NCI Bottom Line: A Blog about Grants and More
This grantee-focused blog covers the latest on NCI’s fiscal landscape, funding decisions, grants policy news, processes, and more.
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NCI Encourages More Collaborative Research to Accelerate Cancer ScienceIn this edition of the NCI Bottom Line blog, NCI leaders encourage diverse teams of researchers collaborating around a unifying scientific goal to consider applying for a program project grant (P01). P01 grants involve the type of broad, multidisciplinary collaboration likely to yield meaningful results for cancer science and patients.
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Cancer Grand Challenges Invites Global Teams to Submit Research ProposalsIn this edition of the NCI Bottom Line blog, NCI Deputy Directors Drs. Lowy and Singer discuss the new round of nine research challenges from the Cancer Grand Challenges program. Cancer Grand Challenges aims to inspire bold new ideas that offer the greatest potential to advance cancer research and improve outcomes for people affected by cancer. In 2024, up to four interdisciplinary teams will each receive about $25 million across five years to conduct their research.
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NCI Funds More Research Grants Thanks to Action by CongressIn this edition of the Bottom Line blog, NCI Director Dr. Monica Bertagnolli explains how generous support from Congress will allow NCI to award more compelling cancer research and to increase paylines for R01s and early-stage investigator (ESI) grants. In fiscal year 2023, NCI expects to issue more than 100 additional R01 and ESI awards than last year.
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Funding Cancer Research Under an Interim BudgetNCI’s Associate Director for Finance and Legislation, Patrick McGarey, highlights what the Continuing Resolution for FY 2023 means for NCI’s interim paylines. This blog post describes NCI’s provisional funding policies for both competing and noncompeting grants.
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A Bold Request for Cancer Research: NCI’s Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Plan and Budget ProposalThe cancer research community has made amazing strides to help people live longer, healthier lives. NCI’s Annual Plan and Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2024 highlights how we will make further progress and achieve the goal of ending cancer as we know it today, for all. In this edition of the Bottom Line blog, Dr. Diane Palmieri, acting director of NCI’s Center for Research Strategy, spotlights one of the four scientific opportunities in the annual plan and discusses NCI’s goal to increase the R01 payline to support more meritorious cancer research.
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Cancer Moonshot Scholars: Tapping a Deep Pool of TalentWhile NCI has long been committed to workforce diversity, there remains a disproportionate gap in R01 grants received by individuals from underrepresented groups. The new Cancer Moonshot Scholars program aims to help close this gap. In this edition of the NCI Bottom Line blog, Drs. Lowy and Springfield provide details on this innovative program and encourage eligible Early-Stage Investigators to apply to become a scholar.
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Raising the R01 Payline and Funding Other NCI PrioritiesIn this edition of the NCI Bottom Line, NCI Acting Director Dr. Lowy and NCI Associate Director for Finance and Legislation Patrick McGarey explain why raising the R01 payline to the 15th percentile by fiscal year 2025 and supporting more R01 grant awards is a top priority for NCI. They also explain why allocating funds for this priority must be balanced with maintaining other critical NCI programs extramural scientists rely on to support their research.
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Budget Increase Funds a Growing NCI Grants PortfolioWith a final budget for fiscal year 2022, NCI is no longer operating under an interim budget and has updated its grants paylines accordingly. While the appropriation bill contained a generous $353 million budget increase for NCI, this blog from the NCI Director expands on why raising paylines in recent years poses difficult financial challenges.
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Reducing Administrative Burdens on Cancer ResearchersSecuring and maintaining a grant from NCI requires cancer researchers to prepare the initial application and comply with additional requirements during the life of the grant, which is demanding and time-consuming. In this edition of the NCI Bottom Line blog, NCI Director Dr. Ned Sharpless describes several NCI efforts to reduce administrative burdens on grantees and shares helpful resources for the community.
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NIH FIRST: Strengthening Inclusive Excellence in Biomedical ResearchEven with participation of historically underrepresented groups in biomedical research training increasing, members of these groups are still less likely to be hired and become independently funded faculty researchers. To strengthen inclusive excellence in biomedical research, the NIH FIRST program is working to recruit diverse cohorts and build a research culture in which faculty can thrive. For this edition of the NCI Bottom Line blog, NIH institute Directors’ Dr. Sharpless and Dr. Pérez-Stable discuss the impact of administering the FIRST Faculty Cohort and FIRST Coordination and Evaluation Center awards on behalf of NIH.
