The reason I urge newbie profs to keep up with NIH funding solicitations is quite simple
September 15, 2011
No matter what esoteric small town grocer science you conduct in your laboratory, there will eventually be a FOA just for you.
DrugMonkey
biomedical research, just another job…
Recent Comments
DrugMonkey 
September 15, 2011 at 1:59 pm
shit, you must be talking about me…off to the NIH!
LikeLike
September 15, 2011 at 3:14 pm
I like your positive thinking. I am sending something in for the Oct deadline – keeping my fingers crossed.
LikeLike
September 15, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Yup, recently applied for one that seemed quite tailored to my area of expertise.
LikeLike
September 15, 2011 at 5:12 pm
It is not mere “positive thinking”. This is the voice of NGA experience talking. Keep your eyes on the FOAs…..
LikeLike
September 15, 2011 at 8:50 pm
How does it feel to channel this voice of NGA experience and do you need to take any specific drugs in order to do so? 😉
LikeLike
September 16, 2011 at 4:45 am
Anyone interested in NIH funding (including all newbie profs, and, yes, even trainees) should join the NIH Guide ListServe:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/listserv.htm
You’ll get a single e-mail each week with a listing of FOAs, changes in NIH policies, etc. Very easy to read and delete…
LikeLike
September 16, 2011 at 5:35 am
Yep, there’s also the RSS feed for those that prefer.
LikeLike
September 16, 2011 at 5:42 am
I should point out that the small town grocer thing was serious, but needs elaboration. Sometimes the FOA just let’s you see where minimal additional expertise via trainees or collaborators, kicks your stuff up to an exciting and fundable project. For the newb and notsonewb prof, it can force you to step up to somethin larger and more ambitious before you think you are “ready”.
A challenge is always a good thing.
LikeLike
September 16, 2011 at 10:46 am
Also, as Scott says, the key thing is to actually read the ToC when it hits your mailbox. 1:30 is usually all it takes, if that.
It’s really important to see these things when they first hit the street, because sometimes with RFAs there will be only 8 weeks to the deadline. When I was at Tufts and a PI called me with a “perfect funding opportunity”, the next words out of my mouth were always, “When is it due?” Often it was a month or less, when the RFA had been out for 2-3 months.
LikeLike
September 16, 2011 at 2:39 pm
Meh, a month is plenty of time. Specially when the topic is right in your wheelhouse!
LikeLike
September 16, 2011 at 8:20 pm
It really depends on the grant, DM. For those that are single investigator and right in the sandbox? Yeah, a month would be enough. But for multi-Investigator USAID proposals? Not so much. It takes 40 person-hours just to get them photocopied and packaged to spec, not to mention all the other stuff.
Regardless, IMnvHO, knowing sooner is always better. At minimum, it allows you to build in procrastination time!
LikeLike
September 17, 2011 at 3:10 am
This also reminds me of how fucken self-defeating all those poor fuckes are crying about how “their R01” didn’t get funding as an A1 and now their entire research career is over because they “can’t change” what they are doing enough to write a new application.
LikeLike
September 17, 2011 at 3:55 am
Exactly PP. Reading the FOAs is even more critical if you lack the imagination to come up with a substantially new proposal after your A1 craters.
LikeLike