Research at UTMB

UTMB and the Office of Sponsored Programs are all still open, so there shouldn’t be a delay in processing your submission.  NIH NOT-OD-20-082 states that late applications will be accepted when the applicant or recipient organization is officially closed or unable to submit grant applications due to the effects of COVID-19.

However, there is language in NOT-OD-20-083 stating if or your team are involved in quarantined or social-distancing procedures that may have inhibited your ability to submit a proposal, NIH will consider the late proposal on a case-by-case basis .  Due to NOT-OD-20-091, you will not need to include a detailed cover letter with the application outlining the details of the COVID-19 emergency’s effects on your ability to submit. 

As always, please reach out to your Pre-Award analyst with submission/application questions.

 

Per a March 19 memo from OMB, awarding agencies may allow recipients to continue to charge salaries and benefits to currently active Federal awards consistent with the recipients' policy of paying salaries (under unexpected or extraordinary circumstances) from all funding sources, Federal and non-Federal.

Awarding agencies may provide flexibility with regard to the submission of competing applications in response to specific announcements, as well as unsolicited applications.  Please refer to the website of the agency to which you are applying.  NIH, for example, is reviewing proposals on a case-by-case basis and there is not advance permission necessary.  Due to NOT-OD-20-091, you will not need to include a detailed cover letter with the application outlining the details of the COVID-19 emergency’s effects on your ability to submit. 

Contact your pre-award analyst with any questions.

Awarding agencies may allow recipients who incur costs related to the cancellation of events, travel, or other activities when the activity was necessary and reasonable for the performance of the award.  This also applies when an awardee had to cancel an event.  The sponsor may allow recipients to charge full cost of cancellation when the event, travel, or other activities are conducted under the auspices of the grant. Awardees must remember, however, that they should not assume that additional funds will be available should they eventually be able to travel or reschedule an event.

Yes, NIH award recipients may donate PPE and other lab supplies in support of efforts related to COVID-19. Recipients may re-budget grant funds to repurchase supplies at a later date, use large unobligated balances, or submit an administrative supplement request to the funding IC.

No, grant funds allocated for a specific NIH grant may not be transferred to another grant project. General cost principles related to allocability of funds still apply to NIH grants.

Due to the need for better tracking and reporting as it relates to COVID-19, all applications should be submitted electronically via one of our electronic solutions (i.e. NIH ASSIST, grants.gov workspace, or institutional system-to-system (S2S) solution), rather than paper applications. Supplements submitted for multi-project parents must be submitted as single project applications. Depending on the needs of a multi-project application, more than one supplement may be submitted. Please refer to the instructions provided in the specific NOSI and/or FOA for further guidance.

Drs. Mouton and Urban are directing the research community to screen all participants (either by phone or in person at presentation to study site) by asking:

1. Do you have fever, cough, or shortness of breath?
2. Have you traveled in a COVID-19 area with a CDC Level 3 Travel Warning?
3. Have you come in contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 14 days?

If participants answer yes to any of the questions, then that participant should not attend the research appointment or should be asked to participate at a later date (preferably at least 14 days later).

See item 6, “Changes to research plans to eliminate apparent immediate hazards to participants”, in the COVID-19: Guidance for Human Subject Research.

This will mirror what is already being done for staff seeing patients not involved in a research study. Study personnel who exhibit fever, cough, shortness of breath, or have traveled in a COVID-19 area or have been in contact with a person who tested positive to COVID-19 should NOT interact directly with participants for at least 14 days.

All current active laboratory experiments should be carried out following proper social distancing and sanitation guidelines.  When laboratory experiments are completed, laboratory meetings, data analysis, report writing, manuscript preparation and proposal preparation are to be completed at home.  No new research, human subject or basic, is to be started until the Order has been lifted and approval has been issued by the Provost.

Per a March 19 memo from OMB, awarding agencies may allow recipients to continue to charge salaries and benefits to currently active Federal awards consistent with the recipients' policy of paying salaries (under unexpected or extraordinary circumstances) from all funding sources, Federal and non-Federal.