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Modular versus Non-Modular Budgets: What's the Bottom Line?In this edition of the NCI Bottom Line, NCI Director Dr. Ned Sharpless breaks down some commonly asked questions from investigators about using the modular budget option with R01 grant applications. Dr. Sharpless addresses these questions using an analysis conducted by the NCI's Center for Research Strategy about modular versus non-modular budgets.
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Familiar Fiscal Challenges for NCIOn the heels of Congress extending the Continuing Resolution for FY 2022, the NCI Director addresses what short-term funding means for NCI’s grantee community. As in years past, Dr. Sharpless highlights the Institute’s interim payline policies for both competing and noncompeting grants.
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An Annual Plan that Celebrates the National Cancer ActWith special authorities granted in the National Cancer Act of 1971, NCI has been submitting an annual budget proposal directly to the President and Congress for 50 years. In early September, NCI released the Annual Plan & Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2023. In this edition of the NCI Bottom Line blog, Dr. Michelle Bennett discusses priorities from the annual plan that are especially relevant to current and future NCI-funded researchers, including NCI’s commitment to investigator-initiated research and raising the R01 payline to fund more highly meritorious research.
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NCI Updates Training Programs to Support Cancer Researchers of the FutureIn this edition of the NCI Bottom Line, the Center for Cancer Training Director Dr. Oliver Bogler details numerous changes to the institute’s training programs and how NCI intends to stay abreast of the needs of future generations of cancer researchers. Specifically, Dr. Bogler discusses changes to the K08 career development program, inclusivity within the T32 grant program, and details of a new developmental program for early-stage surgeon-scientists.
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Analysis Guides NCI Programs Supporting the R01-Funded WorkforceNCI’s Center for Research Strategy analyzed 26 years of data to better understand the funding trends of the NCI R01-funded workforce, focusing on the age and career stage of investigators. This data, recently published by Dr. L. Michelle Bennett et al. in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, shows how NCI is actively developing policies based on this understanding and looking into methods that sustainably fund more principal investigators.
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Funding from Congress Allows NCI to Raise Grants PaylineWith a final fiscal year 2021 budget passed by Congress, NCI Director, Dr. Norman E. Sharpless, turns to the NCI Bottom Line blog to provide the grantee community with an update on how the NCI plans to use the budget increase to expand paylines. With this continued increase in funding from Congress, NCI remains on its current trajectory to achieve the goal of reaching the 15th percentile by FY 2025.
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Cancer Grand Challenges Attracts Global AttentionAs we near the April deadline to submit Expressions of Interest, Dr. Singer takes the opportunity to provide an update to the cancer research community on the Cancer Grand Challenges program and nine scientific challenges. Cancer Grand Challenges will fund novel ideas by multidisciplinary research teams from around the world that offer the potential to advance bold cancer research and improve outcomes for people affected by cancer. Additionally, Dr. Singer expands on the joint January 12th preapplication webinar which served to answer the research community’s questions about the program and application processes.
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NCI’s New Fiscal Year Brings Old Fiscal ChallengesFor this edition of the NCI Bottom Line blog, the NCI Director addresses what short-term funding from a continuing resolution means for NCI’s FY 2021 interim paylines. Specifically, Dr. Sharpless highlights the Institute’s interim policies for both competing and noncompeting grants.
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Accelerating Progress: NCI Annual Plan and Budget Proposal for FY 2022In this blog, Dr. Michelle Bennett, director of NCI’s Center for Research Strategy, provides an overview of the FY 2022 Annual Plan and Budget Proposal. This blog post highlights NCI’s proposal to increase paylines and showcases patient stories that inform our scientific strategy and planning.
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Global Leaders in Cancer Research Partner on Cancer Grand ChallengesFor this edition of the NCI Bottom Line, Dr. Singer highlights what NCI and CRUK’s new partnership, Cancer Grand Challenges, means for cancer research. Cancer Grand Challenges will fund novel ideas by multidisciplinary research teams from around the world that offer the potential to advance bold cancer research and improve outcomes for people affected by cancer.