Tag: Early Stage Investigator/New Investigator

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Virtual Office Hour for Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award for Early Stage Investigator Applicants

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UPDATE: The MIRA office hour on December 12 has reached its capacity and registration is closed. For additional sessions, visit the Navigating NIGMS Grants webpage.

We’re hosting a virtual question-and-answer “office hour” on Thursday, December 12, for Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) (R35) early stage investigator (ESI) applicants. This small group session is designed to help late-stage postdoctoral researchers and early career faculty plan their future applications. We’ll start with a brief presentation of key components of the ESI-MIRA application (research strategy, biosketch, budget, etc.) and spend the rest of the time in open discussion to answer your questions.​

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MIRA Status and Future Plans

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Now that we have completed the review process for Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) applications from the first eligible cohort of established investigators, I would like to update you on the program’s status and plans for its future. I shared this information with our Advisory Council at its recent meeting in January.

Screenshot of video

My update on the MIRA program at the January 2016 Advisory Council meeting begins at 26:06.

The first funding opportunity announcement (FOA) we issued (RFA-GM-16-002) was for established investigators who had either two NIGMS R01s or one NIGMS R01 for more than $400,000 in direct costs. In either case, one grant had to be expiring in 2016 or 2017. Out of the 710 investigators who could have met these criteria, 179 submitted applications, corresponding to 25% of the eligible pool.

Among the eligible investigators, 80% were male and 20% were female. This ratio was unchanged among those who applied, as were the percentages across racial and ethnic groups (Figure 1). Thus, although the demographics of the group of investigators that was eligible for this first FOA were skewed in several ways, the skewing was not exacerbated in those who chose to apply. Continue reading “MIRA Status and Future Plans”

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Analysis of NIGMS Funding Rates for Early Stage Investigators and Non-Early Stage New Investigators

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NIH and NIGMS have policies to promote the successful entry of junior investigators into independent biomedical research careers. NIH classifies investigators who have not previously had a major NIH grant into two categories: new investigators (NIs) and early stage investigators (ESIs), a subset of NIs who are within 10 years of completing their terminal research degree or medical residency. The goal of these policies is to support R01-equivalent awards to both of these categories of investigators at success rates (the percentage of new Type 1 R01 applications that were funded) similar to those of established investigators (EIs) who submit new R01 applications.

Given that the NI and ESI policies have been in effect for some time, we wanted to update and extend an analysis of success rates by investigator status performed in 2010 to see if NIGMS has been able to meet these objectives. While we found that the success rates for all NIs were comparable to or greater than that of EIs, our new analysis also revealed that the subset of NIs who completed their terminal research degree at least 10 years ago (non-ES NIs) had consistently lower success rates in obtaining R01s relative to both ESIs and EIs.

We focused our analysis on NIGMS Type 1 R01 applications for Fiscal Years 2011-2014. Figure 1a shows the success rates for EIs and NIs. During the time period analyzed, success rates for both EIs and NIs were comparable. However, when the NIs are separated into ESIs and non-ES NIs, the data show a more nuanced result (Figure 1b). ESIs consistently had higher success rates than either EIs or non-ES NIs when applying for new R01s.

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Clarifying the Due Date for MIRA Applications from New and Early Stage Investigators

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The September 9 receipt date for the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) for New and Early Stage Investigators (R35) is just one week away! We recommend that applicants submit a few days early to give themselves time to check that their applications as received by NIH are complete and correct.

A few points of clarification about the deadline:

  • If you’re planning to submit an AIDS or AIDS-related application for the later receipt date of November 19, 2015, please contact me immediately to discuss whether the MIRA grant mechanism is appropriate. It may not be when only part of the research is AIDS-related.
  • The expiration date for the funding opportunity announcement is listed as November 20, 2015. This is not the receipt date. Do not be misled by this or any reference to a closing date on forms downloaded from Grants.gov.
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MIRA Webinar, Other Resources for New and Early Stage Investigators

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UPDATE: Due to technical difficulties, the MIRA webinar was not recorded. We have posted the slides on the MIRA Web page, where we’ll also post a summary of the webinar questions and answers.

NIGMS Director Jon Lorsch and I will field questions about the recently announced Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) for New and Early Stage Investigators (R35) during a webinar on Tuesday, June 30, from 1-2 p.m. EDT. Participants will be able to submit questions using the chat feature. We’ll post the archived webinar and slides on the MIRA Web page.

The most common questions we’re getting about the new MIRA funding opportunity announcement (FOA) have concerned eligibility, so we created a new flowchart to help determine this. Another common question has related to research areas appropriate for support by a MIRA. These and other topics are covered in our answers to frequently asked questions about the second MIRA FOA.

If you have colleagues who may be eligible to apply but may not know about the FOA or may have questions about it, please share this post with them.

As with the first MIRA FOA, this competition is an experiment and is intentionally limited to a small group of eligible applicants. If the pilot is successful, we plan to issue future FOAs covering additional groups of investigators.

For more information about the MIRA program, e-mail me or call me at 301-594-0828.

