uconn health
Important Information from the NIH and NSF
Dear Investigator,
On July 10th, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published a reminder on NIH Policies on Other Support and on Policies related to Financial Conflicts of Interest and Foreign Components. This was followed on July 11th by a Dear Colleague Letter on protecting research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) from NSF Director, Dr. France Córdova. These notices relate to the ongoing concerns regarding foreign influence in federally funded research.
In response to these publications, the OVPR recommends that any collaborations with foreign entities or individuals, or appointments with foreign entities (including foreign talent or similar programs) be disclosed to the NIH or NSF program officer, your Dean, and the OVPR (contacts and additional information listed below).
The OVPR has posted additional guidance on our site regarding Active and Pending Support and Foreign Collaborations. For any questions or for guidance on this and other related matters, please contact:
- Laura Kozma, Executive Director SPS (laura.kozma@uconn.edu)
- Paul Hudobenko, Director SPS – UConn Health (hudobenko@uchc.edu)
Thank you for your cooperation,
Radenka Maric, PhD
Vice President for Research
UConn/UConn Health
Important Information from the NIH and NSF for UConn/UConn Health Investigators
The NSF Letter references the draft NSF Proposal and Award Policies & Procedures Guide published in May 2019. Clarifications in the draft Guide related to current and pending support and biographical sketches include:
- Providing information for all current and pending support irrespective of whether such support is provided through the proposing organization or directly to the individual.
- Expanding examples of current and pending support to include non-profit organizations and consulting agreements.
- Reporting all projects and activities requiring a time commitment (no minimum has been established), even if the support received is only in-kind.
- Appointments should include any titled academic, professional, or institutional position whether or not remuneration is received.
The Dear Colleague Letter also states the NSF will be issuing a policy that NSF personnel and Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assigned personnel cannot participate in foreign government talent-recruitment programs.
The NIH Notice reminds applicants that in regards to Other Support, they must:
- List all positions and scientific appointments, both domestic and foreign, held by senior/key personnel which are relevant to an application including affiliations with foreign entities or governments such as titled academic, professional, or institutional appointments whether or not remuneration is received, and whether full-time, part-time, or voluntary (including adjunct, visiting, or honorary).
- Report all resources and other support for all individuals designated in an application as senior/key personnel – including the program director/principal investigator and other individuals who contribute to the scientific development or execution of a project in a substantive, measurable way, whether or not they request salaries or compensation. All current support for ongoing projects must be included, irrespective of whether such support is provided through the applicant organization, through another domestic or foreign organization, or is provided directly to an individual who supports the senior/key personnel’s research efforts.
- Report all current projects and activities involving senior/key personnel, even if the support received is only in-kind (e.g. office/laboratory space, equipment, supplies, employees), including, but not limited to, foreign financial support, research or laboratory personnel, lab space, scientific materials, selection to a foreign “talents” or similar-type program, or other foreign or domestic support.
- Provide the total award amount for the entire award period covered (including facilities and administrative costs), as well as the number of person-months (or partial person-months) per year to be devoted to the project by the senior/key personnel.
The Notice also reminds applicants of the need to determine whether projects include a foreign component, defined as the existence of any “significant scientific element or segment of a project” outside of the United States including:
- Performance of work by a researcher or recipient in a foreign location, whether or not NIH grant funds are expended and/or
- Performance of work by a researcher in a foreign location employed or paid for by a foreign organization, whether or not NIH grant funds are expended.
If a significant portion of a project will be conducted outside the United States, then there is a foreign component and NIH prior approval is required. If all project activity is conducted within the United States, but there is a non-U.S. resource supporting the project, it must be reported as other support.
UConn Health’s Human Subjects Protection Program Receives Reaccreditation from AAHRPP
Dear Colleagues,
It is my pleasure to inform you that we received official notification from the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) of continuing Full Accreditation for the UConn Health Human Subjects Protection Program. The process to obtain reaccreditation is an important, but complex one, which required team work from many stakeholders. I would like to take this opportunity to thank faculty and staff, IRB members and staff of the HSPP, members of the Scientific Review and Conflicts of Interest committees, Office of Clinical and Translational Research Services, Sponsored Program Services, Research Pharmacy and Research Safety, and many others who are committed to ensuring that we have an outstanding human subjects program every day. They are to be commended for their dedication and efforts in maintaining our continued accreditation. Their work ensures appropriate care of clinical trial participants, which in turn makes possible the high quality research conducted by UConn Health investigators.
Sincerely,
Wesley G. Byerly, Pharm.D.
