TO: NIH Intramural Investigators
FROM: Deputy Director for Intramural Research and Director, Clinical Center
SUBJECT: FY 2005 Bench-to-Bedside Awards

Based upon a high level of enthusiasm for the bench-to-bedside program from intramural investigators, we are pleased to announce that the program again will be available this year. In the six years of the program's existence, more than 260 proposals have been submitted and 64 projects have been funded. Many exciting clinical findings are directly attributed to some of these intramural projects. 

Proposals may be submitted within the following three categories:
(1) Rare Diseases:  The Office of Rare Diseases will support ten projects at $50,000/award for two years. Scientific Directors agreed that sponsoring institutes will provide the additional $50,000/award for two years. These ten projects must focus on an area of science/research directly related to a rare disease. An orphan or rare disease is generally considered to have a prevalence of less than 200,000 affected individuals in the United States. Certain diseases with more than 200,000 affected individuals are included but subpopulations of these conditions may be less than the prevalence standard for a rare disease. A comprehensive list of rare diseases, updated regularly is available online: http://ord.aspensys.com/asp/diseases/diseases.asp

(2) AIDS:  The second category of awards will be given to AIDS-related projects. The Office of AIDS Research (OAR) will fund five exemplary projects and each will receive $100,000/year for two years.

(3) General: Five additional meritorious projects will be awarded in the 'general' category to be funded by the institutes involved in the project for which all scientific and clinical directors have signed-off on the application.

To summarize, up to 20 projects will receive a maximum of $100,000/year. Support will be for two years.  Projects involving investigators from more than one IC will receive preference and proposals should clearly distinguish if they are being submitted as a rare diseases project, AIDS-related project or in the general category. Investigators in all institutes/centers are eligible and awards can be implemented at the Clinical Center or off-campus intramural clinical research sites.

Investigators need to adhere to the deadlines and follow the instructions as listed below. The timeline assures that Scientific Directors and Clinical Directors have sufficient opportunity to review proposals. Information about the FY 2005 bench-to-bedside initiative is available online. A Review Group appointed by the Deputy Director for Intramural Research and Associate Director for Clinical Research will select all proposals. The Review Group will include basic and clinical scientists representing multiple institutes and centers and will include expertise on rare diseases and AIDS research. 

Criteria used by the Review Group to select proposals include:

Built into the deadline for submission again this year is a period for review by Scientific and Clinical Directors. Therefore, principal investigators for each project must submit original proposals to the Scientific Directors and Clinical Directors of all institutes involved in the project by April 29th. For each proposal submitted, an original copy of the budget sheet (Attachment 2) must be signed by Scientific and Clinical Directors and the relative percent effort for each institute must be indicated. The amount of funding for each project will be apportioned among collaborating institutes according to the percent effort of each investigator on the project. Proposals with all required signatures are due in Dr. Gallin's office (CRC 6-2551) by Thursday, May 19, 2005. Please note that it is the responsibility of the principal investigators to verify that all Scientific and Clinical Directors involved in each project receive proposals in a timely manner for review and that signed originals of each proposal are delivered to CRC 6-2551 by the May 19th deadline.

Principal investigators for projects selected will be notified in early June 2005.

Michael M. Gottesman, M.D. John I. Gallin, M.D.  

    Details for FY 2005 Applicants

Deadlines / Timeline

Each proposal should:

• include an abstract of the project;

• include budget details (see Attachment)

• not exceed five pages in length; 

• identify one principal clinical or translational investigator and one principal basic scientist;

• satisfy the review criteria in the listing our letter, above (purple box)