Credit: NIGMS.

I'm pleased to share three changes to our leadership team at NIGMS.

Erica Brown will serve as acting deputy director of NIGMS following Dorit Zuk’s retirement. As our acting deputy director, Erica will oversee and provide leadership on all NIGMS matters.

Erica has served in several leadership roles at NIH. Most recently, she was the director of the Division of Extramural Activities (DEA) and the executive secretary of the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council.

Dr. Tony Beck. Credit: NIGMS.

We’re greatly saddened to share that L. Tony Beck, Ph.D., died of natural causes on April 7, 2025, while on the NIH campus. He was heading to the job that defined the later part of his career, which was serving as the program director for the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program. Tony also oversaw the STEM interactive digital media small business (SBIR/STTR) and IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) programs for NIGMS.

Path to a Scientific Career

Tony was born in Rancho Cucamonga, California. He earned a B.A. and an M.S. in biological sciences at the University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside), and a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from the University of California, Irvine. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for Cancer Research.

We would like to remind the training community about and encourage applications to the Trans-Departmental Basic Biomedical Sciences (TBB) predoctoral training program. TBB is one of 12 basic biomedical sciences areas NIGMS supports through PAR-23-228. The goals are to broaden the scope and the institutional and geographic distribution of NIGMS basic biomedical research training programs, as well as to enhance research training capacity. In contrast to other programs focused on specific scientific areas, the TBB program provides students with research training opportunities from the breadth of biomedical disciplines at participating organizations.

We're hosting an informational webinar about the Instrumentation Grant Program for Resource-Limited Institutions (RLI-S10) (PAR-23-138). The next application deadline is July 3, 2025.

The RLI-S10 program goals include:

UPDATE: For consideration in FY25, applicants are strongly encouraged to submit supplement requests by April 18, 2025.

We’re accepting applications for administrative supplements through PA-20-272, Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional), and any subsequent reissuances. Requests must be within the scope of the approved grant award and must be in response to something that was unanticipated when the competing application was submitted. In addition, the award to be supplemented must be active and cannot be in a no-cost extension.

UPDATE: This webinar has been cancelled.

Are you or other principal investigators at your institution preparing a grant application for the NIH Research Enhancement Awards (R15) program? If so, please join our upcoming webinar to learn about the various NIH R15 programs, the one NIGMS participates in, and application components. You'll also have the opportunity to ask questions:

Thursday, January 30, 2:30-4:00 p.m. ET
Zoom registration
Event webpage

We invite investigators to apply for funding through our biomedical technology optimization and dissemination (BTOD) program (PAR-23-110). This initiative supports the creation of BTOD centers dedicated to optimizing and broadly disseminating state-of-the-art, mission-relevant, late-stage technologies to both experts and nonexperts in biomedical research.

BTOD centers are built around three tightly integrated components (refer to diagram):

• Technology optimization projects
• Driving biomedical projects
• Community engagement

We’re hosting a virtual “office hour” on January 8 for potential applicants to our Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP).

PREP’s goal is to develop a well-trained pool of postbaccalaureates who will transition into and complete rigorous biomedical, research-focused doctoral degree programs (such as Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D.) in biomedical fields relevant to the NIGMS mission.

During the meeting, we’ll provide a brief overview of the PREP funding opportunity and answer your programmatic, budget, and scientific review questions. Those interested in joining the office hour are strongly encouraged to review the 2022 PREP prospective applicant webinar, companion slide deck [PDF], and NOT-GM-24-010 for recent budget guidance.

We’re hosting an informational webinar for potential applicants to the Advancing Research Careers (ARC) program. ARC is part of the National Institutes of Health’s efforts to promote broad participation within the biomedical research workforce. It has two components: an individual predoctoral-to-postdoctoral career transition award (F99/K00; PAR-25-084) and an institutional research education cooperative agreement (UE5; PAR-23-221).

Webinar Information:

Tuesday, January 7, 3:00-4:30 p.m. ET
Zoom link
Meeting ID: 160 701 7235
Passcode: NIGMS

We’re hosting a virtual question-and-answer “office hour” on Monday, January 13, 2025, for our basic biomedical and medical scientist T32 programs:

• NIGMS Predoctoral Basic Biomedical Sciences Research Training Program (PAR-23-228). Next application due date: January 25, 2025.
• Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) (PAR-24-128). Next application due date: January 25, 2025.
• Leading Equity and Diversity in the Medical Scientist Training Program (LEAD MSTP) (PAR-23-030). Next application due date: January 27, 2025.