This has been a boom year at the National Institutes of Health. With a $10 billion infusion thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the agency found itself in the unfamiliar position of being flush with cash. As Congress decides how it will fund the NIH and the nation's other federal science agencies in 2010 and 2011, we take a look back at scientists and fields of research that scored big this year.

The following are 2009's ten most funded Research, Condition, and Disease Categories, according to the NIH:

Image: US Dept. of the Treasury

Clinical Research - $9,931,000
Genetics - $7,066,000
Cancer - $5,748,000
Biotechnology - $5,390,000
Neurosciences - $5,372,000
Prevention - $4,752,000
Brain Disorders - $3,835,000
Infectious Diseases - $3,678,000
Clinical Trials - $3,663,000
Women's Health - $3,627,000

NIH's stimulus boost provided a lot of funding and new grants to investigators in 2009. Researchers applied in droves for NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research, and dozens of scientists pulled in Director's Pioneer Awards of more than $2 million. Here are the five fattest R01 grants that flew out the NIH's doors this year.

Principal Investigator: Pamela Douglas
Institution: Duke University
R01 Grant: $5,566,450
Project Description: The PROMISE (PROspective Multicenter Imaging Study for Evaluation of Chest Pain) Trial. A study to assess the efficacy of coronary computed tomographic angiography in initially testing 10,000 patients complaining of chest pain.
Administered by: The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute

Principal Investigator: Jonine Bernstein
Institution: Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research
R01 Grant: $3,562,856
Project Description: Genome-wide Association Study of Radiation Exposure and Bilateral Breast Cancer. A study to delineate the joint roles of genetic predisposition and radiation exposure in the etiology of second primary breast cancer using a genome-wide association (GWA) approach in more than 1,500 women with bilateral breast cancer.
Administered by: The National Cancer Institute

Principal Investigator: Thomas Vaughan
Institution: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
R01 Grant: $3,448,940
Project Description: Barrett's and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Genetic Susceptibility Study (BEAGESS). A genome-wide association study to evaluate the influence of genetic susceptibility on risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma -- a cancer who's prevalence in the US has increased by 500 percent in the last 30 years -- and its precursor, Barrett's esophagus.
Administered by: The National Cancer Institute

Principal Investigator: Russell Ware
Institution: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
R01 Grant: $3,387,494
Project Description: Transcranial Doppler with Transfusions Changing to Hydroxyurea. A trial is to compare two years of hydroxyurea therapy with standard transfusion therapy to prevent stroke in children with sickle cell anemia.
Administered by: The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute

Principal Investigator: Michele Sale
Institution: University of Virginia Charlottesville
R01 Grant: $3,008,855
Project Description: Genetic Contributions to Diabetes and Dyslipidemia in African Americans. A genome-wide association study to assess the genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes among a population of more than 1,000 African Americans from the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia.
Administered by: The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the Office of the Director

A New Year's bonus:

Our friends over at the Medical Writing, Editing, and Grantsmanship blog recently posted a time line and guide to submitting new NIH proposals in 2010. Check it out here.


Related stories:

2010 budget on Obama's desk
[14th December 2009]

2010 NIH budget bump
[10th December 2009]

NIH 2010 budget tweaked
[30th July 2009]