I’m pleased to announce that the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Phase 2 funding opportunity announcement (FOA) (PAR-23-063) has been reissued. The COBRE program supports the establishment and development of innovative biomedical and behavioral research centers at Institutional Development Award (IDeA)-eligible institutions. The goal of this FOA is to strengthen successful Phase 1 centers through further research infrastructure improvements and continued development of investigators with shared scientific interests who can compete effectively for independent research funding.

Application receipt date: May 29, 2023
Earliest start date: April 2024

As you may be aware, NIH will implement a new policy to promote the sharing of scientific data. This policy, which will require NIH grantees to submit a data management and sharing (DMS) plan as part of a grant application, goes into effect January 25. NIGMS believes that, in general, most of our grantees already meet the new NIH policy requirements, which we explain more fully in a list of FAQs.

Sharing scientific data accelerates biomedical research discovery, in part, by enabling validation of research results, providing accessibility to high-value datasets, and promoting data reuse for future research studies. Submitting a DMS plan as part of a grant application will formalize what NIGMS principal investigators already do and make explicit their plans for sharing data with the larger scientific community. Most DMS plans are expected to be concise (no more than two pages), and a sample plan is available, with a final fillable version available soon.

NIH has developed a website with details about the policy, guidance, and implementation. If you have questions about this new requirement after reviewing our FAQs, please contact NIH DMS policy staff or your NIGMS program officer.

We’re pleased to announce a virtual “office hour” for people interested in applying for our Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) and Graduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (G-RISE) programs. The next application due date for both programs is January 30, 2023.

These research training programs share the goal of developing a diverse pool of scientists earning a biomedical Ph.D., but have different institutional eligibility based on NIH research project grant (RPG) support. IMSD eligibility is limited to research-intensive institutions (i.e., those with an average of funding greater than or equal to $7.5 million total costs over the last 3 fiscal years) while G-RISE eligibility is limited to research-active institutions (i.e., those with an average of NIH RPG funding less than $7.5 million total costs over the last 3 fiscal years). 

We’re pleased to announce that the Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) funding opportunity announcement (FOA) has been reissued (PAR-22-220). PREP’s goal is to develop a diverse pool of well-trained postbaccalaureates who transition into and complete rigorous biomedical, research-focused doctoral degree programs (e.g., Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D.) in biomedical fields relevant to the NIGMS mission. 

We’re hosting a webinar to discuss the key features of this FOA and to answer your questions:

Friday, December 9, 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET
Zoom Meeting link
Meeting ID: 161 199 4922
Passcode: 153463
Join by phone: 669-254-5252 (San Jose) or 646-828-7666 (New York)

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve published two notices of special interest (NOSIs) requesting applications to PAR-22-250, Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Phase 1 (P20 Clinical Trial Optional), to build research capacity in data sciences (NOT-GM-23-011) and women’s health (NOT-GM-23-012) in IDeA states.

These NOSIs highlight the Office of Data Science Strategy’s interest in supporting meritorious applications on data science relevant to biomedical research, and the Office of Research on Women’s Health’s interest in supporting a meritorious application on women’s health.

I’m pleased to announce that the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for established and new investigators (PAR-22-180) has been reissued. MIRA provides support for the program of research in an investigator’s laboratory that falls within the NIGMS mission. The next application due date is January 17, 2023.

We’re hosting a webinar to discuss the key features of this FOA and to answer your questions:

Friday, October 21, 12:30-2:00 p.m. ET
Zoom meeting link
Meeting ID: 160 903 8368
Passcode: NIGMS

I'm pleased to announce that the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Phase 1 funding opportunity announcement (FOA) (PAR-22-250) has been reissued. The COBRE program supports the establishment and development of innovative biomedical and behavioral research centers at Institutional Development Award (IDeA)-eligible institutions. The goal of this FOA is to establish a center of excellence that helps develop a critical mass of investigators and improve infrastructure in an area of biomedical research.

Application receipt date: January 30, 2023
Earliest start date: December 2023

Grants.gov is migrating to the cloud, resulting in a period of planned downtime for the website. Though necessary, the downtime will significantly impact preparing and submitting your grant applications to NIH. The Grants.gov system outage will begin on Friday, September 23, at 12:01 a.m. ET, and end on Thursday, September 29, at 11:59 p.m. ET.

In response to this system outage, application due dates falling between September 22 and September 30 will move to October 3. You can learn more about these deadlines in NOT-OD-22-190, as well as on the Grants.gov community blog and the NIH Office of Extramural Research website.

Are you preparing a grant application for the Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Awards (IRACDA) program? If so, please join our webinar to learn about the program, changes to the funding announcement, and application components. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions:

Wednesday, August 17, 2:30-4:00 p.m. ET
Zoom Meeting link
Meeting ID: 160 376 1132
Passcode: 700665

Join us for a three-part webinar series designed for faculty and sponsored programs/research development personnel at institutions building research and research training capacity. During the webinars, we’ll share our suggestions for navigating the process of seeking NIH funding. You’ll also learn considerations for determining research idea and grant writing readiness, selecting opportunities to apply for, and effectively writing your grant application and seeking appropriate feedback.