Our Biomedical Technology Research Resources (BTRRs)—until recently known as Biomedical Technology Research Centers—develop and disseminate cutting-edge technologies and methods that allow scientists nationwide to advance their projects beyond the levels that could be attained using commonly available laboratory resources. If you’re a researcher who works collaboratively to create and integrate potentially transformative biomedical technologies and are interested in providing service and training to the scientific community, you may want to apply for a BTRR grant. The first step is to submit your concept in a pre-application. Feedback from its review can help you decide whether to submit a full application. If you’re a biomedical researcher with a project in need of technology resources, you may be able to access them at an existing BTRR. The Biomedical Technology Resources Portal includes descriptions of the available resources, including those funded through NIH’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and instructions for accessing them. Before granting use of its technologies (whether remotely or in-person), the BTRR will evaluate your research project for demonstrated need as well as the level of engagement and assistance that would be required of resource staff. It’s also possible that, if your project has potential for advancing a newly emerging technology, you’ll be able to collaborate with BTRR investigators as they develop it. This close collaboration benefits your research and also furthers innovation at the BTRR. For more details about the BTRR program, please contact me or Doug Sheeley.

You may be interested in these recent funding opportunity announcements: NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) NIGMS is participating in additional BD2K programs, an NIH-wide initiative that enables the biomedical research community to use various types of big data for research:

• Development of an NIH BD2K Data Discovery Index Coordination Consortium (U24) (RFA-HL-14-031)

• BD2K-LINCS-Perturbation Data Coordination and Integration Center (U54) (RFA-HG-14-001)

• Mentored Career Development Award in Biomedical Big Data Science for Clinicians and Doctorally Prepared Scientists (K01) (RFA-HG-14-007)

• Courses for Skills Development in Biomedical Big Data Science (R25) (RFA-HG-14-008)

• Open Educational Resources for Biomedical Big Data (R25) (RFA-HG-14-009)

Research Centers for Pharmacogenomics in Precision Medicine (P50) (PAR-14-075) Purpose: This program will support a limited number of large-scale centers to conduct cutting-edge research studies designed to push the boundaries for understanding and predicting therapeutic drug responses. Letters of intent due date: 30 days before the application due dates Application due dates: September 25, 2014; September 25, 2015; and September 25, 2016. NIGMS contact: Rochelle Long, 301-594-3827.

You may be interested in these recent funding opportunity announcements (FOAs):

Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative

The first funding opportunities for the BRAIN Initiative, a large-scale effort aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain, are now available. To view the FOAs, visit http://braininitiative.nih.gov/funding_active.htm.

Common Fund Opportunities

The NIH Common Fund has issued FOAs under both the Single Cell Analysis and the Enhancing the Diversity of the NIH-Funded Workforce programs. A Webinar for potential applicants to the diversity FOAs will be held in January.

Career Development (K) Awards

K awards help transition new investigators to research independence.

• NIH Pathway to Independence Award (Parent K99/R00)
  (PA-14-042)
  

  Purpose: Help postdoctoral researchers complete mentored training and transition to an independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions and launch a competitive, independent research careers

  
  
• Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (Parent K08)
  (PA-14-046)
  

  Purpose: Provide individuals with clinical doctoral degrees with intensive, supervised career development experiences in biomedical and behavioral research, including translational research

  
  
• Mentored Quantitative Research Development Award (Parent K25)
  (PA-14-048)
  

  Purpose: Attract individuals with quantitative and engineering backgrounds to bring their expertise and skills to address NIH-relevant research questions

  
  
• Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (Parent K23)
  (PA-14-049)
  

  Purpose: Support individuals with a clinical doctoral degree who have made a commitment to focus their research endeavors on patient-oriented research

  
  

Application due dates: Standard dates apply.
NIGMS contact: Michael Sesma, 301-594-3900.

NIH has issued a new parent announcement for the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grant (T32) that incorporates many of the “mandatory special requirements” previously in an NIGMS T32 predoctoral grant application. As a result, eligible institutions applying for an NIGMS training grant with a due date on and after January 25, 2014, will no longer need to include this material as a separate section at the end of the background section but should instead address each of these requirements throughout the document. Changes in the new T32 announcement are based on recommendations of the Biomedical Workforce Working Group of the Advisory Committee to the Director, NIH. As stated in a related NIH Guide notice, T32 programs are now encouraged to make available career development advising as well as learning opportunities so that trainees obtain a working knowledge of various potential career directions and of the steps required to transition successfully to their next career stage. NIGMS-funded predoctoral training programs should provide support for trainees in their early years (e.g., years 1-3) to prepare them for subsequent, more differentiated research and for a variety of research careers. NIGMS predoctoral T32 programs are not intended to support students in the dissertation/independent phase of their doctoral research training. Each NIGMS T32 application must clearly:

• State the objectives of the proposed program and how they are distinct from or relate to other training programs at the same institution.
• Identify the faculty involved, describe their roles and responsibilities, and indicate whether they participate in other training programs at the same institution.
• Demonstrate access to a pool of highly promising scholars, including those who are underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences and individuals with disabilities.

