Guidelines for Submitting an AICR Investigator-Initiated Grant Full Proposal for the 2015 Grant Cycle After your Letter of Intent has been accepted you must submit a Full Application in order for your submission to be complete. If you have any questions regarding the AICR grant program or requirements for the Full Application, please contact the AICR Research Department at 800-843-8114 or research@aicr.org. For technical questions regarding the proposalcentral online application system please contact their customer support hotline at 800-875-2562 or pcsupport@altum.com. COMPLETING THE ONLINE APPLICATION Deadline for Submission: May 11, 2015 General Points After your Letter of Intent has been accepted you will automatically be able to access the form for the Full Application. You can leave the application form at any time by clicking on the Save button and then clicking on the Exit button. All required questions are highlighted by a red asterisk (*). Once you complete the title page you will be able to move freely between the other sections. You will not be able to submit your application until all required sections are completed. To check for any missing requirements click on the Validate button. Any missing information will be displayed and clicking on the link will take you to the missing required information. Please use plain text only symbols will not be recognized in the online form. Additional information to help you fill out the forms can be viewed by clicking on the red Instructions button on the upper right side of most sections. Please note that the application cannot be submitted without completing the Signature Pages section. This section requires the signatures of the Principal Investigator and the signing official for your institution. Please give yourself plenty of time to download, acquire all necessary signatures and upload the completed form prior to the deadline. 01/2015 1
FULL APPLICATION SECTIONS Title Page Some information on this page will be carried over from the Letter of Intent, but be sure to check it before moving on to the next section. Download Templates and Instructions Download the Grant Application Package and Full Application Instructions (PDF). Enable Others Users to Access this Proposal You have the option to allow others to access the application. Three levels of permission are available: View only Cannot make any changes Edit Can view and change information in the grant application, but cannot submit or view the access permission screen Administrator Can view, edit and submit the application. Can give access rights to others. Applicant/Principal Investigator this page is automatically populated based on the institution and contact information provided in your Professional Profile. Institution and Contacts The institution and address are automatically populated based on the institution information provided in your Professional Profile. Designate the Signing Official and Financial Officer from your institution. The table will list requested contacts. Select from the list of officials supplied with the institution s profile and click the Add button. If the contact is not in the list, enter their e-mail address and click the Add button. Key Personnel To add a new contact to the table, enter the e-mail address of the person you wish to add. Click Add. Complete the contact form. (Note: If the person is already registered in proposalcentral, some information will be pre-loaded into the contact form.) To edit the person s contact information, click, Edit (in the far right Action column). To delete a person from the table, click Del. (Note: Changes that you make to the person s contact information will be for this proposal only. Permanent changes must be made in the person s Professional Profile.) Summary and Abstract will be carried over from your Letter of Intent. You will have the ability to edit them if necessary. Include: general audience summary, scientific abstract and keywords. General audience summary: The general audience summary should be written for a lay audience, as though describing the project to one of AICR s donors. This summary may be shared with donors, so do not include any proprietary or confidential information. The summary should not exceed 1,500 characters, including spaces. 01/2015 2
Scientific abstract: The scientific abstract should be written at a level that would be appropriate for experts in the field. The abstract must include: (a) a description of the hypothesis, objectives and design of the proposed research; (b) a description of the relevance of the research to diet, nutrition and cancer; (c) up to 5 keywords describing the project. The abstract should not exceed 3,000 characters, including spaces. Budget Period Detail The Budget Proposal must be completed in its entirety. Budgets must be realistic estimates of the funds required for the proposed research and presented in U.S. dollars. If no funds are requested for a particular budget category, leave the section blank. Personnel compensated in whole or in part with funds from a grant shall not be considered as employees of the American Institute for Cancer Research, but as employees of the grantee institution. At the top of the budget detail page there are buttons for Period 1, 2 and 3*. You must enter the costs for each period separately. *Only enter a budget in Period 3 if you indicated that you are applying for a special 3-year start-up Investigator-Initiated Grant in your Letter of Intent. Personnel Costs Enter the name, role, effort, base salary, requested salary and requested fringe of all key personnel. Even if the Principal Investigator is not requesting a salary, state the percentage of time he or she will devote to the project. When possible, personnel should be named with position title; otherwise indicate to be named. Non-Personnel Costs Equipment enter the description, cost and sub-category of any equipment. Please note: Requests for equipment in excess of $500 should be itemized and justified in the budget justification section at the bottom of the budget summary page. Supplies itemize expendable materials, glassware, animal costs and per diem charges, etc. Travel the maximum allowance for travel is $2,000 in any one year. Monies should be budgeted to present a poster at the AICR Annual Research Conference on Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer at least once during the grant period. Other Direct Expenses publications/page charges, maintenance contracts, etc. Direct and Indirect Costs Most AICR Investigator-Initiated Grants are awarded for a maximum $150,000, plus 10% in indirect costs, with a limit of $75,000 direct costs for any one year. A limited number of special Investigator-Initiated Grants will be awarded for up to three years for a maximum of $225,000, plus 10% in indirect costs, with a limit of $75,000 direct costs in any one year. Budget Summary The information entered in the Budget Period Detail pages will automatically be populated into the Budget Summary page. 01/2015 3
