Natural Product-related News from NIH and Beyond
April 1, 2024 | This article appears in Volume 61, Issue 1

AN UPDATE ON THE US FEDERAL BUDGET
- As of March 23, all appropriations bills comprising the US federal budget for fiscal year 2024 were passed and signed by President Biden. According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, non-defense research and development appropriations decreased by 11.3% in the final budget. The combined budget for research at the US Department of Agriculture increased slightly, the National Science Foundation’s budget increased by 2.8%, and the National Institutes of Health's budget decreased by 0.8%. Within the overall NIH budget, funding for some NIH Institutes increased somewhat.

AN UPDATE FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
- On January 29 the National Science Foundation announced its first Regional Innovation Engines, a program authorized by the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act.
The 10 inaugural “engines” include one focused on agriculture technology and one focused on climate resilience.
AN UPDATE FROM THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY
- On December 8 the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released for public comment the Draft Interagency Guidance Framework for Considering the Exercise of March-In Rights. Responses to a request for information on the draft guidance framework will inform NIST and the Interagency Working Group for Bayh-Dole (IAWGBD) in developing a final framework.
AN UPDATE FROM THE US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
- The US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded $4.45 million to tribal colleges to support projects that include research on the effects of traditionally used plants in diabetes management and the control of invasive species.
UPDATES FROM THE US NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH)
- On December 18 W. Kimryn Rathmell became the 17th Director of the NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Rathmell previously led the Vanderbilt University Medical Center as physician-in-chief and chair of the Department of Medicine.
- To ensure pdf attachments in your grant applications, progress reports and other documentation submitted to NIH are readable by reviewers, NIH staff, and NIH systems, the NIH Office of Extramural Research has provided a number of tips here.
- Updated NIH guidance on research with foreign collaborators: NIH clarified its policy on foreign subawards and consortia in an NIH guide notice released last September, NOT-OD-23-182, NIH Final Updated Policy Guidance for Subaward/Consortium Written Agreements. Martina Schmidt, director of the Division of Extramural Activities at the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), commented: “The notice underscores NIH’s interest in
strong international research collaborations and explains some policy requirements.” Her blog continues: “In a nutshell, recipients of NIH grants, including foreign collaborators receiving subawards, must comply with Federal requirements on oversight. The primary recipient must ensure monitoring processes are in place so there is compliance with the terms and conditions of the award. Most importantly, this policy requires subaward agreements to stipulate that foreign subrecipients will provide the primary recipient with access to copies of all lab notebooks, data, and documentation supporting the research outcomes as described in the Research Performance Progress Report. Access to the records will be at a frequency of no less than once per
year, which aligns with the timing of progress report submission. The requirement was effective January 1, 2024 and applies to all new and existing subaward agreements. Current subawards may need to be renegotiated or revised. To find out more, I recommend a blog post on NIH’s foreign subagreement policy by Dr. Michael Lauer, NIH’s deputy director for extramural research, and the NIH Subawards webpage.”- For NIH small business applications and awards, NOT-OD-23-139, Implementation of the NIH SBIR and STTR Foreign Disclosure Pre-Award and Post-Award Requirements (released June 12, 2023) provides information regarding disclosure and post-award reporting requirements for small businesses. Further
information on this Notice is provided in NOT-OD-24-029, Clarification of Implementation of the NIH SBIR and STTR Foreign Disclosure Pre-Award and Post-Award Requirements (released November 14, 2023). Dr. Schmidt comments on this: “A major message is that NIH will not mitigate identified security risks
prior to award. For (all currently competing) SBIR and STTR applications…, applicants will have to submit a completed disclosure form via the Just-In-Time (JIT) process. The Foreign Disclosure and Risk Management webpage of the NIH Small Business Education and Entrepreneurial Development (SEED)
Office provides more details.”
- For NIH small business applications and awards, NOT-OD-23-139, Implementation of the NIH SBIR and STTR Foreign Disclosure Pre-Award and Post-Award Requirements (released June 12, 2023) provides information regarding disclosure and post-award reporting requirements for small businesses. Further

Photo: Joe Howell

Photo: Lisa Helfert

NIH FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
- Potentially useful for those seeking funding for research on Cannabis species:
- A Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) from NIDA: NOT-DA-22-048, Targeting the Endocannabinoid System for Brain Health and Acute and Chronic Diseases
- A NOSI from NCCIH: NOT-AT-22-027, Promoting Mechanistic Research on Therapeutic and Other Biological Properties of Minor Cannabinoids and Terpenes
- A NOSI from NCI: NOT-CA-22-085, Basic Mechanisms of Cannabis and Cannabinoid Action in Cancer
- New in the NIH Consortium Advancing Research on Botanicals and Other Natural Products (CARBON) Program, three single receipt date funding opportunities:
- Botanical Dietary Supplements Translational Research Teams, RFA OD-24-014, technical assistance webinar on Tuesday, May 7, at 2 pm ET.
- Limited Competition: Research Resource for Natural Product Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Data, RFA AT-24-007
NIH-SUPPORTED RESOURCES
- New toxicology report on black cohosh root extract: In December the NIH National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ National Toxicology Program recently posted a new technical report, TR-603, CASN 84776-26-1, titled “Toxicology and Carcinogenesis Studies of Black Cohosh Root Extract Administered by Gavage to Sprague Dawley Rats and Female B6C3F1/N Mice.” More at https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/publications/reports/tr/600s/tr603.
- New phytochemical calibration solution reference materials have recently been released by Cerilliant Corp/MilliporeSigma through support from the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements:
