GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
DEPARTMENT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CALL FOR PROPOSALS (R01 and R13)
INDO-US PROGRAMME ON CONTRACEPTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RESEARCH
THE PROPOSALS SUBMITTED UNDER THIS CALL ON THE PART OF DBT ONLY WILL BE ACCEPTED TILL 31st March, 2011
In pursuance of a Joint Statement issued in November, 1997 between the Government of India and Government of USA on the expansion of Indo-US Collaboration on Contraceptive and Reproductive Health Research, the Indian scientists are invited to propose Joint Research Projects with US scientists.
The Indo-U.S. Program on Contraception and Reproductive Health Research (CRHR) is administered by a Secretariat consisting of Indian nodal agency and staff from the U.S. The nodal agencies for this program are the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology and the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
In addition to the Secretariat, the overall scientific goals and procedures of the program are overseen by a Joint Working Group (JWG) consisting of independent Indian and US investigators and staff from participating agencies with expertise covering the range of topics to be addressed by the CRHR program.
R01 Research Project Grant
1. Purpose. The goal of the Indo-US Program for Contraception and Reproductive Health Research program (CRHR) is to "build upon previous research cooperation by drawing on the expertise of Indian and U.S. scientists and institutions to promote and support collaborative research that will result in expanded contraceptive options and improved reproductive health." To address shared concerns in contraception and reproductive health, Indian and U.S. scientists will undertake a coordinated program involving participation in collaborative, peer-reviewed research projects designed to achieve enhanced reproductive health, disease prevention, product development and technology transfer.
2. Specific areas to be addressed :
The CRHR JWG continues to emphasize the need for more "translational" types of research intended to move from basic science and discovery to product development and delivery, consolidating on existing leads available. Several areas have emerged as high priority. Emphasis should be placed on candidate methods and approaches to family planning that have achieved a level of development that would make them ideal candidates to move to the delivery/implementation phase.
Towards that end, the CRHR program seeks a balance among
a) R&D of totally new male and female focused methods (hormonal, non-hormonal and/or barrier
b) studies of approaches to increase the acceptability, access and utilization of currently available methods of family planning in at-risk populations of men, women and couples and
c) efforts to incrementally improve existing methods, i.e., make what is already available, better.
To the extent that applications can be developed within the confines of the R01 mechanism, specific areas to be emphasized include, but are not limited to:
· Product Development and Applied Research Development of new methods of male contraception including: post-testicular methods and non-surgical methods of sterilization
· Long-acting and hormonal contraceptives including injectable (development and expanding the access to and use), implants, vaginal rings and transdermal methods,
· Female barrier methods for dual protection, i.e. for contraception and HIV/STI prevention
· Projects to expand the knowledge about and access to emergency contraception using different service delivery options,
· Evaluation of point of care (POC) immunodiagnostics for STIs/HIV and sperm count.
· Expanding the use of available methods of contraception, especially for young, low parity women,
· Improving the image and acceptance/use of vasectomy and IUDs, and of condoms for pregnancy and HIV/STI prevention.
· Investigation of the full range of r issues that impact on the ability of women, particularly young married women, to use contraception and, Development of interventions to overcome these barriers.
3) Mechanism of Support. Support of the U.S. components of CRHR projects will be accomplished by the NIH Research Project Grant (R01) mechanism. DBT would provide funds for the Indian component.
4) Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards. The NICHD intends to commit approximately $1 million to support two to four awards in FY 2011. Because the nature and scope of the proposed research will vary from application to application, it is anticipated that the size and duration of each award will also vary. The total amount awarded and the number of awards will depend upon the quality, duration, and costs of the applications received. DBT would provide matching funds as per the merit of the proposal
5) Budget and Project Period. For any given application, budgets for direct costs of up to $250,000 per year and a project duration of up to 4 years may be requested for a maximum of $1,000,000 direct costs over a four-year project period
6) Criteria for evaluation: Applications that do not contain specific justification for both the need to have an US component and a full description of the nature of the collaboration (the principals involved, its nature and justification) will not be considered. Other criteria include
· Scientific merit of the proposed project as determined by initial peer review and subsequent CRHR JWG review
· Relevance to CRHR program priorities
· Availability of funds
R13 Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings
1. Purpose. The goal of the Indo-US Program for Contraception and Reproductive Health Research program (CRHR) is to "build upon previous research cooperation by drawing on the expertise of Indian and U.S. scientists and institutions to promote and support collaborative research that will result in expanded contraceptive options and improved reproductive health." Through this collaborative progranne support will be provided for research conference proposals involving U.S. and Indian investigators to enhance contraception discovery and development, improve reproductive health including enhanced strategies for disease prevention, and evaluate factors impacting in implementation of current or new approaches to improve contraception and reproductive health choices, to foster collaborations between US and Indian investigators to hold meetings for the purpose of developing interdisciplinary research projects to address priority issues in contraception and reproductive health as identified by the Joint Working Group (JWG) providing scientific oversight to the CRHR program. A significant focus of these efforts should be on the translation and implementation of basic, clinical, and social/behavioral science research to the development and implementation of evidence based programs and practices in India. Investigators may propose an application for one or multiple meetings over a period of up to two years. In the latter case justification must be provided for the need of multiple meetings. Such justification might include: need to identify gaps, need to identify viable investigator/institutional partnership, follow-up to support grant application process, and assurance of engagement of new/early stage career investigators to build capacity around the topic area of interest
2. Specific areas to be addressed:
The CRHR JWG continues to emphasize the need for more "translational" types of research intended to move from basic science and discovery to product development and delivery, consolidating on existing leads available. Several areas have emerged as high priority. Emphasis should be placed on candidate methods and approaches to family planning that have achieved a level of development that would make them ideal candidates to move to the delivery/implementation phase.
