AHA Grant Writing Workshop, Mar. 10, 2010

Navigating the Grant AHA Grant Writing Workshop February 25, 2010 Katie Kopil kopil@mail.med.upenn.edu

Workshop Agenda • Application procedures • Grant evaluation • Grant structure and writing • Revisions and resubmissions • Tips for successful grant applications (If there’s time)

Workshop Agenda • Application procedures • Grant evaluation • Grant structure and writing • Revisions and resubmissions • Tips for successful grant applications

Application Forms • Administrative paperwork • Applicant bio-sketch – – – –

Education/Training Positions/Honors/Publications Undergraduate and graduate transcripts GRE/MCAT scores

• Appendix for including publications in press or pending publication • Career goals

Advice for Completing Application Forms • READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!!!

• Sign up for emails about changes to grant application information – Check website or register to receive updates via email if available

• Get templates from students/postdocs/PIs that have written a grant before • Review Penn’s approval process

Workshop Agenda • Application procedures • Grant evaluation • Grant structure and writing • Revisions and resubmissions • Tips for successful grant applications

Grant Evaluation Process • Application is assigned to a review group • Check for completeness • Reviewers usually receive a copy of your application 6 weeks prior to their meeting • At least 2 reviewers will provide written critique • Multi-month period between submission and review – May be able to submit supplementary data

• Review meeting is convened • Results are released to you – Priority score, percentile rank, reviewers critique

How Your Grant is Evaluated • Evaluation and scoring of your grant application is based on 3 primary factors: – You as an applicant • Note that Penn students often are faulted for lack of publications • Include a statement explaining your course load in the goals of the fellowship

– Capability of your PI to be a successful mentor; University resources – Your written grant proposal

Supplementary Forms • Letters of recommendation • Sponsor/co-sponsor packet and bio-sketch – Note for new PI’s to include all relevant training information – Why have a co-sponsor?

Workshop Agenda • Application procedures • Grant evaluation • Grant structure and writing • Revisions and resubmissions • Tips for successful grant applications

Basic Principles of Grant Writing • Establish your major point(s) succinctly and repeatedly • Write for technically diverse reviews • Avoid unnecessary complexity • Collect and submit preliminary data • Follow instructions

Getting Started • Read other successful grant applications – PI, post-doc, graduate student applications

• Meet with your advisor to develop original ideas and specific aims – Specific aims should be your starting point

• Start writing early and revise often!

– Organizing tip: Save drafts with the date

Structure of AHA Grants • Abstract, Narrative • Body of the Grant – – – – –

Specific Aims Page Background and Significance Preliminary Data Research Design Detailed Experimental Methods/Statistics

• Human/Animal Subjects • Specific Aims page my be the only portion read by ALL reviewers

Specific Aims • Specific aims should be a consolidated, standalone version of your proposal (1 page) – – – –

Identify key issues and the impact on the field Introduce your hypothesis 2 to 3 independent aims Review and rewrite as you work through your research plan

• Each aim should have an achievable endpoint • List each aim as a header

Background and Significance • Provides the context and motivation for your research • Indicate how your work relates to the ‘bigger picture’ or the field at large • Reiterate and relate back to your working hypothesis • Inverted pyramid structure – Organize background material from general to specific

Preliminary Data • Preliminary data increases confidence – Both hypotheses and techniques

• Use relevant unpublished data from your lab – It does NOT have to be your own data

• Include schematics – As preliminary data and/or for clarification

Research Plan and Experimental Design • Elaborate on the experiments proposed in your Specific Aims – Balance technical and non-technical explanations – Define a research plan for each individual aim – Structure of the research plan should be easy to follow and should include the following: • • • • •

Rationale Expected Results Significance Experimental Design (1-3 Experiments) Limitations and Future Directions

Research Plan and Experimental Design • Option for a detailed methods section – Explicit description of data analysis, statistics, etc.

