p01 grant proposal from a to z: overcoming organizational challenges, inspiring reviewers
TRANSCRIPT
Presented by Dorothy E Lewis PhD
Brought to you by Principal Investigators Association
Investigator initiated with a theme
Largely unsolicited—in some cases solicited
Involves multiple projects/multiple cores
Focused on synergy and cost saving—i.e. bang for the buck
LOTS OF WORK/TIME to PREPARE!!!!
Must make compelling case that theme of the P01 is important
The projects must EACH be important to do and synergize—the big goal in the P01 would NOT be accomplished without working together
YOU are the group to do the work
Above all, they take organization
Must herd cats—so it’s not easy—deadlines loom.
Many make a big mistake by not understanding what it takes to organize the P01 properly
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About Your Speaker
Dr. Dorothy Lewis, Professor, Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas Health Science Center has a 25-year history of writing grant applications, including P01 applications. Her successful track record for winning grants has given her a valuable “in the trenches” perspective that can benefit you, at whichever stage you find yourself.
What You Get:
1. Invite your colleagues to listen in with you – unlimited listeners allowed in the same viewing room
2. A FREE recording of the webinar in CD-ROM, MP4 or PDF Transcript
3. Expert answers to your tough questions
4. LIVE Question & Answer Session
To Order Online Click HereOr Call 1-800-303-0129 ext. 506
It is hard to come up with a program project grant at the last minute or by gluing projects together.
Best/only way is to get a group together, usually a single person or several people have a vision so they invite investigators who might fit with the theme.
When the meetings are done, some projects will be in, others out.
Is critical
Knows how to select projects that fit together
Can negotiate conflict and resolve differences
After the meetings and a way forward is decided, the PI must be able to include those who fit and exclude those that don’t—done with a smile, not animosity
A good P01 application could be years in the making
Need to have a critical mass of investigators
Need a crucial research area
NIH has interest in the topic
Meetings to discuss and decide
More meetings
Individual projects vetted/revised
Iterative
Themes should be cutting edge—based on the latest advances/technologies.
There must be expertise amongst the P01 members.
It must be apparent that the group has or will work together well.
So the sum of the P01 is greater than the parts.
After some direction is determined—continue with regular meetings of the group.
Know when the deadline is and set internal deadlines
The PI must have all the parts together way before (weeks before) the submission deadline, so individual project and core deadlines will be earlier than normal
This is the hardest thing for a PI to accomplish.
Overview of main theme and each project
How the P01 creates synergy--- convince reviewers that this is best mechanism to fund rather than RO1’s
Overview charts/place investigators in context—show the location/equipment, other positive features available—put the P01 in context.
Put the cores in context—make it clear HOW each project will use each core.
Link investigators
Link topics
Link cores
Show HOW it all fits together visually
Humans view an object with a sweep starting at the bottom central edge around to the right and end up slightly right of center upper quadrant
Note where the most colorful image is in this figure—its purple/blue circular—looks kinetic.
This is where you want to put your most colorful graphic/best data—so the eye sweeps the page and there it is—slightly right of center in the upper quadrant of the page.
About Your Speaker
Dr. Dorothy Lewis, Professor, Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas Health Science Center has a 25-year history of writing grant applications, including P01 applications. Her successful track record for winning grants has given her a valuable “in the trenches” perspective that can benefit you, at whichever stage you find yourself.
What You Get:
1. Invite your colleagues to listen in with you – unlimited listeners allowed in the same viewing room
2. A FREE recording of the webinar in CD-ROM, MP4 or PDF Transcript
3. Expert answers to your tough questions
4. LIVE Question & Answer Session
To Order Online Click HereOr Call 1-800-303-0129 ext. 506
To Order Online Click HereOr Call 1-800-303-0129 ext. 506
To Learn More Click Here
Besides the PI, is there a trusty assistant---i.e. a back up plan to change if necessary?
All of this kind of detail needs to be spelled out
How will the group communicate?
How will you distribute information?
How will you resolve conflicts?
How will you decide who is on what paper?
All these details are above and beyond a regular R01
NEED PLANS FOR EACH
Communication is key in P01s
How frequently will you meet/talk to each other via SKYPE, etc.—needs to be spelled out.
Resolution of conflicts is key and a plan must be in place—usually the institution is the ultimate arbitrator
A reviewer can tell if the grant has been organized.
A reviewer can tell if the PI has read each proposal and has placed the work in the context of the P01.
Kluging together projects and cores will come across like you glued it together and thus you will be unlikely to get in the door.
Especially important to overcome sloppiness—the reviewer looks upon this as a reflection of both the PI and the P01.
Arctic animals?
Stuck in an ice cube?
Global warming?
Are the people organized?
This is chaos and its obvious it is—without good organization, this is what your P01 will end up like.
What are the big issues in your field?
Do you have a critical mass in your institution/or combined with a few other places?
Could brainstorm this at meetings, at study sections or at your institution.
The best places seem to generate an environment that fosters these type of interactions
Go to institute pages, look for their new initiatives.
At an even earlier stage, look for each institutes “council approved concepts”
These are areas to start planning for in advance.