Associate Vice President
Program in Accelerated Therapeutics for Healthcare (PATH) Awards
Dear Colleagues,
I’m very pleased to announce that the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) has recently finalized award decisions for the inaugural cycle of the Program in Accelerated Therapeutics for Healthcare (PATH). PATH is a partnership that includes the OVPR, the School of Pharmacy, and the School of Medicine to accelerate the translational pathway for researchers to convert their discoveries to new medical therapeutics. Under PATH, funding is provided to academic research programs designed to quickly develop novel therapeutic approaches focusing on well validated molecular targets for a specific disease area with an unmet treatment need in the current commercial marketplace. Projects focusing on a wide range of therapeutic interventions (small molecule, biologic, antibody, peptide, gene therapy) are eligible for consideration.
Given your leadership role in the University, I want you to be among the first to hear the results of this competition so you can join me in congratulating the awardees. Seven PATH grants were awarded in two categories after a highly selective competition:
PATH Trailblazer Grants – $75,000
Xiuling Lu, Pharmaceutical Science
Cutting Cancer at Its Root: Inhibition of Acute Leukemic Stem Cells Using Doxorubicin-Loaded Nanoparticles
Jessica Rouge, Chemistry
Determining the Pharmacology of a Novel DNAzyme-therapeutic Formulation for the Treatment of Allergic Airway Disease
PATH Ascent Grants – $10,000
Brian Aneskievich, Pharmaceutical Science
Establishing Protein Conformational Flexibility to Enhance Next-Step Drug-Screen Targeting
Nicholas Leadbeater, Chemistry
Towards Development of Novel Therapeutics for Treatment of Toxoplasmosis
Rajkumar Verma, Neuroscience, UConn Health
Discovery of Novel Purinergic P2X4 Receptor Antagonist for the Treatment of Ischemic Stroke
Simon White, Molecular and Cell Biology
Screening for Small Molecule Inhibitors against Enterovirus D68 2C Helicase
Ming Xu, Genetics and Genome Sciences, UConn Health
Discover Drugs Targeting Cellular Senescence to Improve Healthspan and Lifespan
For more information about PATH, visit the program website.
Thank you for helping to foster the culture of excellence in your schools/colleges, departments, and centers, that allows UConn faculty to engage in research, scholarship, and creative activities at the highest levels.
Cheers,
Radenka
Dr. Radenka Maric, VP for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Foreign Collaborations
International Relationships, Foreign Components and Sponsored Programs
UConn encourages international collaborations and the OVPR strongly urges investigators to err on the side of transparency in disclosing these collaborations to the University and Sponsors.
December 2020 Email from President Katsouleas: “Reminder: Threats to Research”
Government Concern
- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a Notice on March 30, 2018, reminding research institutions that PIs, sub-awardees and co-PIs must disclose all financial interests received from higher education or governmental institutions in countries outside the United States (NOT-OD-18-160). NIH Director Dr. Francis S. Collins also sent a memo to institutions on Aug. 20, 2018, stating that the failure to properly disclose foreign relationships threatened to distort decision-making about the use of NIH funds.
- The Department of Defense
- The National Defense Authorization Act, signed in August 2018, included Sec. 1286, which stated that “The Secretary of Defense shall, in consultation with other appropriate government organizations, establish an initiative to work with academic institutions who perform defense research and engineering activities . . . to limit undue influence, including through foreign talent programs, by countries to exploit United State Technology … ”
- Memorandum from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense dated October 10, 2019 which states that “the challenge of protecting the integrity of our research enterprise is a national priority.” The letter lays out DoD’s steps to date to “limit undue influence by countries that desire to exploit DoD research, science and technology, and innovation enterprise through foreign talent programs and other means” and steps DoD plans to pursue, and calls for a dynamic, Government wide, partnership, “No laboratory, university, industry partner, or Government agency can address the full scope of this challenge alone, and solutions to this problem can only result from a dynamic partnership between our public and private sectors.”
- Memorandum titled “Actions for the Protection of Intellectual Property, Controlled Information, Key Personnel and Critical Technologies” dated March 20, 2019. Directing for all new DoD Notices of Funding Opportunities related to research and research-related educational activities include requirements that “proposer submit additional Current and Active support information for all key personnel, whether or not the individuals are funded by the DoD.
- The National Science Board issued a statement on “Security and Science” dated October 23, 2018, stating that US universities must “embrace transparency and rigorously adhere to conflict of interest and conflict of commitment policies.”
- The National Science Foundation, issued a letter on July 11 from the NSF Director to colleagues on “Research Protection” related to other support, financial conflicts of interest and foreign components (NSF 19-200).
