'Extraordinary opportunity' for dental research
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Posted March 9, 2009 |
By Craig Palmer Bethesda, Md.—The National Institutes of Health cites dental research opportunities among the "challenge topics that will benefit from significant 2-year jumpstart funds." The new NIH grants are aimed at accelerating the tempo of research while promoting job creation and economic stimulus.
Funding is available for basic and clinical research over the next two years. The application process for the initial NIH stimulus grants opens March 27, the earliest an application may be submitted to www.grants.gov  , with applications due April 27. The earliest anticipated project start date is Sept. 30.
"I strongly encourage all members of the dental and craniofacial research community to take a look at the Request for Applications and consider applying for this extraordinary opportunity," Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak said in a "Dear Colleagues" memo. Dr. Tabak is the director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, one of the National Institutes of Health, and acting deputy director of the NIH.
A list of dental-specific funding opportunities and contact information is posted at www.nidcr.nih.gov/Recovery with links to the RFA, which announces 15 research "challenge areas" and more than 200 dental and other biomedical research topics. The RFA is also posted at the NIH Web site .
The NIH "challenge grant" RFA is the biomedical research center's first funding opportunity notice under the economic stimulus law. There will also be competitive opportunities for dental researchers for equipment and infrastructure funding (ADA News Today Feb. 23, Dental research to benefit from federal stimulus package).
In complementary notices to dental and research deans, the American Association for Dental Research and the American Dental Education Association encourage "immediate review of these opportunities with your scientists. We need a robust response from our dental and craniofacial research community," said Dr. Christopher H. Fox, executive director of the International & American Associations for Dental Research.
"With an influx of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding over the next two years, academic dental institutions with aging laboratory, clinical and scientific infrastructure can now apply for and receive funding to enhance their existing research enterprise," said Dr. Richard W. Valachovic, executive director of the American Dental Education Association. "These investments in dental research will yield new discoveries and effective treatments that can prevent disease and provide practical applications of research with commercial value to help our flailing economy."
Stimulus grants to academic dental institutions will protect full-time research or academic positions of bioengineers, biochemists and oral health researchers and retain scientists, said Dr. Valachovic.
The ADEA is urging all academic dental institutions to encourage their top scientists and grant writers to respond immediately to the many new funding opportunities presented by the ARRA stimulus legislation, he said. "A robust response from the academic dental community is critical to the future of the dental enterprise and will demonstrate to Congress and the NIH that it can compete for funds and that it is a leader in the field of science."
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