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Review of Non-Hypothesis-Testing Research Elliot Postow, PhD Director, Division of Biologic Basis of Disease

Proposals that are not Hypothesis Driven Clinical Research Design-Directed/Developmental Research Health Policy-Motivated Studies Instrument/Methods Development Resource/Database Creation Curiosity-Driven Science Discovery-Driven Research Hypothesis-Developing Research

From an NIAID Website

NEW REVIEW CRITERIA SIGNIFICANCE: Does this study address an important problem? If the aims of the application are achieved, how will scientific knowledge or clinical practice be advanced? What will be the effect of these studies on the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive this field? INNOVATION: Is the project original and innovative? For example: Does the project challenge existing paradigms or clinical practice; address an innovative hypothesis or critical barrier to progress in the field? Does the project develop or employ novel concepts, approaches, methodologies, tools, or technologies for this area? INVESTIGATORS: Are the investigators appropriately trained and well suited to carry out this work? Is the work proposed appropriate to the experience level of the principal investigator and other researchers? Does the investigative team bring complementary and integrated expertise to the project (if applicable)?

Working Group on Review of Bioengineering and Technology- and Instrumentation-Development Research (Huntsman Committee) to identify the obstacles to fair, high-quality, rigorous review develop a set of principles to guide CSR in establishing a review infrastructure that will fairly evaluate interdisciplinary research committee's report is available at:

Findings and Recommendations The current organization and composition of study sections does not facilitate identification of all types of promising projects. there are no regular study sections to serve as a home for broadly applicable technologies. Sometimes interdisciplinary applications, including those in bioengineering and technology and instrumentation development, are a small minority of those being reviewed in a given study section; hence the perception is that such applications are disadvantaged. In contrast, much of bioengineering research, ranging from biomaterials to clinical devices to biological modeling, is reviewed in one study section along with surgery-related applications. In such a construction, it is very difficult to achieve the breadth of technical expertise necessary to review incoming applications. cluster technology applications in specially created scientific review groups create IRGs designed to review -- in their methodological context -- applications that are related to broadly applicable technologies.

Panel on Scientific Boundaries of Review (PSBR) PSBR recognized bioengineers and developers of technology and instrumentation as a research community that feels disadvantaged by the NIH peer review process and addressed those concerns. PSBR report is available at:

Bioengineering Sciences and Technologies [BST] The BST IRG reviews grant applications that focus on fundamental aspects of bioengineering and technology development in: gene and drug delivery systems imaging principles for molecules and cells modeling of biological systems bioinformatics and computer science statistics and data management instrumentation chips and microarrays biosensors biomaterials.

Surgical Sciences, Biomedical Imaging, and Bioengineering [SBIB] The SBIB IRG reviews grant applications that address topics at the interface between a physical science or engineering and biomedical or clinical research. Bioengineering areas include: development of molecular probes and contrast agents development of molecular imaging techniques design and development of medical imaging systems application of computational sciences to knowledge and information in bio- and clinical medicine and healthcare and their integration development of biomedical sensing and measurement instrumentation; diagnostic instrumentation; biologics; materials; processes; implants; devices; and informatics approaches to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease

Bioanalytical Engineering & Chemistry Special Emphasis Panel [BECM] BECM reviews grant applications in: micro- and nano-fabrication biophysical and analytical technology development methods and instrument/device development for detecting, identifying, and quantifying compounds of biomedical interest Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering Study Section [MTE] MTE reviews grant applications for tissue engineering and related implant and other regenerative system and device-development projects that focus on the replacement or repair of damaged, missing, or poorly functioning musculoskeletal tissue.

Health of the Population Study Sections These study sections review grant applications that: consider characteristics of the distribution of diseases/conditions (including incidence, prevalence, morbidity and mortality) in relation to time, place, and personal characteristics determine the impact of risk factors or protective factors on the progression or outcome of diseases/conditions test the efficacy of interventions to prevent or modify health risk behaviors study socioenvironmental influences on health, behavior, and development

* About half are bioengineering applications CSR Review of Bioengineering Applications Pre- and Post-PSBR CouncilBSTSBIB*BST/CSRSBIB/CSR 05/ %3.41% 10/ %3.01% 05/ %- 10/ %3.76% 01/ %3.23%

Bioengineering Program Announcements PA Single Molecule Detection and Manipulation PA Neurotechnology Research, Development, and Enhancement PA Bioengineering Research Grants PA Biology Software PAR Innovation in Biomedical Computing Science and Technology PA Neurotechnology Research, Development, and Enhancement

Review of Bioengineering Applications in other than Bioengineering Study Sections Number of Study Sections Number of Applications 25 th Percentile Rank 50 th Percentile Rank

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