- The Department of Energy issued a notification on February 1, 2019, stating that DOE plans to implement a policy, which will mandate that “federal and contractor personnel fully disclose and, as necessary, terminate affiliations with foreign government-supported talent recruitment programs.”
- As a reminder, NASA has long-standing restrictions on using NASA funds to enter into agreements “to participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company, at the prime recipient level or at any subrecipient level, whether the bilateral involvement is funded or performed under a no-exchange of funds arrangement” (grant restrictions, contract restrictions).
Foreign Components
Foreign components of federally funded research should be disclosed in proposals, progress reports, and final technical reports. Under the NIH Grants Policy Statement, a Foreign Component is defined as “any significant scientific element or segment of a project outside of the United States, either by the recipient or by a researcher employed by a foreign organization, whether or not grant funds are expended”. The definition of “foreign component” (which can be found here) may include a large number of collaborative activities, including “collaborations with investigators at a foreign site anticipated to result in co-authorship; use of facilities or instrumentation at a foreign site; or receipt of financial support or resources from a foreign entity.” Other sponsors have similar requirements to disclose foreign components.
NIH Policy on Foreign Component (updated 7/15/19)
NIH requires recipients to determine whether activities it supports include a foreign component, defined as the existence of any “significant scientific element or segment of a project” outside of the United States, in other words:
- performance of work by a researcher or recipient in a foreign location, whether or not NIH grant funds are expended and/or
- performance of work by a researcher in a foreign location employed or paid for by a foreign organization, whether or not NIH grant funds are expended.
- If a recipient determines that a portion of the project will be conducted outside of the U.S., the recipient then will need to determine if the activities are considered significant. If both criteria are met, then there is a foreign component. See NIH FAQs on Other Support and Foreign Components. The addition of a foreign component to an ongoing NIH grant continues to require NIH prior approval, as outlined in the NIHGPS (Section 8.1.2) Prior Approval Requirements.
- If an activity does not meet the definition of foreign component because all research is being conducted within the United States, but there is a non-U.S. resource that supports the research of an investigator and/or researcher, it must be reported as other support.For example, if a PD/PI of an NIH-funded grant has a collaborator outside of the U.S. who performs experiments in support of the PD/PI’s NIH-funded project, this would constitute a foreign component, regardless of whether the foreign collaborator receives funding from the PD/PI’s grant. Additional funding from a foreign source for the NIH-supported research of a PD/PI at a U.S. institution would not constitute a foreign component but would necessitate reporting as other support.
- Foreign Other support must be disclosed to the NIH in advance by including it in the Just-in-Time Other Support submission on a new or renewal award, or updated in the annual RPPR, or submitted by letter to the awarding office and thereafter included in the RPPR.
- Foreign Components applies to NIH work scope performed in a foreign location, either funded by the NIH grant or by other sources, domestic or foreign.
Also see NIH’s “Protecting U.S. Biomedical Intellectual Innovation”
Foreign Payments
The University’s Consulting Policy requires prior approval of any remuneration, compensation, honorarium, stipends, non-university salary, or other similar payments for providing consulting, advice, services, support or other similar activities from any source, including foreign entities or persons. The University’s Financial Conflicts of Interest in Research Policy requires disclosure of remuneration, compensation, honorarium, stipends, non-university salary, or other similar payments totaling over $5,000 in a 12 month period from a single entity, and any paid or reimbursed travel totaling over $5000 in a 12 month period by a single entity. This include any foreign entity (e.g. governments and institutions) or persons.
Current and Other Support
“Other Support” includes all financial resources, domestic or foreign, available in direct support of a researcher’s research endeavors. Such support should be disclosed on an “Other Support” or “Current & Pending” form. See here for guidance.
Importance
It protects everyone’s interests – the Federal government, UConn, individual investigators, and their international collaborators – to have international relationships disclosed and vetted to determine if there are any potential conflict of commitments, duplications of research, and/or diversion of intellectual property in the performance of federally funded research.
In some cases, failure to disclose all relationships could result in the termination of funding for a project and potential ineligibility for future funding. Noncompliance can also threaten not only the funding for individual projects, but overall funding for the University.
How to Get Assistance?
Faculty and investigators who have questions or concerns about disclosure requirements should contact the OVPR for guidance and assistance.
