Volume 23: No. 3, March 2009

NIH Announces New Challenge Grants

by Pat Kobor

NIH has received new funds for Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. At least $200 million of these funds have been designated for a new initiative called the NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research. This new program will support research efforts addressing specific scientific and health research challenges that would benefit from significant 2-year jumpstart funds.

NIH has identified fifteen Challenge Areas, including Behavior, Behavioral Change, and Prevention; Bioethics; Clinical Research; Comparative Effectiveness Research; Enabling Technologies; Genomics; Health Disparities; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education (STEM); and Translational Science.  Each NIH Institute or Center has selected specific topics within these areas for which it will consider Challenge Grant applications.

For more information, see the formal Request for Applications.  The deadline for applications is April 27, 2009.  NIH has also created a website containing information on all of its ARRA-related activities.