Bio Saga Blog - A Chronicle of Life Sciences & Informatics

The Small Business Administration has decided to raise the amount of Small Business Innovation Research program grants in both phases, with Phase I awards increasing from $100,000 to $150,000, and Phase II awards rising from $750,000 to $1 million. In 2008, SBA initially considered making the increases in the grants in order to catch up with inflation. Following a comments period and analysis, the administration has decided to implement the increases. The current award value of $100,000 and $750,000 was originally set in 1992. SBA has the authority to increase the amount of the award every five years. SBA said in an announcement in the Federal Register that adjusting the threshold of awards up to $150,000 and $1 million "adequately offsets the general effects of inflation, maintains a degree of stability and simplicity to the threshold levels, and continues to provide participating agencies with an appropriate degree of flexibility in award size." In determin...

The National Institutes of Health has granted $67.4 million in funding for trailblazing research that could reap great benefits but which are not guaranteeing immediate results, including genomics and proteomics studies, NIH said Monday. The Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration (EUREKA) program grants $200,000 per year for up to four years for researchers that test unconventional ideas or "tackle major methodological or technical challenges," according to NIH. Of the 56 grants, 10 researchers will receive a total of $10.6 million for two-year awards through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. "EUREKA awards reflect NIH's continued commitment to funding transformative research, even if it carries more than the usual degree of scientific risk," NIH Director Francis Collins said in a statement. "The grants seek to elicit those 'eureka moments' when scientists make major theoretical or technical advances...