Recovery Act: Revision Applications – NIMH Areas

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Recovery Act Limited Competition for Revision Applications (NOT-OD-09-058)

With the Revision Applications initiative, NIH announces the opportunity for investigators and U.S. institutions with active research grants to request up to 2 years of supplemental funding for the purpose of promoting job creation, economic development, and accelerating the pace and achievement of scientific research. NIMH has identified specific areas of interest in accordance with its goal of accelerating mental health research as described in the Institute’s Strategic Plan. 

Only revision applications that focus on the topics listed below will be considered for funding:

• Biomaterials and Biological Measures for the Study of Mental Disorders
  This initiative will support competitive supplements to NIMH-funded research projects (e.g., intervention trials, longitudinal studies, clinical investigations) for the purpose of:
  • Collecting biological samples from well-characterized cohorts of patients diagnosed with a major mental disorder (e.g., schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, autism, ADHD, eating disorders, borderline personality disorder) and suitable controls.  Examples of biological samples could include, but are not limited to: DNA, plasma preparations for proteomic or metabolomic studies, fibroblasts/keratinocytes, cerebrospinal fluid, and olfactory biopsies.
  • Systematically collecting and analyzing biological measures (e.g., genetic polymorphisms, brain imaging indexes), which could be used, also in combination with clinically derived variables, to identify predictors of outcome, moderators of treatment response and adverse effects, or mediators and patterns of treatment effects.  Such information could help formulate testable hypotheses about personalized care for people with mental disorders.

• Translational Science: Innovative Targets and Models for Developing Treatments for Mental Disorders
  
• This initiative will support competitive supplements to NIMH-funded research projects to facilitate progress towards novel treatments for mental disorders.  Specific topics of interest include: 
  • Extending levels of analysis across translational boundaries, between clinical and basic research, as well as between studies of genes, cells, circuits, and behaviors.
  • Initial preclinical efficacy testing of novel candidate therapeutics for mental disorders. Supplements would support new partnerships between investigators with demonstrated expertise in preclinical efficacy testing and investigators in a laboratory generating novel compounds that have not been previously examined in biological/behavioral assays relevant to psychiatric disorders.
  • Adapting research approaches from animal studies to human studies (and vice versa) to ensure more effective translation of results from basic research to inform clinically relevant behaviors and processes in mental health research. Research approaches might include experimental designs, behavioral paradigms, and neurobiological measures.
  • Adapting experimental designs used to probe the neurobiological basis of normal cognitive, affective, and social behavior developed from basic research laboratories for use in pilot studies of relevant clinical samples.

• Understanding Postnatal Brain Development
  
  • This initiative will support competitive supplements to extend projects in basic neuroscience and behavioral science that are examining only prenatal development or adult function to include two to three postnatal ages (i.e. birth through adolescence). Examples may include:
  • Postnatal or adolescent analysis of genes known to be important for prenatal cortical or subcortical development in model organisms; may include conditional loss- or gain-of-function.
  • Studies of critical periods of postnatal or adolsecent development which affect the trajectory of later cellular functions, circuits or behaviors.
  • Extending to earlier ages the study of basic signaling mechanisms of neurons identified in adults, to characterize the development of these mechanisms.

• Sex Differences in Behavioral and Neurobiological Function
  This initiative will support competitive supplements to extend NIMH-funded research to include a new component to study sex differences in behavioral and neurobiological function relevant to mental health.  Eligible studies will address mechanisms underlying sex differences in cognitive, affective, or social behavioral function or dysfunction that are relevant to mental health and mental disorders.  Examples of research concepts within this area include:
  • Assessing sex differences across genetic, epigenetic, cellular, systems, and/or behavioral levels of analysis
  • Studying sex differences in the developmental trajectory of brain circuits integral to mental disorders, e.g. prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus
  • Determining the role of genetic sex differences in mental health and mental disorders

• Supporting Longitudinal Neuroimaging Studies in Mental Disorders
  This initiative will support competitive supplements to NIMH-funded research projects for the addition of structural and/or functional longitudinal neuroimaging components, across two or more time points.  Eligible projects could include, but are not limited to:
  • Studies of typically developing individuals and at-risk populations
  • Studies determining the natural history of a mental disorder, including investigations of the transition from prodrome to disorder; persistence versus remission; and cognitive decline
  • Studies examining mechanisms of treatment response

• Supporting Early Stage Investigators at NIMH Centers
  This initiative will support supplements to existing NIMH Centers (P series) for pilot projects conducted by early stage investigators (ESIs).  The intent of this initiative is to advance the career development of ESIs as they contribute research that will further the original goals of the Center.

Revision Applications (formerly called Competitive Supplement applications) should be submitted via Grants.govExternal Link: Please review our disclaimer. using the forms and guidelines from the parent grant’s originating funding announcement.  Should the parent grant’s funding announcement be expired, applicants are encouraged to apply via the guidelines for the appropriate omnibus announcement. Your Program Official or the NIH notice may be helpful in guiding you to the appropriate announcement. 

Competitive revisions may be used for all grant mechanisms except fellowships (F), conference grants (R13s), individual K awards, and training grants other than the T32, TL1 and T90 programs. 

Revision applications must:

• Include a cover letter to facilitate referral.
• Have the same title as the parent grant.
• Have the same PD/PI as the parent grant.  If it is a multi-PI grant, the contact PI must serve as PI.
• Have a one page Introduction. This one page limit is in effect for all parent grant mechanisms. 
• Follow the same budget format (modular or full) as the parent grant.  If selected for award, full budgets will be requested for those initially submitted as modular.

Revision applications may not:

• Be submitted until the parent grant (Type 1 or Type 2) is awarded, and may not be submitted in anticipation of an award. 
• Exceed the time period of the parent grant. If a no cost extension is needed, it must be in place before submission.

Further information on the submission and review process for Revision Applications is available in the NIH Notice (NOT-OD-09-058).

Funding
NIMH will allocate approximately $5 million per year for revision applications. Awarded funds will be subject to extensive reporting requirements, as stipulated by the Recovery Act (see NOT-OD-09-054).

For all Recovery Act revision applications, the time remaining on the parent grant must allow for the completion of the work proposed in the revision application. Any no cost extension of the parent grant MUST be in place at the time of submission of the revision application. Applications should request a start date no sooner than September 1, 2009

Application Receipt Dates for All Revision Applications is April 21, 2009.

Timeline for Review of Revision Applications:

For FY 2009: Revision applications will be reviewed by the end of August with notification of award by September 30, 2009.

A receipt date for Fiscal Year 2010 may be set at a later time contingent on the availability of funds.

For Specific questions regarding eligibility or questions about the science to be proposed, please contact your Program Official on the parent grant.

For Revision Application Submission Questions, Contact:

Marina Broitman, Ph.D.
Associate Referral Liaison
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institutes of Health
Phone: (301) 402-8152
Email: nimhreferral@mail.nih.gov

For General Information on NIMH’s Recovery Act Supplements, Contact:

Tracy Waldeck, Ph.D.
Associate Director for Special Projects
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institutes of Health
Phone: (301) 435-0322
Email: waldeckt@mail.nih.gov

For Financial or Grants Management Questions, Contact:

Rebecca Claycamp, M.S., CRA
Chief Grants Management Officer
National Institute of Mental Health
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 6115, MSC 9605
Bethesda, MD 20892-9605
Telephone: 301-402-7111
Email: rclaycam@mail.nih.gov

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