Contact the OVPR
- Paul Hudobenko, Director SPS—UCH (hudobenko@uchc.edu)
Program in Accelerated Therapeutics for Healthcare (PATH)
PATH is a partnership that includes the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR), the School of Pharmacy, and the School of Medicine to accelerate the translational pathway for researchers to convert their discoveries to new medical therapeutics. Under PATH, funding will be provided to academic research programs designed to quickly develop novel therapeutic approaches focusing on well validated molecular targets for a specific disease areas with an unmet treatment need in the current commercial marketplace. Projects focusing on a wide range of therapeutic interventions (small molecule, biologic, antibody, peptide, gene therapy) are eligible for consideration. Projects related to medical diagnostics, medical devices, and digital health are not eligible. Two levels of funding will be available through this mechanism: PATH Trailblazer Grants will provide up to $10K for preliminary work in support of treatment development while PATH Ascent Grants will provide $75K-$150K to accelerate the development of promising therapeutics.
To learn more about the program, visit the OVPR Storrs site.
Convergence Awards for Research in Interdisciplinary Centers (CARIC)
NOTICE as of 5/05/2025: Due to the need to reserve funds for the recently announced EMERGE emergency funding program, all FY26 OVPR Internal Funding Programs are on hold for at least the first few months of the new fiscal year-we will provide updates as more information becomes available.
CARIC is an initiative of the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) that supports the development of collaborative interdisciplinary teams to bid for major (>$5M) federally funded initiatives, such as research centers. CARIC provides funding for planning, outreach to strategic partners, and proof-of-concept research activities that will prepare the team to bid competitively for these prestigious federal awards. All applications must demonstrate that the teams proposed are new collaborations that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries or include a significant expansion/deepening of existing interdisciplinary collaborations. The federal funding initiative being targeted must be identified explicitly.
To learn more about the program, visit the OVPR Storrs site.
Clinical Research and Innovation Seed Program (CRISP)
NOTICE as of 5/05/2025: Due to the need to reserve funds for the recently announced EMERGE emergency funding program, all FY26 OVPR Internal Funding Programs are on hold for at least the first few months of the new fiscal year-we will provide updates as more information becomes available.
Purpose
UConn’s Clinical Research and Innovation Seed Program (CRISP) is a targeted seed funding program for FY24 created to: 1) help unlock the research creativity of UConn/UConn Health faculty who serve in clinical roles and 2) to support faculty who are doing human subjects research and working with clinical populations.
CRISP aims to support faculty in clinical roles who have compelling research ideas they would like to pursue. Clinical faculty at UConn and UConn Health are world-class practitioners in their areas of expertise, but due to their clinical and teaching responsibilities, they often do not have the resources or opportunity to develop research programs that can lead to external funding. CRISP is designed to provide the seed funding or development resources needed for clinical faculty to get exciting research projects started.
Faculty who work with human subjects and clinical populations know that this work can be challenging and sometimes cost-prohibitive, particularly for those who are in the early stages of projects or who are seeking pilot data to support large-scale external submissions. CRISP also aims to provide the support needed to launch significant human subjects/clinical research projects and to move them towards external funding success.
While not a requirement of all proposals, the CRISP program supports collaboration across disciplines and between UConn and UConn Health faculty. Given external funders’ growing interest in supporting interdisciplinary and convergent research, the demonstrated excellence of our faculty, and the complementary expertise available across disciplines, proposals that include novel interdisciplinary and cross-campus partnerships are particularly encouraged.
To learn more about the program, visit the OVPR Storrs site.
OVPR Quarterly Reports – FY19Q2
Dear Colleagues,
Now that data have been finalized, I would like to provide you with several reports relating to sponsored program activity—both research and education/service—managed by Sponsored Program Services within the Office of the Vice President for Research at UConn and UConn Health. Please visit the OVPR website to view the following reports: https://ovpr.uconn.edu/news/quarterly-reports/
- List of Proposals Submitted: FY19 2nd Quarter
- List of Awards Received: FY19 2nd Quarter
- Proposals, Awards, Expenditures: FY14-FY19Q2
In the reports, data are presented in two ways: by the PI’s Academic Home Department and by the Managing Department or Center/Institute. Please refer to the first pages of the reports for definitions and information regarding the data. Should you have any questions regarding these quarterly reports, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please note that we have included an additional Summary of Sponsored Program Activity, which includes the Effective F&A rate on awards. This information provides a snapshot of our activity as compared to the same period last year.
The OVPR continues to seek creative solutions that allow UConn and UConn Health to grow our research enterprise through federal funding, industry partnerships, and collaboration with foundations. I am confident we can continue upward trends by continuing to work together, aggressively applying for extramural funding, and pursuing new channels of support for the tremendous research, scholarship, and creative activities taking place every day at UConn and UConn Health.
Thank you for your continued commitment and contribution to our students, to your research and scholarship, and to UConn/UConn Health.
Sincerely,
Radenka
Dr. Radenka Maric
Vice President for Research
UConn/UCH