director is planning the National Institutes of Health Francis Collins to lead his ship to institute a "big biology" at the expense single investigator grants? It was the fear of some in the community of biomedical science Monday when Collins discussed the budget request by President Obama for a 3.2% increase to $ 32 billion for NIH in 2011. But others NIH observers say look closely at the budget proposal suggests that Collins' words are just turning.
Since his first day on the job last August, Collins has repeatedly stressed its five "themes" for NIH: high-throughput technologies, translational science, reform of health care, global health and invigorating biomedical research. This week, Collins put his money where his mouth is. The portfolio of each NIH institute was "mapped against the five themes," he said, with larger increases for priority areas.
Collins also said that because the research highlighting that tends to be funded by contracts and centers, NIH came short of money to maintain its investigator-initiated grants R01 bread and butter more known collectively grants in the form of research grants (RPGs). In 2011, the NIH plans to fund 199 the number of such grants, which are the mainstay of basic research laboratories. The same reasoning appears in the Ministry of Health and the summary budget document of Human Service (see page 40.)
Many possibilities that will advance scientific topics NIH Director can better be accomplished through other mechanisms research, such as contract research and development for comparative efficacy studies or research centers for high-throughput genomic technologies and others. Therefore, the NIH estimates that will support new and competing RPG 9.052 in fiscal 2011, a decrease of 199 below the level estimated for 2010, excluding Recovery Act funds. The total number of RPG fund for 2011 should be 37,001, an increase of 195 over fiscal 2010 non-recovery levels Act.
This appears to confirm concerns among some scientists that Collins, who led the Human Genome Project, would favor large projects on science from the bench. Scientists "live and die by R01," said a political analyst Biomedical who would not be quoted by name. "We originally thought the five themes were a stump speech. Now it seems to be politics."
But NIH is really cutting back on RPG? According to Howard Garrison, guru of the budget of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, the slight decline in new grants has little to do with a change in priorities. Most of them can be charged to a 2% increase in size grant good news for beneficiaries squeezed by inflation in recent years. The rest probably due to the vagaries of the grants revenue: prices may be 3 to 5 years in length, so the number that expires and free money for new grants varies each year. Overall, the number of RPG is rising, and the amount of money for their $ 17.1 billion in 2011, is up 3.2%, in line with the overall budget of the NIH.
So why the rhetoric of Collins? "A lot of it is packaging," says Garrison. Collins probably wants to send a message to Congress that he make things happen at the NIH. And in any case, the budget proposal of the president does not mean -chose because Congress usually ends up giving more NIH that requests for President.
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