Reposted from Science News , 9 December
2005
Getting that first faculty job represents the end of one arduous
journey for a biomedical scientist--and, given the difficulties and
cost of establishing a new lab, the start of another. Last week,
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) rolled out three
initiatives intended to smooth that transition to becoming an
independent researcher.
The goal is to give universities an added incentive to recruit
young investigators ….
One of them, expected to be finalized by spring, is a 5-year
award for postdocs that will provide initial salary support and
then convert to a full-fledged research grant once the scientist
gains a faculty position. The other two are already being tested:
an independent investigator grant program that does not require
applicants to submit preliminary data and a process to speed up the
resubmission of R01 grant applications by new investigators who
fail on their first attempt. NIH officials hope that the three
initiatives will help young scientists get their labs up and
running more quickly--a goal agency Director Elias Zerhouni calls
his "number one priority."
At $250,000 a year, the new transition awards will be more than
three times larger than a typical career development award, and
they come with an equal amount of institutional overhead compared
to the 8% indirect cost rate allowed by the career awards. The goal
is to give universities an added incentive to recruit young
investigators and provide newly hired faculty members with some
breathing room before applying for their first major grant, says
Story Landis, director of the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland.
"If you came with this kind of dowry," Landis says, "deans, even
in troubled times, should be willing to take a chance [on you]."
Biologist Thomas Cech, president of the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and chair of a recent National
Research Council (NRC) report on fostering independence among young
biomedical researchers, calls the award "a wonderful move forward."
Landis won't say how many awards NIH plans to give, although Cech
says it should be at least 100.
The NRC report inspired another of the initiatives: a new grant
competition at the National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences (NIEHS) for investigators lacking enough preliminary data
for a full-fledged NIH proposal. NIEHS plans to give out six such
grants next year, and other institutes may join in.
A third effort, by the Center for Scientific Review, the NIH
unit that evaluates grant applications, aims to speed up the
turnaround time for new investigators so they can resubmit a
revised application by the next triyearly deadline. Beginning in
February, 40 study sections will meet earlier than usual to review
submissions from first-time applicants and provide written
evaluations within a week. Applicants will also receive 20 extra
days to file a resubmission.