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Further Analysis of Renewal Rates for New and Established NIGMS Investigator Projects

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In an earlier blog post, I presented data on the first competing renewal rates of R01 projects that NIGMS awarded to new and established investigators. The analysis showed that no renewal application was submitted for a substantial percentage of projects—30% of new projects from new investigators and 45% of new projects from established investigators. This raises questions, such as those suggested by Feedback Loop readers, including:

  • Do projects for which no renewal is submitted generally have less productivity or scientific impact?
  • Are new projects awarded to established investigators more likely to represent the second or third award to that investigator?

I’ve tried to explore these questions in a further analysis.

Continue reading “Further Analysis of Renewal Rates for New and Established NIGMS Investigator Projects”
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MIRA Pilot Adds New and Early Stage Investigators

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We have just expanded the pilot of our Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) to include new and early stage investigators. The application due date is September 9, and we request—but do not require—letters of intent by August 9.

MIRA supports investigators’ overall research programs through a single, unified grant rather than individual project grants. The goals include increasing investigators’ funding stability, ability to take on ambitious challenges and approach problems creatively, and flexibility to follow important new research directions as opportunities arise.

Awards will provide all of the support from NIGMS for research related to its mission in an investigator’s laboratory. [Editor’s note: Awards will be for 5 years, similar to the current average length of an NIGMS R01 award to new investigators.]

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Examining the First Competing Renewal Rates of New NIGMS Investigators

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The successful entry and retention of new investigators into biomedical research is a priority for us, and the renewal rate of this group’s first R01 research grants is an important indicator for this goal. Here are the results of an analysis I did of the first competing renewal rates for new and established investigators.

Figure 1 shows that the first competing renewal rate of new investigators’ first NIGMS R01 or R29 grants has declined over the past 10 years. This trend is similar to the one for overall NIGMS R01 application success rates.

Percent Funded by End of Project Period (approximate) 53% 2002, 53% 2003, 52% 2004, 45% 2005, 44% 2006, 43% 2007, 43% 2008, 38% 2009, 39% 2010, 35% 2011, 32% 2012
Figure 1. Percentage of new investigators’ R01 and R29 grants that were successfully renewed. The horizontal axis is the fiscal year in which the first project period ended. The vertical axis is the percentage of these projects that were successfully renewed at least once (regardless of whether the new or amended competing renewal application was funded) by the end of Fiscal Year 2014.

Figure 2 gives a more complete picture of the renewal history of new investigators’ NIGMS R01 and R29 projects. In addition to the renewal rate (also shown in Figure 1), it shows the percentage of projects for which at least one renewal application was submitted but was not successfully renewed as well as the percentage of projects for which no renewal application was submitted.

Renewal history at the end date of first project based on paid, not paid, and no application submitted (approximate). 2002 53% paid, 20% not paid, 27% no application. 2003 53% paid, 23% not paid, 24% no application. 2004 52% paid, 27% not paid, 21% no application. 2005 45% paid, 32% not paid, 23% no application. 2006 43% paid, 34% not paid, 23% no application. 2007 43% paid, 30% not paid, 27% no application. 2008 43% paid, 33% not paid, 24% no application. 2009 38% paid, 33% not paid, 29% no application. 2010 39% paid, 36% not paid, 25% no application. 2011 35% paid, 38% not paid, 27% no application. 2012 32% paid, 35% not paid, 33% no application.
Figure 2. Renewal history of new investigators’ R01 and R29 grants between Fiscal Years 2002-2012. The bottom section (green) shows successful renewals (paid), which are also shown in Figure 1; the middle section (red) shows grants for which renewal was attempted but was not successful (not paid); and the top section (blue) shows grants for which no renewal application was submitted (no app).

Figure 3 shows that success in renewing an NIGMS-funded R01 grant correlates positively with how long the grant has been active.

Percentage of Projects funded by grant years (approximate) 31% 1st renewals for grant years 4-6, 49% 2nd renewals for grant years 7-12, 54% for 3rd and greater renewals for grant years 12 or greater
Figure 3. Competing renewal rates for the first, second and third or more renewals of NIGMS R01 grants awarded between Fiscal Years 2004-2007 to new and established investigators.

Since first renewals have lower success rates than subsequent renewals, Figure 4 addresses whether new investigators seeking to renew their first R01 grants are competitive with established investigators who are renewing long-term and/or new projects. The figure shows that the renewal rate for all projects from established investigators, including new as well as long-term projects, is higher than the renewal rate of projects from new investigators (46 percent in the left column versus 36 percent in the right column). However, when focusing only on the first renewals of new projects (in the middle and right columns), new investigators are renewing at a higher rate than are established investigators (36 percent versus 30 percent).

Renewal history by percentage of projects FY2004-FY2007 by type of investigator (approximate). All renewals by established investigators 46% paid, 24% not paid, 30% no application. Renewals of new projects by established investigators 30% paid, 25% not paid, 45% no application. Renewals of new projects by new investigators, 36% paid, 35% not paid, 29% no application.
Figure 4. Renewal history of NIGMS R01 projects from new and established investigators that were initially funded by NIGMS between Fiscal Years 2004-2007.

