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The Director’s remarks give some indication to future directions for NIH programs.  Additionally, NIH has announced significant changes to its proposal application process, effective for proposals with deadlines on or after January 25, 2010.  The changes fall into two categories: (1) structural and content changes to the applications and (2) significantly reduced page limits. 

The changes to proposals include the following:

• First, the Introduction section (for Resubmission or Revision applications only) for most programs will be limited to 1 page. 
• Second, the current Research Plan section will be replaced with the new “Research Strategy” section (which will be sub-divided into Significance, Innovation, and Approach).  The Research Strategy section will be limited to 6 or 12 pages (depending upon the specific program), with one additional page for Specific Aims.  This is in contrast to the current typical limit of 12 or 25 pages for the Research Plan. 
• Third, the Resources section will require new information on the scientific environment, and for Early Stage Investigators, the institutional commitment to the investigator’s success. 
• Fourth, each Biographical Sketch will be required to include a Personal Statement and a list of no more than 15 publications. 

More detailed information can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not-od-09-149.html and http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/restructured_applications.html .

In general, the changes apply to all research grant, cooperative agreement, career, and fellowship applications, except for Training (T, D43, D71), R25, and K12 applications.  NIH is currently publishing funding opportunity announcements, without application packages, for proposals with deadlines on or after January 25, 2010.  NIH will start to publish the new application packages and instructions in December.  Investigators who are working ahead need to be aware that new rules are coming.