Towards that end, the CRHR program seeks a balance among
a) R&D of totally new male and female focused methods (hormonal, non-hormonal and/or barrier
b) studies of approaches to increase the acceptability, access and utilization of currently available methods of family planning in at-risk populations of men, women and couples and
c) efforts to incrementally improve existing methods, i.e., make what is already available, better.
To the extent that applications can be developed within the confines of the R13 mechanism, specific areas to be emphasized include, but are not limited to:
· Product Development and Applied Research Development of new methods of male contraception including: post-testicular methods and non-surgical methods of sterilization
· Long-acting and hormonal contraceptives including injectable (development and expanding the access to and use), implants, vaginal rings and transdermal methods,
· Female barrier methods for dual protection, i.e. for contraception and HIV/STI prevention
· Projects to expand the knowledge about and access to emergency contraception using different service delivery options,
· Evaluation of point of care (POC) immunodiagnostics for STIs/HIV and sperm count.
· Expanding the use of available methods of contraception, especially for young, low parity women,
· Improving the image and acceptance/use of vasectomy and IUDs, and of condoms for pregnancy and HIV/STI prevention.
· Investigation of the full range of r issues that impact on the ability of women, particularly young married women, to use contraception and, Development of interventions to overcome these barriers.
3) Mechanism of Support. Support of the U.S. components of CRHR projects will be accomplished by the NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings Grant (R13) mechanism. DBT would provide funds for the Indian component of the workshop/conference.
4) Budget and Project Period. Budgets for total costs of the U.S. component for any conference/meeting of up to $35,000 per conference may be requested for up to 2 conferences/meetings over a 2 year period.
5) Criteria for evaluation: Applications will be reviewed on both sides as per respective requirements. The final recommendations will be taken by the joint working group of both the sides. The conference proposals should have details as described in the detailed call for proposal.
Special Instructions
The application must propose a research conference involving a collaborative effort between the U.S. Principal Investigator and an Indian scientist. Because this is a joint partnership between U.S. (NICHD) and Indian (DBT) agencies, involving both dollar and rupee funding decisions, it is essential that:
· Both NIH/NICHD and DBT receive the identical Research Plan with all pertinent details and a description of the relative role of the U.S. and Indian collaborators. It is the responsibility of the collaborative team to insure that appropriate application materials are received by the Indian Secretariat of the CRHR program at DBT including all relevant IRB approvals, Material Transfer Agreements (MTA) or other materials as required by DBT;
· Justification must be provided for the collaboration and must include all necessary supporting documents and signed agreements from respective institutions; and
Research proposals will be peer-reviewed in India and the United States and approved research projects would be supported appropriately on Indian and US side to meet research costs and other resources. The Research projects would be implemented subject to necessary clearances from the Government and laws and regulations of the host and sponsoring countries.
Final funding decisions will be made based on mutual agreement of nodal agencies, NICHD and DBT, and the availability of funds.
LAST DATE FOR SUBMISSION ON INDIAN SIDE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO 31ST MARCH, 2011
One soft copy and seven hard copies of the jointly agreed collaborative research project (with budgetary details as per DBT requirements) should be submitted to :
Dr. Shailja V. Gupta
Joint Director
Department of Biotechnology
Ministry of Science and Technology
Block – 2 ,CGO Complex, Lodi Road
New Delhi – 110 003, INDIA
Tel : 2436 3748, TeleFax : 2436 4064,
Fax : 24362884, E
-mail : shailja@dbt.nic.in
Fax : 24362884, E
-mail : shailja@dbt.nic.in
http://dbtindia.nic.in/news_management/PressreleaseDetails.asp?PressId=143&button=Edit
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