In addition, NIGMS strongly encourages its programs to develop mathematical fluency among all trainees by integrating quantitative biology and/or advanced statistical approaches. NIGMS also expects funded training programs to evolve in response to changes in the field of science and to respond effectively to student needs and outcomes. The Institute is always interested in innovative approaches to training that will prepare a strong and diverse biomedical and behavioral research workforce for the 21st century. For more details, see our predoctoral T32 training grant Web page, which includes a link to slides on NIGMS predoctoral training program guidelines for 2014 (no longer available), as well as our postdoctoral T32 information. Prospective applicants are welcome to contact me or one of my colleagues who manage training grants with questions, comments or suggestions.

You may be interested in these recent funding opportunity announcements (FOAs): Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) Program, which offers three funding opportunities based on career level that are designed to increase the research competitiveness of faculty at minority-serving institutions and institutions with a historical mission of training students from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical research

• SC1 Research Advancement Award (PAR-14-019)

Purpose: Conduct high-quality research and increase research competitiveness by progressively enhancing the pace and productivity of projects Career level: Advanced formative stage

• SC2 Pilot Project Award (PAR-14-017)

Purpose: Test a new idea or gather preliminary data to establish a new line of research Career level: Early academic career

• SC3 Research Continuance Award (PAR-14-018)

Purpose: Continue engaging in meritorious biomedical or behavioral research projects of limited scope in a given biomedical or behavioral area within the NIH mission Career level: Intermediate stage

Application due dates: January 25, 2014; May 25, 2014; January 25, 2015; May 25, 2015; January 25, 2016; May 25, 2016 NIGMS contact: Hinda Zlotnik, 301-594-3900 Modeling the Scientific Workforce (U01) (RFA-GM-14-011) Purpose: Develop computational models and systems approaches to better understand the underlying dynamics that produce successful scientists, to examine strategies for increasing the diversity of the scientific workforce, to identify factors that influence participation in scientific training and questions in need of research, and to guide the collection and analysis of data used to develop these models Letter of intent due date: January 4, 2014 Application due date: February 4, 2014 NIGMS contact: Michael Sesma, 301-594-3900 Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (P20) (PAR-14-035) Purpose: Establish a thematic, multidisciplinary center in an IDeA-eligible state and enhance the ability of investigators to compete independently for NIH or other external peer-reviewed support Application due dates: February 26, 2014; January 28, 2015; January 28, 2016 NIGMS contact: Yanping Liu, 301-594-3900

You may be interested in these recent funding opportunity announcements (FOAs): Blood and Vascular Systems Response to Sepsis (R01) (RFA-HL-14-028) Purpose: Foster multidisciplinary research projects on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of blood and vascular systems in sepsis pathogenesis Letter of intent due date: January 6, 2014 Application due date: February 6, 2014 NIGMS contact: Sarah Dunsmore, 301-594-3827 Research on the Health Determinants and Consequences of Violence and Its Prevention, Particularly Firearm Violence (R01) (PA-13-363) Purpose: Examine the etiology and consequences of violence as they relate to the health of individuals and communities; test the efficacy and effectiveness of interventions to prevent violence and its precursors; enhance dissemination and implementation of evidence-based strategies into clinical and community settings Application due date: Standard dates apply NIGMS contact: Jeremy Brown, 301-594-4481

In partnership with nine other NIH institutes and centers (IC), we have issued a new R01 funding opportunity announcement (FOA) focused on modeling social behavior. It reflects a growing recognition in the scientific community of the need to apply innovative computational and systems approaches—which have already proven very beneficial in the biological sciences—to behavioral and social research. The FOA encourages research that explores the relationships among the parts of a system and between a system and its environment in order to understand the system as a whole. Specifically, we’re soliciting applications for developing and testing innovative theories and computational, mathematical or engineering approaches to deepen our understanding of complex social behavior. Proposals can be for exploratory or hypothesis-generating studies, or for a combination of both. Applications should demonstrate bridge-building between the behavioral and social sciences and the computational and systems sciences, and should focus on multiscale phenomena. Applicants may propose small research or infrastructure projects as well as larger, more integrative research projects on the modeling of complex social behavior. We encourage applications from transdisciplinary teams of scientists spanning a broad range of expertise. Standard R01 application due dates apply. The FOA lists the specific research interests of each participating IC. Examples of NIGMS topic areas include:

• The emergence of new functionality from simple behaviors.
• Understanding aspects of collective behavior, including the roles of resilience and of online and other dynamic social networks.
• The use of geocoded data, “big data” and new technologies for modeling and influencing collective behavior at multiple scales.