A directive from Drs. Mouton and Urban was sent to Deans, Chairs, and Institute & Center Chairs on March 24, 2020.  This directive provided general information on the Galveston County Stay-at-Home order and information on how PIs doing non-COVID-19 research needed to shutter their labs once active experiments were completed.  The directive is summarized below

Section I:
A Stay-at-Home order has been issued by Galveston County effective at midnight. As per the order medical research is considered an essential Healthcare Operation. Because this situation is fluid and can quickly change, UTMB is taking the following actions to safeguard current research and resources. In alignment with the Order’s goal of reducing the risk of spreading the virus by minimizing personnel and to solidify UTMB as a leader in the provision of healthcare during this pandemic, the following is being implemented:

1. No new research, human subject or basic, is to be started until the Order has been lifted and approval has been issued by the Provost. An exception is made for COVID-19 research.
2. All current laboratory experiments should be carried out following proper social distancing and sanitation guidelines. 
3. When laboratory experiments are completed, laboratory meetings, data analysis, report writing, manuscript preparation and proposal preparation are to be completed at home.
4. When laboratory experiments are completed, laboratories should be shut down until new research is allowed to begin.
5. Any human subject research follow-up visits are to utilize video technology. Exceptions are to be discussed with the CRO and Provost.
6. Contact your Sponsor to discuss any changes to a clinical trial protocol.

Section II and III:
Please complete the Laboratory Shutdown Form to ease management of maintenance activities.  Make certain that critical elements of the lab can be maintained in case this is a prolonged shut down. 

Yes

All communication including timekeeping instructions is required to come from HR.  You may reach out to staff directly for assistance or use the contact information available here.

While medical research has been designated an essential activity, and those engaged in such are exempted from the recent shelter-in-place/stay home decrees, we have initiated a research lab ramp-down at UTMB  to help with the recognized need to flatten the curve of the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

We have instructed the research community to wrap-up current non-COVID-19 related experiments as quickly as possible.  We have queried investigators to determine their ability to curtail their research and have asked for their replies by the close of business Friday (03/27/2020).  When the data gathered are collated, we will provide a timeline indicating the dates that individual faculty members’ laboratories will be shut-down. 

UTMB’s office of information security has approved Skype, Polycom, Webex, Zoom, and Adobe Connect as secure teleconferencing systems for use in research.  If there are questions about other products, please direct those questions to our information security group computer incident response team via email.

All current active laboratory experiments should be carried out following proper social distancing and sanitation guidelines.  When laboratory experiments are completed, laboratory meetings, data analysis, report writing, manuscript preparation and proposal preparation are to be completed at home.  No new research, human subject or basic, is to be started until the Order has been lifted and approval has been issued by the Provost.

A directive from Drs. Mouton and Urban was sent to Deans, Chairs, and Institute & Center Chairs on March 24, 2020.  This directive provided general information on the Galveston County Stay-at-Home order and information on how PIs doing non-COVID-19 research needed to shutter their labs once active experiments were completed.  The directive is summarized below

Section I:
A Stay-at-Home order has been issued by Galveston County effective at midnight. As per the order medical research is considered an essential Healthcare Operation. Because this situation is fluid and can quickly change, UTMB is taking the following actions to safeguard current research and resources. In alignment with the Order’s goal of reducing the risk of spreading the virus by minimizing personnel and to solidify UTMB as a leader in the provision of healthcare during this pandemic, the following is being implemented:

1. No new research, human subject or basic, is to be started until the Order has been lifted and approval has been issued by the Provost. An exception is made for COVID-19 research.
2. All current laboratory experiments should be carried out following proper social distancing and sanitation guidelines. 
3. When laboratory experiments are completed, laboratory meetings, data analysis, report writing, manuscript preparation and proposal preparation are to be completed at home.
4. When laboratory experiments are completed, laboratories should be shut down until new research is allowed to begin.
5. Any human subject research follow-up visits are to utilize video technology. Exceptions are to be discussed with the CRO and Provost.
6. Contact your Sponsor to discuss any changes to a clinical trial protocol.

Section II and III:
Please complete the Laboratory Shutdown Form to ease management of maintenance activities.  Make certain that critical elements of the lab can be maintained in case this is a prolonged shut down. 

Yes