Last summer, we published a notice of information on our priorities for sepsis research that applies to all active NIGMS funding opportunity announcements. We’ve now published a notice of special interest (NOT-GM 20-028) to promote early-stage research and development projects through the NIH SBIR/STTR program. 

We’re interested in receiving applications from small businesses or from small businesses and their academic partners that propose to develop novel tools and technologies for sepsis research, detection, and treatment. We’re specifically interested in diagnostic tools, predictive clinical algorithms, and technologies to facilitate molecular phenotyping of sepsis patients.

If you have any questions about NIGMS priorities for small business development of sepsis diagnostics and therapeutics, please contact me. 

We’re pleased to announce our participation in Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics for Underserved Populations (RADx-UP), a $500 million NIH-wide initiative to reduce morbidity and mortality disparities for vulnerable and underserved populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The initiative will fund a national coordination center and a group of interlinked projects across the United States aimed at improving COVID-19 testing and understanding COVID-19 health disparities.

The announcements for RADx-UP are:

We’re pleased to announce that the NIGMS Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Predoctoral Institutional Research Training Grant (T32) for the basic biomedical sciences has been reissued (PAR-20-213). This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) continues our efforts to ensure biomedical graduate research training keeps pace with the rapidly evolving biomedical research enterprise. The goal of the T32 program is to develop a diverse pool of scientists with the technical, operational, and professional skills needed to advance their chosen fields and transition into productive careers in the biomedical research workforce.

I’m pleased to announce that the Institutional Development Award Networks for Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR) funding opportunity announcement (PAR-20-175) has been reissued.

IDeA-CTR funds statewide or multistate regional networks that support:

Because many people in the research community are facing considerable challenges trying to juggle various responsibilities during the COVID-19 outbreak, NIGMS will accommodate late application submissions for due dates in May 2020 for all NIGMS-specific FOAs (see NOT-GM-20-029). For applications submitted through June 30, 2020, institutions do not need to request advance permission or provide a cover letter to justify a late submission to these FOAs. Applications with due dates prior to May 25 should use FORMS E and those with due dates on or after May 25 should use FORMS F, regardless of the date of submission.

We’re pleased to announce that the Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH) funding opportunity announcement (FOA) (PAR-20-125) has been issued.

NARCH fosters opportunities for biomedical research and career enrichment to meet health needs prioritized by American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes and tribally based organizations. The NARCH initiative also supports research capacity building, including the development of research infrastructure to enhance the biomedical research capabilities of AI/AN communities. NARCH grants are awarded directly to federally recognized tribes or tribal organizations that may partner with research-intensive institutions.

We’ve published a notice of special interest (NOSI) (NOT-GM-20-025) to address the urgent need for research on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We’ll accept competitive revisions (supplements) in three specific scientific areas:

• Incorporation of data related to SARS-CoV-2 into ongoing research efforts to develop predictive models for the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other related infectious agents (all grant and cooperative agreement activity codes)
• Repurposing or modification of diagnostic tools currently under development to enable rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection (SBIR/STTR grants only)
• Rapid development of potential therapeutic agents for COVID-19 (SBIR/STTR grants only)

We’re pleased to announce that the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Phase 3 funding opportunity announcement (FOA) (PAR-20-115) has been reissued.

COBRE supports thematic, multidisciplinary research centers that establish and strengthen institutional biomedical research capacity in IDeA-eligible states through three sequential 5-year phases.  

UPDATE: The slides [PDF] from the recent webinar are now available.

NIGMS, in partnership with the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) and twelve other institutes and centers of NIH, invites applications for administrative supplements to eligible Institutional Development Award (IDeA) grants to address important issues of women’s health in the IDeA states. We encourage a broad range of research addressing women’s health issues with a special interest in maternal and infant mortality and morbidity, as well as their underlying causes.

To continue our efforts to catalyze the modernization of biomedical research training and career development, we invite eligible institutions with NIGMS training (T32, T34), certain research education (R25), or institutional career development (K12) awards to apply for administrative supplements to develop and implement curricular, training, or administrative activities to:

• Enhance laboratory safety curriculum and a culture of safety in biomedical research training environments (NOT-GM-20-016)
• Promote safe and inclusive biomedical research training environments (NOT-GM-20-018)
• Enhance undergraduate biomedical research training (NOT-GM-20-019) (T34 and R25 undergraduate programs only)
• Enhance program evaluation capacity (NOT-GM-20-020)