R01s provide a new opportunity for scientists that is unmatched by any other NIH program. Since no budget cap is imposed and preliminary results are not required, scientists are free to propose new, bold ideas that may require significant resources to pursue. They are also given the flexibility to work in large, complex teams if the complexity of the research problem demands it.

This year, the NIH is granting 115 NIH Director's High-Risk Research Awards: 42 T-R01 Awards, 18 Pioneer Awards, and 55 New Innovator Awards for early-stage investigators.

The NIH expects to make competing awards of $30 million to T-R01 awardees, $13.5 million to Pioneer awardees, and approximately $131 million to New Innovators in Fiscal Year 2009. The total funding provided to this competing cohort over a five-year period is estimated to be $348 million. The New Innovator total includes $23 million in funds through the Recovery Act.

 

 Investigators funded via the 2004 cohort, the first year of the Pioneer Awards, have completed their projects. Details of their progress are available at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/pioneer/Profiles04/index.aspx, and for more information on the New Innovator Award go to http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/newinnovator.

 

For descriptions of the 2009 recipients’ research plans, see http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/newinnovator/Recipients09.asp.