2022 - NCI Bottom Line: A Blog about Grants and More

Funding Cancer Research Under an Interim Budget

October 17, 2022, by NCI Associate Director for Finance and Legislation Patrick McGarey

NCI’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 Proposal

October 6, 2022, by NCI Acting Director, Center for Research Strategy, Dr. Diane Palmieri

The 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.

Cancer Moonshot Scholars: Tapping a Deep Pool of Talent

September 21, 2022, by NCI Acting Director Dr. Douglas R. Lowy and CRCHD Director Dr. Sanya A. Springfield

While 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 Priorities

September 14, 2022, by NCI Acting Director Dr. Douglas R. Lowy and NCI Associate Director for Finance and Legislation Patrick McGarey

In 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 Portfolio

April 1, 2022, by NCI Director Dr. Norman E. Sharpless

With 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 Researchers

March 25, 2022, by NCI Director Dr. Norman E. Sharpless

Securing 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 Research

March 21, 2022, by Dr. Norman E. Sharpless and Dr. Eliseo Pérez-Stable

Even 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?

February 17, 2022, by Dr. Norman E. Sharpless

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.