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact me or one of the other IC contacts for this FOA.

At our September Advisory Council meeting, I presented plans for transitioning the Pharmacogenomics Research Network (PGRN) from set-aside funding into the regular, competitive research pool. Council approved the plans, so we are now moving forward on them. The reshaped program will continue to fund research and network activities designed to propel discovery and implementation. We will also continue to coordinate our support of pharmacogenomics and precision medicine with other NIH institutes and offices.

Our transition plans include soliciting applications for a limited number of research centers (P50) and network resources (R24) as well as the PharmGKB knowledgebase (R24) and a coordinating center to support network functions (U01). New funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) will be published in early 2014, with application due dates beginning in the late spring. These FOAs will be program announcements with multiple receipt dates that are open for several years and will not have set-aside funds.

All investigators with an interest in pharmacogenomics who are funded through these and other mechanisms may indicate a desire to participate in the network beginning in July 2015. Many network activities will be based on the PGRN and other successful models.

I welcome your input on these changes.

You may be interested in these recent funding opportunity announcements (FOAs): Academic Research Enhancement Award (Parent R15) (PA-13-313) Purpose: Conduct small-scale research projects that expose students to meritorious research and strengthen the research environment of the AREA- or R15-eligible applicant institution Application due date: Standard dates apply NIGMS contact: Jean Chin, 301-594-2485 NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings (Parent R13/U13) (PA-13-347) Purpose: Coordinate high-quality scientific conferences that are relevant to the scientific mission of NIGMS and other participating NIH components Application due date: Standard dates apply NIGMS contact: Ann Hagan, 301-594-4499 NIGMS National Centers for Systems Biology (P50) (PAR-13-351) Purpose: Promote pioneering research, research training, education and outreach programs focused on systems-level inquiries of biomedical phenomena within the NIGMS mission Letter of intent due date: 30 days prior to the application due date Application due dates: October 23, 2013; October 23, 2014 NIGMS contacts: Paul Brazhnik and Peter Lyster, 301-451-6446 Bridges to the Doctorate (R25) (PAR-13-341) Purpose: Promote partnerships/consortia between colleges or universities granting a terminal master’s degree and institutions that offer the doctorate degree, with the goal of increasing the pool of master’s degree students from underrepresented backgrounds who pursue research careers in the biomedical and behavioral sciences and who are trained and available to participate in NIH-funded research Application due dates: November 1, 2013; September 25, 2014; September 25, 2015 NIGMS contact: Michelle R.J. Hamlet, 301-594-3900 The Bridges to the Doctorate Web site offers additional details about the program, including FAQs and application resources.

NIH’s recent focus on data-intensive and data-driven biomedical research makes this an exciting time for me to be joining NIGMS and leading its Division of Biomedical Technology, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology (BBCB). New steps toward harnessing the power of data began well before my arrival and include the NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) initiative. The overarching aim of this initiative is to enable, by the end of this decade, a “quantum leap” in the ability of the biomedical and behavioral research enterprise to use the growing volume of complex data to produce important insights into biological systems. This is an ambitious goal that requires the collective engagement and expertise of NIH’s many institutes, centers, and offices, including NIGMS, as well as the scientific community. My colleagues from across NIH have already come together to discuss future solutions that will benefit NIH and the research community as a whole. We recognize that no one-size-fits-all solution will emerge as the “data quantum leap.” Our hope is that by engaging academic, industrial and other biomedical stakeholders, we will impact the volume, variety, velocity, viability and ultimately value of the data that NIH invests in. To jumpstart this activity, NIH recently issued a new funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for Centers of Excellence for Big Data Computing in the Biomedical Sciences. The purpose is to establish an interactive consortium of centers that will develop approaches, methods and software tools for the aggregation, integration, analysis and visualization of data across NIH-funded research areas. NIH also has issued a request for information on the development of analysis methods and software for big data; responses are due by September 6. NIGMS and the BBCB staff were actively involved in crafting the new FOA and, more generally, have played a central role in the creation and organization of the BD2K initiative. We will continue to be active partners in this endeavor. Big data is just one example of the division’s efforts. We foster research in a range of fields, including computational biology, bioinformatics, mathematical and statistical biology, and biomedical technology development. We also support programs that train people in many of these areas. I’m so happy to be involved in shaping the division’s activities, and I look forward to working together with many of you to continue innovating basic biomedical research.