Look over this page carefully and make sure that everything is correct before moving on to the next section. Budget Justification (maximum 3,000 characters, including spaces) Explain the roles of the individuals budgeted for this project. Unless otherwise specified, a grant is generally made to cover the cost of such items as salaries for professionals and technical assistants, research equipment and expendable supplies and travel. Use this space to justify any of the categories above as well as any requests for equipment in excess of $500. Other Support Provide active support for all key personnel. Other Support includes all financial resources, whether Federal, non-federal, commercial or institutional, available in direct support of an individual's research endeavors, including but not limited to research grants, cooperative agreements, contracts and/or institutional awards. Training awards, prizes or gifts do not need to be included. Organization Assurances Human Subjects indicate whether the proposed project involves human subjects. If yes, indicate the status of IRB approval and the approved or pending date. Vertebrate Animals indicate whether the proposed project involves vertebrate animals. If yes, indicate the status of IACUC approval and the approved or pending date. Recombinant DNA indicate whether the proposed project involves recombinant DNA. If yes, indicate the status of approval and the approved or pending date. Are hazardous materials used or produced in the project? If yes, explain. Are genetically engineered organisms used or produced in the project? If yes, explain. Is human fetal tissue used in the project? If yes, explain. Proposal Attachments In addition to the filling out the online forms, applicants are required to submit the following attachments. 1. Principal Investigator Biosketch (one PDF File): Biographical sketch for the Principal Investigator is limited to 4 pages and must be submitted with the grant application. NIH biosketch is acceptable. Please note: Biosketch submitted with Letter of Intent is not automatically carried over from the Letter of Intent submission. 2. Proof of Non-Profit Status (one PDF file): Proof of non-profit status of the institution must be submitted with the grant application. Examples of acceptable evidence are: A reference to the applicant s organization listing in the Internal Revenue Service s (IRS) most recent list of tax-exempt organizations described in section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code A copy of a currently valid IRS tax exemption certificate A certified copy of the organization s certificate of incorporation or similar document that clearly establishes non-profit status 01/2015 4
3. Proposal Narrative (one PDF file): a) Background and Significance maximum of 2 pages Briefly review the background literature and existing knowledge that led to the hypothesis to be investigated. Clearly state the relevance of the proposed research to understanding the affects of dietary factors on cancer prevention or treatment. References cited should be listed numerically in the references section. b) Specific Aims maximum of 1 page Enumerate the aims of the intended research. List the aims in the sequence in which they are to be studied. c) Research Design and Methods maximum of 5 pages Concisely describe the study design. A schematic presentation is often helpful. Reprints of publications that have additional descriptions of the methods used may be included in the appendix. Appropriate statistical methods of analysis should be discussed. Indicate any difficulties that might be anticipated in the interpretation of results. Preliminary data (if applicable) should be included in this section. d) Facilities maximum of 1 page Briefly describe the availability of facilities, laboratory space and major equipment. e) Consultation maximum of 1 page Describe the availability of expertise to be provided from colleagues both within and outside the institution. Letters from such colleagues indicating their willingness to participate in the study should be included in the appendix. f) References References cited in the application should be provided in this section. References should be listed in numerical order as they appeared in the narrative sections and reference style should follow that of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, found on the Web site of the National Library of Medicine. (www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html). 4. Signature Pages download from signature page section, gather required signatures and upload in one PDF file. Please give yourself plenty of time to download, acquire all necessary signatures and upload the completed form prior to the deadline. 5. Response to Reviewer Critiques required for all revised applications (limit to 2 pages) All revised applications must include an attachment where issues raised by the reviewers are addressed. 6. Appendix (optional) (limited to 40 pages when printed, single-sided) Itemize appendix material, such as reprints, letters of support and other relevant material. To upload, select from the Attachment Type dropdown menu. Please note: Preliminary data should be included in the Research Design and Methods section of the application, not in the appendix. See more in the Proposal Narrative description located in the Proposal Attachments step. 01/2015 5
Format for Attachments The body of the proposal should be typed, single-spaced. The type must be clear and readily legible, using only 12 point Times New Roman font or larger. A smaller point size will result in administrative rejection of the proposal. If constant spacing is used, there should be no more than 15 cpi, whereas proportional spacing should provide an average of no more than 15 cpi. Also, there must be no more than six lines of text within a vertical inch. Margins should be at least one-half inch from the top, bottom and both sides of the page. Pages should be numbered consecutively from the Background and Significance Page (page 1) through the References (last page). All pages should include the name of the Principal Investigator in the upper right corner. Principal Investigator Data Sheet This section displays the residency and citizenship information of the Principal Investigator. You should fill out this information in your Professional Profile and it will automatically populate this section. Validate To check for any missing requirements click on the Validate button. Any missing information will be displayed and clicking on the link will take you to that section. You will not be able to submit your proposal until all required information is completed. Signature Pages Click the Print Signature Pages button to print just the signature pages. Clicking the print button will open the cover/signature pages in PDF format. Data that you entered in the other sections of the proposal are automatically included in the cover/signature pages. If information is missing in the cover/signature pages, it could be because you have not entered the information in one of the proposal sections OR the information is not required for this grant program. Once the Principal Investigator and the Signing Official have signed the cover page, upload the document as a PDF attachment. Submit To submit your Proposal, click the Submit button. You will be unable to submit if you have not provided all the required information. Any missing information will be listed on the screen. If your submission is successful, you will receive a confirmation message on the screen and a confirmation e-mail will be sent to the applicant. You should verify that the status of your application has changed to Submitted. For best results, you should logout and close all proposalcentral browser windows. Log in and click the Submitted tab under Manage Proposals. Your application should be listed with the status of Submitted along with the date and time of the submission. 01/2015 6