Significance & Innovation - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Significance & Innovation

Dawn M Elliott, PhDSlide2

Research Plan

Significance

+

Innovation

+ Approach

(Study Design)

R01 = 12 Pages

R21 = 6 Pages

Review Criteria

Overall Impact (overall score)

Scored Review Criteria

Significance

Investigator

Innovation

Approach

EnvironmentSlide3

Dawn’s advice:

In Specific Aims – in the final paragraph

Explicitly

address Overall Impact

In Aims or Research Plan explicitly state:

“This study is

significant

because….”

“This study in

innovative

because….”

Why make the reviewer figure it out, when you can just tell them?Slide4

SignificanceSlide5

Significance (NIH Directions)

Explain the importance of the problem or critical barrier to progress in the field that the proposed project addresses

Explain how the proposed project will improve scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice in one or more broad fields

Describe how the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services or preventative interventions that drive this field will be changed if the proposed aims are achieved

5Slide6

Writing the Significance Section

Suggested length 1-2 page

Identify research problem that you propose to address

Explain importance of resolving problem

link to mission of NIH institute & public health aspects

Briefly identify most important, relevant studies of other researchers – and identify important

questions

that have not yet been addressed

Specify how your study will differ from previous work; how it will contribute to scientific knowledge/clinical practice

Address anticipated impact of your research

on your field

on public health

6Slide7

Writing Significance

The Significance section is where you begin to increase the level of detail that will extend and validate what was written in the Specific Aims section

Provide a critical analysis of the primary literature that describes the existence of a

critical gap in knowledge

Explain why its continued existence represents an important problem that must be resolvedSlide8

Significance Structure

Organization

Short summary of

objective of study

“This proposal will investigate…”

Multiple sections for key points

Clinical significance

Basic science significance

Each section and

b

ackground material should directly and explicitly tie into your proposal (final sentence of each section)

“Arguably the costs and lost quality of life due to degeneration is a national epidemic”

“A central unresolved question is whether…”“Our proposal will quantify….”Slide9

Be Straightforward – and Current

Does this study address an

important problem

?

“This research question was identified as a major research focus (cite NIH program announcement or other

source)”

If the aims of the application are achieved, how will

scientific knowledge

be advanced?

“Our knowledge of . . . will be advanced by . . .”

What will be the

impact of these studies

on the concepts or methods that drive this field?

How will your studies speed advances, hasten translation?

Keep in mind NIH focus on

public health

: identify how your research will improve public health

9Slide10

Dawn’s advice:

Use images to break up the page and make

points

Make sure they are readable!

Don’t use too many abbreviations and include a

list

Use formatting to your

advantageSlide11

Significance ≠ Illness

Don’t argue that a particular illness

is

significant

Significance

:

What will you do to

help

cure

the illness/lessen its consequences/prevent

sequelae

?

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Writing Significance

Describe the positive impact your contribution will have

How will your contribution enable subsequent thinking and research?

Call attention to decreased mortality/morbidity, improvements in the quality of life, medical outcomes, reduction in cost of medical careSlide13

InnovationSlide14

Innovation (NIH Directions)

Explain how the application challenges and seeks to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms

Describe any novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation or

interventions

to be developed or used, and any advantage over existing methodologies, instrumentation or

interventions

Explain any refinements, improvements, or new applications of theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation or interventionsSlide15

Think Broadly about Innovation

N

ew

mechanistic hypothesis

N

ew

combination of expertise (unusual multi-disciplinary team

)

leading to new perspective

N

ew

combination of 2 previously used

methodsRefinement of existing model or technology Unique sample or opportunity provide the

novelty

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Writing Innovation

Suggested length ½ - 1 page

Does your research incorporate a new perspective on your subject?

Does the proposed research employ novel concepts, approaches or methods?

“The proposed research employs a novel method that we developed . . .”

Are the aims original and innovative?

“These aims are original in that . . . While they build on . . . , they are designed to advance our understanding of . . .” 

Does the project challenge existing paradigms or develop new methodologies or technologies?

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Example from my (funded) grant

1/3 pageBulleted listSlide18

Another example from (funded) grant

1

st

paragraph of 1 page Innovation section:

The

studies we propose will capitalize on

innovative state-of-the-art technology

in high-

resolution

microMRI

, image registration, and computational modeling to quantify and evaluate internal disc

stress and

strain fields with unmatched capability. …Our proposal, which integrates experiments and modeling, where both approaches inform each other,

is a powerful and distinctive approach

. Simultaneous development of

both experimental

and modeling techniques to quantify disc internal stress-strain fields noninvasively, especially

at tears

,

provides capabilities not previously achieved

.Slide19

Make Sure Your Research Question is Unique

Search NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool Expenditures and Results (RePORTER) database to see if anyone else has been funded to carry out similar research

http://report.nih.gov

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Innovation is Necessary, But Not Justification

“This model has been tested in rabbits, mice, rats, drosophila, dogs, cats, chickens,

zebrafish

and hamsters, but no one has looked at it in a frog yet.”

20Slide21

But…

“This model has been tested in rabbits, mice, rats, drosophila, dogs, cats, chickens,

zebrafish

and hamsters,

but no one has looked at it in

humans or better yet patients with the condition of interest.”

…. is a different story

21Slide22

Writing Innovation

Describe the

positive impact

that will result from your innovative approach

Positive impact under Significance stems from concrete benefit that is relevant to NIH’s mission

Positive impact under Innovation stems from advancement that would have been unlikely without substantive – not incremental – departure from the status quo Slide23

Too Much Innovation

Be careful about arguing you’re “outside the mainstream” Need to balance innovation with:

Feasibility (preliminary data, scope of research)

Credibility (training, publications)

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Final Thoughts

Grant writing is different from other technical writingRead by only a few

people

Tired and fitting this service into busy schedules

But get excited by good ideas presented well

Persuasive writing – tell a story and draw the reviewer in

Win their interest in going to bat for your proposal, do not beat them into submission