CRISPER
Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects - Extended Results
Version 2.1
CRISPER programming and website ©2005-6 by The Sunshine Project. Software developed by DigitalNotions, Inc. All rights reserved.
CRISPER Capabilities Demo
CRISPER Features
All NIH CRISP functions, plus:
- Latest financial info on grants, '96 - '07
- Clear, cleanly-formatted results
- Downloadable (.csv) results
- Summary of every search
- Live data retrieval from NIH CRISP
- Simple and Advanced search pages
- Optimized for research on biodefense
- Drill down to IBC data
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Enhanced with Institutional Biosafety Committee data.
ENTER CRISPER
BASIC, AGENT, AND ADVANCED SEARCH FORMS
New Search: TOTAL GRANT SUM
About CRISPER
CRISPER is a new way to search and organize National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant data. CRISPER pulls information from NIH's CRISP database and pairs it with NIH financial data, providing cleanly-formatted results with additional features (see left) that aren't available anywhere else. No other public search tool puts as much information at your fingertips about government-sponsored biological research.
While CRISPER is optimized for searches related to research on biological weapons agents, its features are also useful for anyone interested in NIH biomedical programs. CRISPER is developed by the Sunshine Project, a non-profit organization. CRISPER is available for non-commerical use by any member of the public, free of charge. If you find CRISPER helpful, please support its development by clicking "Donate Now" (at left).
Why CRISPER ?
CRISPER is a multifaceted research tool for the public and public interest organizations working on safety, security, health and biomedical research issues. CRISPER is relevant to peace and security, biosafety, public health, biodiversity, biotechnology, and other fields. The financial information and search summaries available in CRISPER have never before been available in a publicly-accessible search tool.
Foremost, CRISPER promotes open government: At a time when access to government information is declining, CRISPER stands for transparency and public accountability in federally-sponsored scientific research, particularly research involving biological weapons agents. All of the information available through CRISPER is public record, however, the government does not make it available in the same place or in compatible formats. For example, pairing a CRISP abstract with its associated financial data involves searching over 500 NIH files that use nine distinct data formats. Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) information has previously been available only through the Freedom of Information Act.
By intelligently bringing together public records, CRISPER provides unprecedented access to NIH research programs. Transparency and accountability of these programs will encourage safety, security and sound judgment in biomedical research.
The Future of CRISPER
CRISPER was developed in two weeks by three people working part-time with a budget of zero dollars. Providing the capabilities of CRISPER to the public is thus well within the reach of a government agency as large and capable as NIH. By demonstrating a path to greater research transparency, CRISPER's goal is to put itself out of business by prompting NIH to incorporate CRISPER's capabilities into NIH's CRISP website.
NIH Director Zerhouni recently told the Washington Post that "We can't lose the public trust. Not just at NIH, but into research in general... I believe in candor as an instrument of leadership." NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, in Science and on National Public Radio, has recently called on people to look more carefully at NIH spending. CRISPER allows people to do precisely that, and aims to show NIH a way to make good on its eloquence about openness in research.
Having said that, few are unaware that government can move at the speed of frozen molasses. While encouraging NIH to build CRISPER into its website, the Sunshine Project will enhance CRISPER with new functions and data as rapidly as possible.
To preserve the system's integrity while it is under development, the CRISPER programming and website are copyrighted. Once CRISPER has reached an appropriate level of maturity we will move to a Creative Commons or similar license. Data returned by CRISPER is, of course, unrestricted public record.
If you wish to support development of CRISPER, please make a donation. If you have ideas about new functions or if you are interested in volunteering your technical skills, please send us an e-mail (tsp [at] sunshine-project.org).
Thank you for your interest and happy searching!