Grants, Contracts, RFAs, and RFPs. 1  A grant is a funding mechanism for a particular scientific inquiry that you generate. You come up with the idea, they decide if it's a good idea, and they provide funding for you to do it. In contrast, a contract is a funding mechanism of government agencies or other organizations to obtain specified services or goods.
1 Chlamydia culture. 2  This is a test to find the bacteria that cause a chlamydia infection. 3  A sample of body fluid from areas such as the cervix, urethra, eye, rectum, or throat is added to certain cells used to grow chlamydia.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an extra-sensitive test that measures the presence of certain biomarkers in blood or bone marrow cells. It measures any remaining blood cancer cells not found by cytogenetic methods such as FISH. PCR is used to diagnose and check a patient's molecular response to treatment.