The purpose of this Notice is to inform NIH grant applicants, their mentors, and reviewers about three online video briefings the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) will host in November and December 2016. CSR is the portal for NIH grant applications and their review for scientific and technical merit.

Each Briefing Will Have a Different Focus

• Fellowship and R01 grant applicants:  The first two briefings will provide these applicants key information that could help them better navigate the NIH peer review process. 
• Basic research grant applicants and reviewers: The third briefing will reaffirm NIH’s commitment to basic research and help applicants and reviewers better do their part in proposing and reviewing basic research.

All of the briefings will run from 2:00 to about 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, including a 30 minute Q&A period.

How to Participate in the Briefing

• Go to www.csr.nih.gov/webinar to register for the briefing you wish to join. You will not need to download special software.  You will just need a reliable Internet connection and browser.
• Register by October 31 for November briefing
• Register by November 30 for December briefings

• Submit questions for the Q&A session before or during the briefing by sending them to the moderator at AskExperts@csr.nih.gov. 

• Go to www.csr.nih.gov/webinar on the day/time your briefing is scheduled.  Click on the link that will be provided there to view it.

View Archived Briefings and Past Webinars  

• View archived webinars and PowerPoint slides now on our webinar web page: Meet the Experts in NIH Peer Review webinars for R01, R15, Small Business, and Fellowship grant applicants as well as a webinar for university research administrators.
• View our 2016 Briefings and PowerPoints about a month after broadcast on our webinar web page.      

If you have general questions about the NIH application and review processes at other times, please visit the CSR or the NIH Grants and Funding websites. The NIH Information Service can address specific questions. 

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Don Luckett    
Center for Scientific Review
Telephone: 301-435-1111
Email: AskExperts@csr.nih.gov

Grantees filling out a Research Performance Progress Report in eRA Commons are expected to list significant products developed with their grant in Section C of the RPPR, namely websites, technology and other products.

The product sections of the RPPR have been redesigned recently to help grantees better categorize the products arising from their grant.  A new scrollable menu lists 14 product categories under which to list the product(s): Audio or video; data or databases; research material; educational aids or curricula; evaluation instruments; instruments or equipment; models; physical collections; protocols; software; survey instruments; interventions (e.g. clinical or educational); new business creation and other.

After entering a description for one or more reportable products in a text box, the grantee can then select appropriate categories for the product using a scrollable menu.  Grantees are not limited to a single category per product; please select as many categories as appropriate for the product being reported.

In addition, grantees can turn to a new resource ‘Guide to Categorizing Products in RPPR’s Section C’ to find definitions, examples and distinctions to help them decide which categories are appropriate for their product(s). For instance, videos developed to elicit behavioral change, such as counseling or motivational videos, or to instruct patients, may also meet the definition of clinical intervention.

This menu can be found in all three subsections of Section C: websites (C.2), technology (C.3) and other products (C.5). Grantees who do not have a product to report can click on the ‘Nothing to Report’ checkbox.

Location: Centennial Complex

Sponsor: LLU School of Medicine Basic Sciences Department and the IESCC

The Annual LLU Basic Sciences Research Symposium is held every fall and is generally organized around a central research theme. This year Loma Linda University is also hosting the annual  Inland Empire Stem Cell Consortium (IESCC) symposium. Hence, LLU is delighted to organize this symposium together between LLU Basic Sciences and the IESCC.

For more information: http://medicine.llu.edu/research/symposium-2016/agenda

eRA has been working on strengthening the security of its modules, web services and websites to the federally mandated ‘https only’ secure connection required for all federal agencies.

The ‘https’ connection offers “the strongest privacy and integrity protection currently available for public web connections,” the Office of Management and Budget wrote in mandating federal agencies adopt this standard by the end of 2016.

Effective November 30, 2016, all eRA modules (eRA Commons, ASSIST, IAR and iEdison), web services and websites will use ‘https only’ secure connections. 

What This Means for You

You may need to update your web browser to continue using eRA modules:

• With this policy, some browser versions will no longer work.
• Here is a list of browsers and versions that will still work properly following the update:

These three are also the browsers eRA uses to develop and test its modules for browser compatibility, as listed in the eRA Browser Compatibility statement. While lower versions are listed below, we encourage you to upgrade to the versions listed in our browser compatibility statement above to ensure you have an optimal experience when using eRA modules.

• Google Chrome®  version 4.0.211.0 and higher
• Firefox® version 4 and higher; with Firefox 17, Mozilla® integrates a list of websites supporting the new protocol
• Internet Explorer® 11 on Windows® 8.1 and Windows® 7 when KB 3058515 or higher is installed (Released on Windows Update in June 2015)

These four are the other browser versions that will work with the security upgrade, but are not included in the in the eRA Browser Compatibility statement:

• Chromium® 
• Opera®  version 12 and later
• Safari® as of OS X Mavericks
• Microsoft® Edge™ and Internet Explorer® 11 on Windows® 10

More information is available at https://https.cio.gov/ and OMB M-15-13.