The NIGMS Sandbox, a cloud-based learning platform that teaches students, researchers, and clinicians how to harness cloud technology for life sciences applications and research, has been featured in a special supplement of Briefings in Bioinformatics.

Last year, NIH implemented a data management and sharing (DMS) policy to promote the sharing of scientific data. The policy requires that NIH grantees submit a DMS plan as part of their grant application. The great news is that most of our grantees already meet NIH’s DMS requirements, which we explain more fully in a list of FAQs.

UPDATE: The videofor this webinar is now available.

We’re pleased to announce the availability of administrative supplements to develop cloud-based biomedical data science training modules (NOT-GM-24-006). The supplements are available to NIGMS awardees of the following programs:

• Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Networks for Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE)
• Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH)
• NIGMS institutional training (T34, T32) grants
• Research education (R25) grants that support undergraduate, graduate student, or postdoctoral trainees

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.

A recent analysis by NIGMS staff has uncovered some promising results for women entering academic positions in the biomedical sciences. The study, which published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), found that once men and women receive their first major NIH grant, their funding longevity is similar. The data contradict the common assumption that, across all career stages, women are at a large disadvantage compared to men.

The results of the analysis should be encouraging for women interested in becoming independent investigators, since the likelihood of sustaining NIH grant support may be better than commonly perceived. You can read the full study, “NIH Funding Longevity by Gender,” in the current edition of PNAS.

One question that has been asked about the Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) for Early Stage Investigators is how awardees will be affected by the fact that they cannot have additional NIGMS research grants. In response to this question, we reviewed the research project grant (RPG) funding history of all 707 Principal Investigators (PIs) who received an NIGMS R01 as an Early Stage Investigator (ESI) between Fiscal Years 2009 and 2015. The PIs were grouped by Year of PI, which ranges from Year 1 to Year 5 (five years is the typical length of an ESI R01 award). Year 1 is the year in which the PI was awarded his or her initial R01, and Year 2-Year 5 represent the subsequent years. The awards and funding history of each PI were confined to Fiscal Years 2009-2015; thus, all PIs are included in the Year 1 group, while those who received their initial R01 in 2013, for example, would only appear in the Year 1-Year 3 groups. The distribution of NIGMS awards (including subprojects) for these PIs is depicted below.