Writing a Grant: First Things First
Embarking on a grant proposal to secure funding for your laboratory or start up?
If you already have a target award in mind (for example: SBIR, DoD, ARPA-H, R-01, NSF, or American Heart Association), great! If not, you will need to research the appropriate funding opportunities, including those offered by governmental organizations or private foundations.
Since the complete grant package is more than just the proposed science, it is important to create a checklist of other required documents and deadlines to be aware of, including, but not limited to: biosketches, letters of support, budget, data management plan. You need to be sure that you respect, and have accounted for, the time of other people that may be assisting you with the preparation of this huge undertaking. Your reviewers will want to know that you have the proper support, environment, and equipment, as well as an appropriate team to successfully complete the proposal. In other words, do not underestimate the importance of all aspects of the grant!
After carefully planning the time necessary for the whole grant writing process, you are ready to attack your Specific Aims page! If you are at the stage where you are about to write a grant, there is no doubt that you’ve heard by now that the Specific Aims page is the most important part of the grant. It sets the stage for your entire proposal, and most often, is where you will make or break it with the reviewers.
The Specific Aims page is generally composed of four sections.
The introductory paragraph of your specific aims should convey (in this order):
The link of your proposal to the mission of the granting institute (ie, basic research, disease, mortality from disease or procedure, burden of healthcare costs associated)
What is currently known about the topic
The critical gap in knowledge
Next, provide a paragraph of information that begins with the most broadly related facts and narrows down to the focus of the current application. This paragraph should clearly state:
The long-term goal of the application
The overall objective of the proposal
The central hypothesis
The rationale
List your Specific Aims
These statements should not be descriptive, dependent on one another, or overly ambitious.
Each aim should be followed by a working hypothesis that relates back to your central hypothesis and a brief description of the experimental approach and expected outcome.
Payoff paragraph – This should describe the expected outcomes as well as the positive impact on the field.
If possible, a figure depicting your overall proposal is helpful to reviewers. Remember, reviewers are often tasked with reading 10 grants, just as dense as yours. Many times, if reviewers do not consider your specific aims to be up to par, the entire grant could be triaged. So, it is in your best interest to make it easy to read and a good impression from the first page – the Specific Aims.
Pro Tip 1: Circulating your Specific Aims page for critique by a wide range of colleagues is crucial and highly beneficial to the development process. A wise professor once remarked that the aims page is not done until you have gone through 17 drafts. While there may be some variability in the actual number, this is not far off in terms of the effort it takes to generate a convincing aims page that will give you the best chance of getting funded. Armed with this knowledge, it’s time to start writing!
Pro Tip 2: Did you know that you can send your Specific Aims for discussion with an NIH Program Officer? This process is highly recommended as it allows the Program Officer to advise on the Institute's potential enthusiasm for your proposal. They can also provide insight on the appropriateness of the funding mechanism and suggest advantageous elements to include.
Next up…tackling the Significance and Innovation!
Note: The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases provides sample applications along with corresponding summary statements.