Thread by @grahamserwin

I received a lot of high-level advice on my NIH #K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award: start early, training is important, but the actionable pearls of wisdom were accumulated over a period of 6 months.

Here they are, distilled.

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I couldn't fit this all into one thread, see here for the full advice:

grahamerwin.org/advice-for-k99…

While the emphasis here is on the K99, most advice applies to NIH grants in general.

About my credentials. I applied for the K99 from @NHGRI in Feb. 2020 and was funded on first submission. The "review panel expressed outstanding enthusiasm for this outstanding application.”

The K99 is competitive, some Institutes more than others. The funding lines for the K99 at different NIH Institutes are publicly available. If you have a choice, this is one important piece of information to consider. See Training…>Career Dev..: tiny.cc/NIH-Success

Some good news: There is no citizenship requirement for the K99.

It is important to note that for US citizens or permanent residents there are other NIH career transition awards (e.g., K08, K21). Contact your Program Officer to see what awards you are eligible for.

1.A major consideration is to decide up front which NIH institute your grant will be submitted to. If it is not obvious, use matchmaker to decide potential NIH Institutes, and contact Program Officers at those potential Institutes.

Use NIH Matchmaker to assess your fit. Submit a string your Specific Aims page, and you will see which institute your text most aligns to.

reporter.nih.gov/matchmaker

The point is not to hack the system. The point is to see how the presentation of your research aligns with the NIH

2.Talk to the Program Officer (PO) *Before* You Apply. Does your research fit with the mission of the specific NIH Institute? Ask the Program Officer at that Institute!

This conversation starts with a Specific Aims page, and the email looks something like this, “Would you have time to discuss the topical fit of my current research for a K99 at NHGRI? Attached is a Specific Aims document.”

3.Get a hold of as many applications as possible from your colleagues. Ask for the full application. This will include not just the research plan, but the training plan, the biosketch, and many letters of recommendation.

It is particularly helpful if your colleagues are willing to share their Summary Statement that they received after their application was reviewed. What landed well? What didn’t? These applications don’t need to be in your field.

4.Talk to People Who Were Funded by the Institute You are Applying to. For example, the two people who were funded by NHGRI said their first submission was criticized for not having a professor who specialized in statistics on their advisory committee.

Is that a requirement for a K99 at NHGRI? I don’t know, but @jkpritch had already given me valuable advice on my project. He graciously agreed to be on my advisory committee.

5.Your Project Should be Interesting AND Important. Many projects are one or the other but not both. Ask your colleagues. Find the people who will give you critical feedback.

6.Buy this Book. I refer to this book as the Bible. Rec from Crystal Botham is the grant guru and Director of the Grantwriting Academy at Stanford @SUGrantWriting. Lots of nuts and bolts advice on how to structure your grant.

grantcentral.com/workbooks/nati…

When I saw the price ($90), I thought it was steep, but I trust Crystal. After having used this book for a few of years, I now think it’s an absolute steal.

7.Allocation of Time to Different Parts of the Proposal. The Research and Training Plan are 12 pages combined. The Specific Aims is 1 page. You should spend at least half of your time on your Specific Aims page.

Why? The amount of time you spend on each section should be commensurate with the importance of that section. There is a good chance that the Specific Aims page is the only page read by the entire review committee. It needs to be flawless.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of this page. The reviewers should understand your whole grant from this one page. You also should include training in the Specific Aims page. This helps to show that you are taking the training seriously.

8.Advice for your Specific Aims. Here are some points on your Aims.

I don’t know of anyone whose Research Plan was criticized for being too incremental. Many are deemed unrealistic, though. When in doubt, narrow your focus.

Format for each of the Specific Aims: To WHY, I will WHAT. Most Specific Aims are just WHAT you will do. Remember, your reviewers are likely NOT in your field! Tell them why you want to do that thing!

Your aims can be dependent. This may depend on Institute, so check with your Program officer. Nevertheless, if your aims are dependent on one another, you need to convince your reviewers that the aims are achievable.

Ways to convince reviewers are 1) your previous experience and success in this or related fields and 2) preliminary data.

And, we're out of tweets! To see the 9 additional pieces of advice, including figures from my Proposal, please go here:

grahamerwin.org/advice-for-k99…

Acknowledgments: @SnyderShot, @gamzeandgursoy, @CenikLab, @KVBortle, @ElisaTZhang, @MortezaRoodgar, @joshuagruber, @dphansti, and Prof. Jennifer Wilson @BioEngUCLA