Contact suitable program officer to suggest ideas
The theme could involve projects all related to the big concept—cell mediated immunity to TB
The theme could involve different types of investigators with different technical expertise brought together to solve a problem—i.e. molecular biologists and structural biologists—to attack a problem at several levels.
Organized around a theme with multiple projects and a main administrator
Each of the projects should have an independent investigator—i.e. the project could be stand alone but because of synergy fits into the P01 mechanism
Depending on institute may be upper limit of costs that can be requested—for NIGMS--6.5 million direct for 5 years—meaning a little over 1 million each year—thus, projects may or may not be full RO1’s (250K)
P01s require significant effort on the part of each participating PI
Effort must be DISTINCT from other efforts—i.e. watch for overlap with other grants.
Competitive and hard to get—must have a niche, an organized PI and a great team.
Science must meet the same standards as R01s
About Your Speaker
Dr. Dorothy Lewis, Professor, Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas Health Science Center has a 25-year history of writing grant applications, including P01 applications. Her successful track record for winning grants has given her a valuable “in the trenches” perspective that can benefit you, at whichever stage you find yourself.
What You Get:
1. Invite your colleagues to listen in with you – unlimited listeners allowed in the same viewing room
2. A FREE recording of the webinar in CD-ROM, MP4 or PDF Transcript
3. Expert answers to your tough questions
4. LIVE Question & Answer Session
To Order Online Click HereOr Call 1-800-303-0129 ext. 506
To Order Online Click HereOr Call 1-800-303-0129 ext. 506
To Learn More Click Here
Not intended to fund a senior investigator with satellites—i.e. each project headed by a bona fide investigator.
Not intended to support a department
Not designed solely to buy a piece of equipment
In my experience, not everyone is good at this.
Must be organized and have help to organize
Must approach the grant in logical steps
Must be able to both encourage and criticize.
Must set goals and deadlines and be able to enforce without angering people of the group
Each Institute may have specific instructions re: how the P01 is put together.
CONTACT program—provide letter of intent 2 months before due—deadlines are regular ones.
CONTRACT program 6 weeks before deadline because grants are usually more than 500K.
In general, the projects are all 12 pages
All the budgets and CVs are put together rather than in individual projects.
This is NOT a mechanism that distributes developmental grants
There MUST be a plan as to how you will all interact—i.e. meetings, sharing data, etc.
A section called “synergy and interactions among projects and project leaders”
The preliminary data sections should reflect past interactions/collaborations amongst members of the P01
Core leaders should have appropriate expertise to guide the component
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The organizational structure and administrative structure is NOT included in the 12 page limit
Should have: chain of responsibility, external and internal advisory boards, specific managerial responsibilities, relation of the organization to the administration of the applicant institution, consortium arrangements, designation of replacement for PI
Put in an organizational chart of the main theme and components
Pull together advisory boards that are realistic—need letters from each members as well as biosketches
How is the grant to be managed—with admin assistants/trusty assistant? Need to spell this out
Need letter from big cheese at institution praising the P01 and how it meets a need
Must put in organizational chart how the P01 fits into the institution
Any consortiums should have letters from their administrative officials
Allow at least 6 months—even a year for P01 preparation.
You rush at the expense of organization
DON’T RUSH!!
By a big group of investigators with the breadth of knowledge
Each project is reviewed separately
Each core is reviewed separately
The whole P01 is reviewed as a unit and the individual project make up the parts, but maybe not be the sum of the parts.
About Your Speaker
Dr. Dorothy Lewis, Professor, Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas Health Science Center has a 25-year history of writing grant applications, including P01 applications. Her successful track record for winning grants has given her a valuable “in the trenches” perspective that can benefit you, at whichever stage you find yourself.
What You Get:
1. Invite your colleagues to listen in with you – unlimited listeners allowed in the same viewing room
2. A FREE recording of the webinar in CD-ROM, MP4 or PDF Transcript
3. Expert answers to your tough questions
4. LIVE Question & Answer Session
To Order Online Click HereOr Call 1-800-303-0129 ext. 506
To Order Online Click HereOr Call 1-800-303-0129 ext. 506
To Learn More Click Here
In 2012, 286 P01’s were submitted, 38 were funded for a success rate of 13.6% and expenditures of 71 million.
In 2012, 153 P01 renewals were submitted, with 47 funded for a success rate of 31% at 87 million dollars
Examples of institutes, NIAID, 13/75, NCI, 21/96, NHBLI, 17/99.
In general, slightly better funding rates than individual R01’s
Successful P01 takes planning/organization and a good theme
Successful P01 is more than the sum of its parts
Successful P01 take time/effort to pull off
PI is especially critical—their vision and their organizational skills are put to the test in a P01
Introducing Science Pro Insider
Inside Past Issues: • Communicating Data-Rich Results – Key Success Factors• How to Leverage Connections for Private Funding• R01 or R21? Choose The Appropriate Grant Type• Dealing with the ‘Negative’ Staffer in your Lab
The only Free Monthly eNewsletterfocused on providing best practices on
obtaining grant funding, lab
management, career advice and much more!
SUBSCRIBE TODAY!
Visit http://bit.ly/SciencePro