We’re pleased to announce that NIGMS is now accepting diversity supplement applications to support faculty-level investigators developing independent research careers (NOT-GM-21-014). This opportunity is part of our Diversity Supplements Program, which facilitates the recruitment and training of promising scientists from diverse backgrounds (e.g., individuals from groups underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce).

The supplements provide either short- or long-term research support to early career faculty members wishing to participate in ongoing research projects while further developing their research skills and establishing an independent research career.

Funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) for the Graduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (G-RISE) (PAR-21-026) and the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) (PAR-21-025) T32 programs have been issued. The FOAs continue the shared goal to develop a diverse pool of scientists earning Ph.D. degrees who have the skills necessary to transition successfully into careers in the biomedical research workforce.

The new G-RISE and IMSD FOAs have an application receipt date of February 26, 2021. The earliest start date for both programs is February 2022.

We’ve issued a new funding opportunity announcement (FOA): Exploring the Scientific Value of Existing or New Sepsis Human Biospecimen Collections (R21/R33 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (PAR-21-077). This FOA aims to promote the optimal use, testing, and sharing of patient-derived materials. It stems from recommendations of the NAGMSC working group on sepsis and input from the scientific community for strategies to rebalance NIGMS’ investment in sepsis research.

UPDATE: The video from the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence webinar is now available.

If you’re planning to submit a Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) application in 2021 or 2022, it’s important that you attend our upcoming webinar:

Wednesday, November 18, 3:00-4:30 p.m. ET

We recently published a notice (NOT-GM-20-050) announcing a single receipt date each year for our Research to Understand and Inform Interventions that Promote the Research Careers of Individuals in Biomedical Sciences (R01/R35) program.

The purpose of the program is to better understand the factors (e.g., social and behavioral) contributing to the success of individuals pursuing independent academic biomedical research careers. It supports research to enhance evidence for effective, high-impact, scalable interventions that may be focused on training programs, psychosocial factors, critical career transition points, or institutional culture. Due in part to the small number of applications received in response to this funding opportunity, the change in the program’s receipt date will allow us to increase efficiencies in the grant application review process.

If you’re planning to submit an application for the NIGMS Institutional Predoctoral Training Grant (T32) program in the basic biomedical sciences (PAR-20-213) for receipt dates on or after September 25, don’t miss our upcoming webinar:

Friday, August 28, 12:00-1:30 p.m. ET

We’ve joined the NIH Office of the Director and several institutes in two Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Radical (RADx-rad) initiative funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). These FOAs offer an excellent opportunity for NIGMS-supported researchers with expertise in technology development and/or artificial intelligence/machine learning to conduct innovative research addressing the public health emergency caused by COVID-19.

UPDATE: The video and slides [PDF] from the MOSAIC webinar are now available.

Last summer, we shared with you our new Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). MOSAIC, which NIGMS oversees, is part of NIH’s efforts to enhance diversity within the academic biomedical research workforce. It’s designed to facilitate the transition of promising postdoctoral researchers from diverse backgrounds into independent faculty careers at research-intensive institutions. The program has two components: a research education cooperative agreement (UE5) and a postdoctoral career transition award (K99/R00).

We’d like to call your attention to a pair of recently published notices (NOT-GM-20-042 and NOT-GM-20-043) that address the unfavorable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on institutions’ ability to recruit faculty investigators. In response to this, we’ve reduced the minimum number of research projects required for our Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Phases 1 and 2 from three to two. Additionally, we’ll allow budget increases for recruitment costs and pilot projects. These changes apply to active awards and to applications submitted for new Phase 1 (PAR-19-313) and Phase 2 (PAR-19-312) funding opportunity announcements.

We recently reissued the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) for Early Stage Investigators (PAR-20-117). The first application due date is October 2, 2020.

We’re hosting a webinar to discuss this FOA and to answer your questions about the program on Thursday, August 6, 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET. To access the webinar, visit the WebEx meeting page (link no longer available). We plan to post the archived webinar and slides on the MIRA webpage after the event.