We’re pleased to share that the NIGMS National and Regional Resource Program (R24) funding opportunity announcement (FOA) has been reissued (PAR-22-065). This program began in 2019 to provide access to state-of-the-art facilities, equipment, technologies, research tools, and software that aren’t generally available to a large number of researchers. To date, the program has established 12 resources that serve the scientific community on a national or multistate regional basis and offer a breadth of technologies. Below, we highlight just a few. We encourage you to explore all of the resources made available through this program and to learn more about the new FOA on our National and Regional Resources webpage.  

We’re pleased to announce a new notice of special interest (NOSI) calling for applications developing training modules for creating safe, inclusive, and supportive research environments (NOT-GM-20-047). The proposed modules should impact individuals from a broad range of scientific disciplines and career stages and cover material not typically taught as part of current institutional coursework. The modules can take many different formats and approaches and should be timely, informative, engaging, easily accessible, and free to everyone. Applications must address how the modules will catalyze either of the following:

NIGMS recognizes the need to provide support to grantees for equipment, particularly to replace essential instrumentation that breaks down, or to expand into rapidly growing research areas. As an example, advances in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) detectors, microscopes, and methods have made acquisition of atomic resolution structural data a reality, and investigators need these to prepare viable specimens and process data in their home labs to successfully utilize cryo-EM data collection resources elsewhere.

We’re pleased to share with you recent funding opportunities for equipment support.

NIGMS is committed to supporting safety in the nation’s biomedical research and training environments. Last April, we shared with you resources for enhancing lab safety in biomedical research training environments. Now, in a perspective in the current issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC), we focus on strategies for improving laboratory safety. Some of these strategies are also applicable to other forms of safety including the prevention of harassment, intimidation, and discrimination. We frame the problem of laboratory safety using a number of recent examples of tragic accidents, highlight some of the lessons that have been learned from these and other events, discuss what NIGMS is doing to address problems related to laboratory safety, and outline steps that institutions can take to improve their safety cultures.

I’d like to remind the NIGMS community of our clearinghouse site of materials designed to teach rigorous experimental design and enhance data reproducibility. There, you’ll find links to a number of online resources including:

The safety of trainees and other lab workers from accidents, violence, harassment, and inappropriate behavior is a high priority for NIGMS. Because the Institute has such a large training and workforce development portfolio, we feel that we should play a central role in promoting the development of a robust culture of safety in biomedical research training environments.

As part of this effort, we recently announced the availability of supplements for research education, training, and career development grants to enhance laboratory safety curricula and to build a culture of safety in biomedical research training environments (NOT-GM-20-016). To provide additional resources to enhance safety, we have now launched an NIGMS website highlighting laboratory safety training and guidelines. On this page, you’ll find links to a number of online resources including:

If you’re considering applying to the Collaborative Program Grant for Multidisciplinary Teams (PAR-20-103) or to the Biomedical Technology Development and Dissemination Center (PAR-20-104) funding opportunity announcements (FOAs), you’ll want to join our webinar:

Thursday, March 5, 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET

As we did last year, we’re offering administrative supplements to NIGMS-funded awards for the purchase of helium recovery systems.

The deadline for these supplement applications is March 30, 2020.

As in previous years, we're offering administrative supplements to NIGMS-funded R01, R35, and R37 awards for the purchase of single equipment systems (such as components of a working microscope).

The deadline for these supplement applications is March 30, 2020.

NIH has published two new funding opportunity announcements (FOAs): PAR-20-089, Biomedical Data Repository (U24 - Clinical Trials Not Allowed) and PAR-20-097, Biomedical Knowledgebase (U24 - Clinical Trials Not Allowed). As noted in the FOAs, data repositories and knowledgebases have distinct functions, metrics for success, and sustainability needs. In order to support these resources most effectively, NIGMS intends to fund them as separate cooperative agreement grants. NIGMS applications proposing a free-standing data repository or knowledgebase resource must apply under one of these FOAs. Thus, applications submitted as R01s or R35s will not be considered for funding.

For questions about NIGMS’ support for these resources, please contact Veerasamy Ravichandran.