These Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research will pull from a $200 million pool of funds to drive scientifically sound projects with a period of up to 2 years and funding up to $500,000 per year.  The goal of the program is to promote research in specific challenge areas that will have a high impact in biomedical or behavioral science and/or public health.  This is a one-time solicitation with proposals due April 27, 2009.

The application process for this grant is very similar to other NIH programs, such as the Small Business Innovative Research program.  All applications are submitted electronically through Grants.gov, and require the appropriate application file for this program.  However, the research plan portion of the application has been streamlined.  Whereas standard research plan sections have several sections and a page limit of 25 pages, the Challenge Grant research plan will only consist of the one-page Specific Aims section and a modified Research Designs and Methods section, with a maximum length of 12 pages.

To learn more about the NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research program, requirements for eligibility and the application, please visit the NIH solicitation web site. Do you have any questions about how the Challenge Grants program works, the application process, or proposals in general?  Contact Sue Kristoff at The Kristoff Group to get your questions answered.