Six new NIH study sections swing into action

Six new NIH study sections swing into action

Six new study sections were recently chartered by the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study sections will meet for the first time in the current cycle to review grant applications that will be to the October Council. Where do new study sections come from? Excessive workloads or emerging science can prompt CSR to initiate the process. In these cases, CSR enlists small working groups of the stake-holding scientific communities to consider options and report their views to NIH's Peer Review Advisory Committee (PRAC). If PRAC concurs, CSR Director, Toni Scarpa, is likely to authorize the formation of new study sections. The process usually takes nine months from the time the possibility of a new study section arises until implementation. CSR’s newest study sections are as follows:

CSRS/Cellular Signaling and Regulatory Systems, SRA Jonathan Arias
MIST/Molecular and Integrative Signal Transduction, SRA Raya Mandler
MSFD/Macromolecular Structure and Function D (computational focus), SRA James Mack
MSFE/Macromolecular Structure and Function E (mechanistic enzymology focus), SRA Nitsa Rosenzweig
CMBG/Cellular and Molecular Biology of Glia, SRA Toby Behar
CMND/Cellular and Molecular Biology of Neurodegeneration, SRA Carole Jelsema

Descriptions of the new study sections are available on the CSR Web site. PowerPoint presentations provided to the Peer Review Advisory Committee are available at website.

Source: NIH Peer Review Notes, May 2007