Successful Grant Submissions at VUMC

Beth BermanAdministrative Officer of Research

Department of MedicineDivision of Clinical Pharmacology

beth.berman@vanderbilt.edu

CLIN PHARM MAJOR SOURCES OF FUNDING: 9 P or U grants (P01s, P60, U01s, U19, U54) 22 R01 or equivalent grants 32 Other (AHA, DOD, NASA, Foundation and Non-

Federal) awards 4 K Career Development grants 2 T32 grants 1 K12 Institutional grant 1 VPSD award

FEDERAL FUNDING SOURCES

• National Institutes of Health– http://grants.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm – Search by Institute Center (IC) Agency, grant mechanism, or research

topic

• Department of Defense/eBRAP– https://ebrap.org/eBRAP/public/Program.htm– Search by Research Program Opportunities

• National Science Foundation– http://www.nsf.gov/funding/– Search by Program Area

NON-FEDERAL FUNDING SOURCES

• proposalCentral– https://proposalcentral.altum.com/– Search by Sponsor or Program

• American Heart Association/ grants@heart– http://my.americanheart.org/professional/Research/FundingOpportunities/Funding-

Opportunities_UCM_316909_SubHomePage.jsp • Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

– http://www.ddcf.org/Grants/Funding-Opportunities-and-Competitions/• American Diabetes Association

– http://professional.diabetes.org/HomeResearchGrantsAndFunding.aspx?hsid=2• JDRF

– http://jdrf.org/grant-center/grant-opportunities-and-deadlines/• Pivot/ VUMC (formerly FINDGrants)

– http://pivot.cos.com/funding_main

SELECT YOUR GRANT MECHANISM

• Grad Students/Post Doc Fellows– Grants available to promote careers in research– Provide salary stipends, travel, lab supplies, etc.– Examples:• NIH: F31, F32, T32, Diversity Supplement on Mentor’s

Parent Grant• AHA: Pre/Postdoctoral Fellowships• Susan G. Komen: Postdoctoral Fellowships for

Basic/Translational and Clinical Research Areas

SELECT YOUR GRANT MECHANISM

• Junior Faculty– Grants available to promote research

independence– Provide salary, travel, and research support, etc.– Examples:• NIH: K Career Development Awards• Doris Duke: Scientist Development Award• VUMC: CTSA KL2, BIRCWH K12, & VPSD

SELECT YOUR GRANT MECHANISM

• Established Faculty– Grants available to support research discoveries– Various levels of funding to support research lab

salaries, travel, and other expenses, etc.– Examples:

• NIH: R03/R21/R01; U01; & P01• DOD: BCRP Innovator Award; LCRP Idea Development Award• Foundation Leducq: Transatlantic Networks of Excellence• Industry Companies: Baxter, Bristol Myers Squibb, Forest

LEARN YOUR FUNDING CYCLES• NIH offers 3 funding cycles

Activity Code Program Description Cycle I Cycle II Cycle III

P Series Program Project Grants and Center Grants

1/25 5/25 9/25

R01 (New)U01 (New)

Research GrantsCooperative Agreements

2/5 6/5 10/5

R01 (Renewal/Resub)U01 (Renewal/Resub)

Research GrantsCooperative Agreements

3/5 7/5 11/5

R21/R03 Small Research Grants 2/16 6/16 10/16

R21/R03 (Renewal/Resub) Small Research Grants 3/16 7/16 11/16

K Series (New) Research Career Development 2/12 6/12 10/12

K Series (Renewal/Resub) Research Career Development 3/12 7/12 11/12

F Series (All) Individual NRSA 4/8 8/8 12/8

F31 (All) Individual NRSA (Diversity) 4/13 8/13 12/13

LEARN YOUR FUNDING CYCLES

• Non-federal sponsors deadlines vary depending on their funding availability– Check research funding pages often– Sign up for funding alerts/newsletters

PREPARE YOUR TEAM

• Select your scientific key personnel (including consultants) well in advance – Regularly meet to discuss collaborations– Collect updated biosketches

• Notify your grants manager of future submissions 2-3 months before deadline

PREPARE YOUR GRANT NARRATIVES

• Internal routing starts 10 business days before deadline

• Any proposal will need the following for internal approval:– Title (Final)– Key Personnel (Final)– Abstract /Relevance Statement (Draft)– Budget (Final)– Budget Justification (Final)– Facilities/Equipment (Draft)

Info for Your Grants Admin:Letters of Support – Y/NSubcontracts – Y/NAppendix – Y/NAnimals – Y/NHuman Subjects – Y/N

Extra items needed for routing:Billing Rate # from StarbritePlanned Enrollment FormInclusion Enrollment Form

ROUTING YOUR SUBCONTRACTS

Grant Proposals• Complete Face Page/ LOI• Detailed Budget • Budget for Entire Proposed

Period of Support • Budget Justification• Scope of Work• Biosketch – All Key Personnel• Resources• Checklist

Progress Reports• Complete Face Page/ LOI• Detailed Budget • Budget Justification• Scope of Work• Other Support for Key Personnel• All Personnel Report• Checklist

ROUTING YOUR GRANT APPLICATION

• Internal approvals are collected in Coeus • PI and Key Personnel are required to submit

their Conflict of Interest and/or PI Assurance forms in PEER (proposal will not be approved to submit until this is completed)

• PI continues to work on science; except no changes to Budget, Key Personnel, or Enrollment Tables

SUBMITTING YOUR GRANT APPLICATION

• Finalize your grant narratives and send to your grants admin

• OSP prefers for PI to submit 3 days before deadline– Ensures plenty of time to fix any errors

• Review final documents with your grants admin before you submit

• Review final submission – NIH via eRA Commons (48 hours prior to deadline)

– DOD via eBRAP (see program announcement for cut off date)

TIMELINE REVIEWPI Grants Admin Action

Preparation Select collaborators and funding cycle; notify your grants admin

Create budget with PI and collect internal routing documents

1-3 months prior to deadline

Internal Routing Provide:Title Key Personnel Abstract /RelevanceBudget Budget Justification Facilities/Equipment

Prepare Coeus shell for proposal, upload internal routing documents, and finalize the budget

10 days to 1 month prior to deadline

Finalizing Proposal Sign offs in PEER, finish all grant narratives and send to grants admin

Update PIs on what is needed to finalize proposal and work with OSP to get internal approval

10 days to 3 days prior to deadline

Submission PI sits with grants admin to review all documents and submit proposal

Review all document formatting, submit with PI, and verify submission

1 - 3 days prior to deadline

COMMON PITFALLS

• Missing narratives– Cover letter– Letters of support

• Wrong salary/fringe in budget

• Missing key personnel• Missing eRA Commons

username

• PI not affiliated to VUMC in eRA Commons

• Narratives over the page limits

• Using special symbols• Research strategy

figures are incorrect

QUESTIONS?