Figure 5 shows the relative success of new and established investigators in renewing new projects as a function of the percentile score obtained on the initial award. As the “Paid” sections of the bars indicate, for each of the percentile groups, the overall renewal rate for new investigators’ new R01s was higher than that for established investigators’ new R01s.

Percentage of new and established investigators' projects renewed in relation to the percentile ranking of the original award (approximate). Percentile 0-9, new investigators 41% paid, 28% not paid, 31% no application. Percentile 0-9 established investigators, 34% paid, 22% not paid, 44% no application. Percentile 10-19, new investigators, 32% paid, 41% not paid, 27% no application. Percentile 10-19, established investigators 28% paid, 29% not paid, 43% no application. 20th percentile and greater, new investigators 41% funded, 36% not paid, 23% no application. 20th percentile and greater, established investigators 26% paid, 29% not paid, 45% no application.
Figure 5. Renewal history of NIGMS R01 projects from new and established investigators that were initially funded between Fiscal Years 2004-2007 in relation to the percentile ranking (0-9th, 10-19th, and 20th and higher percentiles) of the original award. The number of projects in each of the six categories analyzed from left (new investigators, 0-9th percentile) to right (established investigators, ≥20th percentile) are: 239, 328, 299, 347, 172 and 102.

Recognizing the importance of new investigators in sustaining the vitality of biomedical research, we give special consideration to applications from them, and in some cases, we fund these applications at percentiles beyond those for most established investigators. The data in Figure 5 supports this practice by showing that the renewal rates of new investigators whose original applications scored at or above the 20th percentile are about the same as, or higher than, those for new and established investigators whose original applications scored in the 0-9th percentile range.

More About This Analysis

This analysis includes Recovery Act projects and excludes withdrawn applications and multi-principal investigator grants.

Definitions
R01 projects: Research project grants.
R29 projects: First Independent Research Support and Transition (FIRST) awards, R01-type research project grants awarded to new investigators available from 1987 to 1998.
Renewal rate: Percentage of grants that were successfully renewed by the date of this analysis (end of Fiscal Year 2014), regardless of whether a new or amended competing renewal application was funded.
Grant year: Grant year in which the renewal R01 application was submitted.
New investigator: An individual who has not previously competed successfully as a program director/principal investigator for a substantial NIH independent research award (see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/glossary.htm#NewInvestigator).

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Scoring Analysis with Funding and Investigator Status

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My previous post generated interest in seeing the results coded to identify new investigators and early stage investigators. Recall that new investigators are defined as individuals who have not previously competed successfully as program director/principal investigator for a substantial NIH independent research award. Early stage investigators are defined as new investigators who are within 10 years of completing the terminal research degree or medical residency (or the equivalent).

Below is a plot for 655 NIGMS R01 applications reviewed during the January 2010 Council round.

A plot of the overall impact score versus the percentile for 655 NIGMS R01 applications reviewed during the January 2010 Council round. Solid symbols show applications for which awards have been made and open symbols show applications for which awards have not been made. Red circles indicate early stage investigators, blue squares indicate new investigators who are not early stage investigators and black diamonds indicate established investigators.

A plot of the overall impact score versus the percentile for 655 NIGMS R01 applications reviewed during the January 2010 Council round. Solid symbols show applications for which awards have been made and open symbols show applications for which awards have not been made. Red circles indicate early stage investigators, blue squares indicate new investigators who are not early stage investigators and black diamonds indicate established investigators.

This plot reveals that many of the awards made for applications with less favorable percentile scores go to early stage and new investigators. This is consistent with recent NIH policies.

The plot also partially reveals the distribution of applications from different classes of applicants. This distribution is more readily seen in the plot below.

A plot of the cumulative fraction of applications for four classes of applications with a pool of 655 NIGMS R01 applications reviewed during the January 2010 Council round. The classes are applications from early stage investigators (red squares), applications from new investigators (blue circles), new (Type 1) applications from established investigators (black diamonds) and competing renewal (Type 2) applications from established investigators (black triangles). N indicates the number in each class of applications within the pool.

A plot of the cumulative fraction of applications for four classes of applications with a pool of 655 NIGMS R01 applications reviewed during the January 2010 Council round. The classes are applications from early stage investigators (red squares), applications from new investigators (blue circles), new (Type 1) applications from established investigators (black diamonds) and competing renewal (Type 2) applications from established investigators (black triangles). N indicates the number in each class of applications within the pool.

This plot shows that competing renewal (Type 2) applications from established investigators represent the largest class in the pool and receive more favorable percentile scores than do applications from other classes of investigators. The plot also shows that applications from early stage investigators have a score distribution that is quite similar to that for established investigators submitting new applications. The curve for new investigators who are not early stage investigators is similar as well, although the new investigator curve is shifted somewhat toward less favorable percentile scores.