We’re offering administrative supplements to NIGMS-funded P20, P30, P41, R01, R35, R37, and RM1 awards for the purchase of helium recovery systems. The deadline for these supplement applications is August 5, 2019.

Note that:

UPDATE: The slides [PDF, 296KB] from the National and Regional Resources Webinar have been posted.

Research resources provide access to technologies, methods, and expertise that are not generally available to individual laboratories. Large-scale research resources can significantly broaden access to cutting-edge technologies and can achieve economies of scale not possible for facilities serving individual institutions.

We have just published a new funding
opportunity announcement (FOA) to support national and regional (multistate) resources for biomedical research that will provide access to state-of-the-art facilities, equipment, technologies, research tools, and software to many users. We expect the impact of these resources and the number of users to be on a similar scale to what is achieved by synchrotron beamlines and cryo-electron microscopy centers.

UPDATE: The slides from the DPC DaTA Webinar have been posted.

On behalf of the NIH Common Fund, we’ve just released a new funding opportunity announcement soliciting applications for the Diversity Program Consortium Dissemination and Translation Awards (DPC DaTA) (U01).

This initiative is designed to broaden the DPC’s national impact. It provides an opportunity for institutions not currently part of the DPC to apply for funding to employ the consortium’s experimental methods to understand the effectiveness of biomedical research training, mentoring, or research capacity building interventions.

UPDATE: The slides [PDF, 350KB] from the SPAD Webinar have been posted.

We’ve just released a new funding opportunity announcement (FOA) soliciting applications for the Diversity Program Consortium’s Sponsored Programs Administration Development (SPAD) Program (UC2).  

A primary goal of the program is to enhance faculty and student participation in biomedical research and research training programs. These programs include undergraduate research programs, Academic Research Enhancement Awards (R15), and Support of Competitive Research (SC1, SC2, SC3), among others. Funded institutions are expected to develop offices that provide services such as professional development in targeted areas (e.g., enhancing grant-writing skills), pre- and post-award services, and certification-guided training of sponsored program staff and leadership.

UPDATE: The slides [PDF, 1.04MB] and video from the PRAT Program Applicant Webinar have been posted.

We recently reissued the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for the Postdoctoral Research Associate Training (PRAT) Program and will host a webinar for interested students and fellows:

Wednesday, June 19, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET

As announced earlier in the fiscal year, NIGMS is offering administrative supplements to NIGMS-funded R01, R35, and R37 awards for the purchase of single pieces of equipment.

The deadline for these supplement applications has been extended to June 25, 2019.

Prospective applicants frequently ask us whether their application ideas fit within our mission. NIGMS supports basic research that increases our understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. We also support research in some specific clinical areas that affect multiple organ systems, including anesthesia, sepsis, wound healing, and trauma. In addition, we're committed to training the next generation of scientists, enhancing the diversity of the scientific workforce, and developing research capacity throughout the country.

Not all applications for fundamental biomedical research projects will ultimately be assigned to NIGMS.  Other NIH institutes and centers (ICs) also have strong commitments to basic research that underlie an understanding of their own particular organ systems, diseases, or treatments. Each NIH IC is different and supports distinct research areas, so it’s wise to seek advice from the program where your science best fits. Before submitting an application to NIGMS, we strongly recommend that you contact the program director whose portfolio most closely matches your area of research.

NIGMS, along with 11 other NIH institutes and centers, is seeking Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) applications to develop methods that improve the reproducibility of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derivation, growth, and differentiation (RFA-GM-19-001). Human iPSCs are mature cells that have been reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell-like state and are able to differentiate into any cell type in the body. iPSCs are increasingly important research systems with a wide variety of applications, including studies of human development, tissue regeneration and repair, disease processes, and the development of new therapeutics. iPSCs and other regenerative technologies also have potential to transform clinical practice by creating living, functional tissues to repair or replace tissues or organs lost due to age, disease, damage, or congenital defects. Realizing the full potential of human iPSCs for both research and clinical practice has been limited by the significant variability in reprogramming efficiency, differentiation potential, and cell growth and stability. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will support SBIR projects to develop novel, reliable, and cost-effective methods to standardize and increase the utility and reproducibility of iPSCs at all stages, from their derivation to their research and clinical applications.

For the past few months, NIGMS has been reviewing its HIV/AIDS grant portfolio. As the HIV/AIDS field has matured and the necessary research directions have become clearer, the HIV/AIDS-related grants we’ve supported have, appropriately, become more narrowly focused. Because of this, and after close consultation with leadership at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), we’ve concluded that it’s in the best interest of the research to transition NIGMS’ HIV/AIDS portfolio to NIAID to allow improved scientific coordination, prioritization, and efficiency of management.

UPDATE: The slides [PDF, 1.42MB] and video from the R01/R21 Webinar have been posted.

We’ve just re-issued two funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) for technology research and development grants that support biomedical research areas within the NIGMS mission.

They are:

Exploratory Research for Technology Development (R21)
PAR-19-254
Two-year grants that support innovative, high-risk concepts for developing a new technology or radically improving an existing one. The R21 supports only novel concepts that haven't yet been tested for feasibility. Thus, unpublished data are not allowed. Because proof of concept must not already be developed, NIGMS expects the projects to be high risk.

Next application receipt date: June 16, 2019

Focused Technology Research and Development (R01)
PAR-19-253
Four-year grants that support development projects to validate and optimize a new technology. The R01 is for technologies that already have been shown to be feasible but need further technical work to produce a useful prototype. Projects with partial demonstration of feasibility but with substantial risk remaining could be submitted as a 3-year R01 with a reduced budget under this FOA.

Next application receipt date: June 5, 2019