Translations: October 2008

October 20, 2008

In today's difficult economy, our approach to conducting research must be ever more focused and strategic, and we must continue to look for new ways to succeed in the current sponsored research environment. Going forward, it will be essential to look at ways to grow the impact of GUMC research without necessarily growing in size. The ability to do this depends upon a willingness to create a new culture of collaborative and team science to foster world-class ensembles of investigators. Interdisciplinary collaborations afford the opportunity to combine and deploy the best talent for the greatest impact which will help continue our success as a biomedical research institution.

On that note, I write this month with good news regarding GUMC grant activity for the first quarter of FY09. GUMC researchers brought in $57.4 million in sponsored research awards for the first quarter of FY09, compared with $38.9 million this time last year. Although the numbers are quite a bit higher, this is due to two large grants for GUMC researchers totaling $16.9 million; in the face of flattening funding from the NIH our numbers are, even without these two large awards, up slightly from this time last year. Thank you for your great work in submitting grants--congratulations to those successful applications, but I know a lot of hard work goes even into unsuccessful proposals and this work deserves our appreciation as well.

Our first quarter revenue numbers are still being completed, but I will look forward to reporting those to the community in the coming weeks, as well.

I also want to note a change in policy at the NIH that will impact our research community. Beginning with grant applications for the January 25, 2009, funding cycle due date, all original applications never before submitted to the NIH will be permitted only a single amendment. Original new and competing renewal applications that were submitted prior to January 25 are considered "grandfathered" and will still be allowed two amendments until January 7, 2011, but new submissions can now only be amended once. If you or colleagues in your research labs have questions about this new application process, check the website, or call Trudy Bright in the Office of Sponsored Research.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions at gumcexecofc@georgetown.edu.

 

Howard J. Federoff MD, PhD



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