• Conclusions and Timeline

Resources • NIH grant writing tip sheet – http://grants.nih.gov/grants/grant_tips.htm

• Penn’s grant writing manual – http://www.med.upenn.edu/rpd/user_images/ GrantWritingManual.pdf

Workshop Agenda • Application procedures • Grant evaluation • Grant structure and writing • Revisions and resubmissions • Tips for successful grant applications

Revise, revise, revise • Plan and leave yourself time to revise – Ideal to take 1-2 week break from writing before revising a particular section

• At least one other person should read your proposal before submitting – Scientific feedback • Within vs. outside of your field reviewers

– Proofreading • Remember to check figure legends

Getting Help • Peer-to-Peer Advising through the Graduate Student Center – http://www.gsc.upenn.edu/navgrant/advisor.php

Resubmissions • Once you are resubmitting, you're playing by new rules…

• You must create an introduction and a cover letter for your resubmission – Summarize all your additions, deletions, and changes to your old application – State how you responded to reviewers' comments and addressed the criticisms in the summary statement – Check the FOA for any changes or new forms

Resubmissions • Reviewers will check that your application addresses all the concerns listed in your summary statement • Address reviewers' comments point by point – Introduction

Identifying changes in resubmissions • Use arrows, brackets, indents, or a new font – Research Plan

• Use Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, Georgia typeface, or a combination of the above • All fonts used should be black, 11 points or larger – If changes are extensive (i.e. all text would be marked), explain your changes in the introduction only – Do not underline, shade changes, or use color – Avoid italicizing large blocks of text -- it's hard to read

Tips for resubmission • Capitalize on your strengths and throw out or revise the parts reviewers felt were weak – Check again that your Specific Aims line up with your hypothesis

• Respond point by point to the reviewers' comments and suggestions even if you disagree – If you disagree, explain why, and provide additional information if possible

• Add new findings and your own changes – In the Preliminary Studies/Progress Report, add any new findings you've gotten since the previous application – Make other changes to strengthen the application

Long story short…

• There is no guarantee of success …

– Reviewers are not committed to the critiques – New reviewers may disagree with previous comments or raise new criticisms

• BUT, many people get funded after revising!

Workshop Agenda • Application procedures • Grant evaluation • Grant structure and writing • Revisions and resubmissions • Tips for successful grant applications

Tips for Successful Applications • Consider your target audience – Primary Reviewer – Study Section • Some of the study section members will be familiar with your techniques/field, some will be not

• Most likely sections to be read by all reviewers – Abstract – Specific Aims

Sell your application • Highlight why your proposal is important • Important to convey logic behind the proposal as well as innovation • Show that you have resources/tools in hand to do the research – Preliminary Data – Sponsor/Co-Sponsor

Tips for Successful Applications • Focus – Specific aims and proposed project should be focused – Propose 2-3 independent aims that have a limited scope – Ensure that all hypotheses are testable/provable

• Innovation – Proposal should add something novel to the field at large – Applications that propose ideas/techniques outside of the mainstream are considered risky • Be sure to include strong support (preliminary data and argument) for a highly innovative proposal

Developing a strong hypothesis • Write a solid hypothesis – All ideas proposed in aims should be able to be grouped under a single working hypothesis • Can have narrowed hypotheses for individual aims

– Hypothesis should be easy to identify – Continue to relate back to your working hypothesis throughout the document – Hypotheses should be focused and testable • Directional hypotheses • Examples (good/bad) – Analogs to chemokine receptors can inhibit HIV infection – Analogs to chemokine receptors can be biologically useful

Tips for Successful Applications • Streamline your proposal – Succinct writing is key – Use clear, concise scientific writing • Topic sentences, transitions, active voice, etc.

– As you plan and write continue to ask yourself …

• What is my hypothesis and how will this experiment test it?

• Visually divide sections of your proposal – Define headings (bold/italics/underline/space) – Keep sentences and paragraphs short • Start with basic ideas and move to more complex ones

– Choose graphs, timelines, charts over written explanation

• Repetition is GOOD! – Reiterate working hypothesis

Avoiding Proposal Pitfalls • Ensure that there are no fatal flaws – Avoid experiments that are dependent on the success of an initial proposed experiment

• Propose appropriate controls • Recognize limitations of your research plan/methods • Consider alternative hypotheses • Plan to test unexpected outcomes – Propose additional techniques/approaches to test your hypothesis

Resources • Penn’s School of Medicine – http://www.med.upenn.edu/research/ • Funding opportunities for students (internal/external) • Grant forms, deadline calendar, program project assistance