An updated resource for the NIH Center for Scientific Review offers practical insights into the application process.
The CSR’s Insider’s Guide to Peer Review includes advice from current and former study section chairs. With competition for NIH grants intensifying, most applicants may want to heed some of the tips to put their best foot forward. New advice included in the guide:
Don’t overstate the significance of your research: It’s great if you can say your results could one day have an impact on treating or preventing disease. But don’t promise more than you can deliver. You really need to make more than a general case for significance. Explain the specific significance of the particular question you’re asking and how your results may fill important technical or knowledge gaps or otherwise impact your field
Make your aims sing and harmonize: Quickly lay out the broad context, the scientific question to be addressed, including its significance, and exactly how you propose to advance understanding of your problem. Craft your aims carefully so reviewers will see both their individual and synergistic worth
Focus your preliminary data: Insert a very succinct paragraph to explain what the preliminary data really tell you and how they show the feasibility of your proposed research. Make your application compelling by citing preliminary or prior work that shows the feasibility of each of your aims. Also, don’t assume your reviewers will remember all your preliminary data from the significance section. If you have a lot, you may want to briefly refer to a key bit in your research strategy section.