To continue our efforts to catalyze the modernization of biomedical research training and career development, we invite eligible institutions with NIGMS training (T32, T34), certain research education (R25), or institutional career development (K12) awards to apply for administrative supplements to develop and implement curricular, training, or administrative activities to enhance:

• Laboratory safety curriculum and a culture of safety in biomedical research training environments (NOT-GM-22-010)
• Safe and inclusive biomedical research training environments (NOT-GM-22-011)
• Undergraduate biomedical research training (NOT-GM-22-012) (T34 and R25 undergraduate programs only)
• Program evaluation capacity (NOT-GM-22-013)
• Mentoring in the research training environment (NOT-GM-22-014)
• Wellness and resilience (NOT-GM-22-015)

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.

To continue our efforts to catalyze the modernization of biomedical research training and career development, we invite eligible institutions with NIGMS training (T32, T34), certain research education (R25), or institutional career development (K12) awards to apply for administrative supplements to develop and implement curricular, training, or administrative activities to:

As institutions continue to work with virtual learning modalities and in honor of National Mentoring Month, we’d like to share some useful resources from the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN). Supported by the NIH Common Fund and managed by NIGMS, the network offers free online mentoring tools and learning resources for individuals ranging from undergraduate students to faculty.

After signing up for an NRMN account through an easy, online process, you can access the network’s mentoring tools and resources, including MyNRMN. The MyNRMN platform allows you to browse and connect with other scientists, and it can match you with a mentor or mentee with similar research interests. Through video chats, instant messaging, and file sharing between mentors and mentees, you can design a mentorship program that fits your needs.  

During our Starting Your Own Lab webinar, attendees asked so many insightful questions that we ran out of time to respond to all of them. So we asked nine NIGMS early career investigators to tackle the most popular ones in short videos, which were featured on our social media. Now, you can watch the whole series on our YouTube channel.

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:

UPDATE: Additional webinars have been announced. View the full schedule.

We’re pleased to announce a new webinar series for students, postdocs, and faculty. Each hour-long webinar will include a 10- to 15-minute presentation by the speaker followed by a moderated question and answer session. Our hope is that these webinars will enhance our trainees’ ongoing learning experiences. 

The webinar series kicks off next Monday, May 4, and a tentative list of dates and speakers is below. As plans are finalized, additional details will be posted on our website.