I’m pleased to announce a new funding opportunity for a Support for Research Excellence (SuRE) U24 resource center (PAR-21-227) to broaden participation in the new SuRE R16 programs announced earlier this month, which replace the Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) program. The SuRE resource center will assist eligible institutions in building research capacity and training their professional staff and faculty.

Applicants to the SuRE resource center funding opportunity announcement are expected to have prior experience in managing multi-institutional endeavors and conducting outreach to a geographically diverse pool of applicants. Nonprofit institutions with a national reach (e.g., professional societies) are among those eligible to apply. 

UPDATE: This position is now closed.

We’re recruiting an accomplished scientist for a program officer position in the Biomedical Technology (BT) Branch of our Division of Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biosciences (BBCB). The successful applicant will be responsible for the scientific and administrative management of a portfolio of research grants and will stimulate, plan, advise, direct, and evaluate program activities related to their field of expertise. 

Our Division of Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biosciences (BBCB) is hosting a free virtual seminar with Nobel Laureate W.E. Moerner:

W.E. Moerner. Credit: Linda Cicero, Stanford News Service.

Finding the Hidden Molecules in High-Resolution Cryo-Electron Tomograms With Single-Molecule Microscopy
Tuesday, May 18, 1:30-2:30 p.m. ET

UPDATE: These positions are now closed.

We’re recruiting two accomplished scientists for program officer positions in the Division of Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biosciences. The successful applicants will be responsible for scientific and administrative management of a portfolio of research grants, and will stimulate, plan, advise, direct, and evaluate program activities related to their field of expertise.

The positions are in our Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Branch and Biophysics Branch.

NIGMS and other institutes and centers across NIH are partnering with the Office of Data Science Strategy to promote the development of a workforce with skills at the interface of information sciences, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), and biomedical sciences. As part of these efforts, we invite eligible institutions with NIGMS training (T32, T34), certain research education (R25), or institutional career development (K12) awards to apply for administrative supplements through NOT-OD-21-079. This funding opportunity supports the development and implementation of curricular or training activities that provide individuals with the skills to make biomedical data FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) and AI/ML-ready.

Grantees should consider the following before applying:

UPDATE: This position is now closed.

We’re recruiting for an outstanding individual to serve as the NIGMS clinical research strategy coordinator. The incumbent will report to our deputy director and assume a broad sphere of responsibilities that include:

• Advising on clinical research priorities with the NIGMS scope
• Providing guidance on the planning, development, implementation, evaluation, and optimization of NIGMS’ clinical research programs and initiatives as they affect a broad range of stakeholders, from the grantee community to the general public
• Representing NIGMS in collaborations with closely aligned clinical research programs across the NIH, other federal agencies, and beyond, such as coordinating Institute-wide initiatives involving NIH and external partners
• Participating in NIH-wide clinical research committees at a senior level
• Working closely with NIGMS division directors to identify trans-divisional resources, potential synergies, and needs related to the support of clinical research
• Performing program-specific responsibilities related to clinical research, including project scientist/coordinator roles for specific clinical studies
• Serving as a knowledgeable resource for activities related to clinical research, such as biobanks, institutional review boards, and data safety and monitoring boards
• Staying up to date with standards for ethical and business approaches and policies (e.g., informed consent, opt-outs, community consultation, commercialization) related to clinical research
• Providing input and guidance for the Institute’s clinical research training programs that develop the next generation of clinical scientists

UPDATE: This position is now closed.

We’re recruiting for an outstanding individual to serve as the NIGMS small business development strategy coordinator. The incumbent will report to our deputy director and assume a broad range of responsibilities including:

• Providing counsel and advice to NIGMS leadership on the planning, development, and implementation of our small business programs as they affect a broad range of stakeholders.
• Serving as the Institute’s expert on matters related to new technology development by small biomedical businesses.
• Serving as a liaison between NIGMS and the NIH Small Business Education and Entrepreneurial Development office, including coordinating the development of the NIGMS omnibus solicitation and cost cap waiver guidance topics.
• Representing NIGMS in collaborations with closely aligned programs across NIH and federal agencies, including the U.S. Small Business Administration, to develop priorities and set goals for the NIGMS Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program. In particular, they will identify opportunities for synergies and strategic relationships with small business development programs across NIH and the federal government.
• Serving as the central resource for NIGMS staff and extramural researchers for information on NIGMS small business development programs.
• Developing, coordinating, and facilitating programs to provide training and mentoring for the biomedical small business community related to commercialization and entrepreneurship.
• Facilitating interactions between the NIGMS-supported small business community and the private sector, as well as with external business development organizations.
• Developing new small business-related initiatives appropriate for NIGMS, such as supporting commercialization of research in the NIGMS technology development and capacity building programs.

NIGMS is pleased to announce our participation in Phase II of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics for Underserved Populations (RADx-UP), a $500 million NIH-wide initiative to understand and reduce morbidity and mortality disparities for vulnerable and underserved populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The initiative funds a national coordination center and a network of projects across the United States aimed at improving COVID-19 testing and understanding COVID-19 health disparities.

Four new RADx-UP Phase II funding opportunity announcements have been published:

We’re pleased to announce that two funding opportunities for the new Support for Research Excellence (SuRE) program, which replaces our Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) program, have been issued. SuRE R16 awards support investigator-initiated research projects in all NIH mission areas and are open to faculty at institutions that award science degrees (bachelor and/or graduate degrees), receive limited NIH research support, and serve students from groups underrepresented in biomedical research. Faculty with prior experience in leading independent research who aren’t currently program directors/principal investigators of active NIH research project grants may apply for a SuRE Award (PAR-21-169). Faculty who haven’t had any prior independent research grant support are encouraged to apply for the SuRE-First Award (PAR-21-173).

On December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, was signed into law. The appropriation provides NIGMS with a budget of $2,991,417,000, in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, a 1.8% increase over the FY 2020 appropriation. With this increased budget, NIGMS is committed to providing taxpayers with the best possible returns on their investments in fundamental biomedical research. As part of this commitment to stewardship, we regularly monitor trends in our funding portfolio.

NIGMS maintains a diversified biomedical research portfolio, supporting a wide range of topics and investigators. NIGMS and NIH programs and policies aim to increase the number of funded investigators and to maintain researchers’ funding stability over time. In this post, we describe NIGMS investigator-level trends for selected R01-equivalent grants as well as overall research project grant (RPG) trends for FY 2020 compared to previous fiscal years.