We recently published a notice (NOT-GM-20-050) announcing a single receipt date each year for our Research to Understand and Inform Interventions that Promote the Research Careers of Individuals in Biomedical Sciences (R01/R35) program.

The purpose of the program is to better understand the factors (e.g., social and behavioral) contributing to the success of individuals pursuing independent academic biomedical research careers. It supports research to enhance evidence for effective, high-impact, scalable interventions that may be focused on training programs, psychosocial factors, critical career transition points, or institutional culture. Due in part to the small number of applications received in response to this funding opportunity, the change in the program’s receipt date will allow us to increase efficiencies in the grant application review process.

UPDATE: The position is now closed.

We’re recruiting for an accomplished scientist with interest and experience in total body responses to traumatic and other injuries, as well as sepsis, to join the Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences (PPS) Branch of the Division of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biological Chemistry (PPBC). The successful applicant will have responsibility for scientific and administrative management of a portfolio of research, career development, and training grants. Opportunities also exist for Small Business Innovation and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) grants.

UPDATE: This position is now closed.

We’re recruiting for an outstanding individual to serve as branch chief in our Division of Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biosciences (BBCB). This person will oversee the scientific and administrative management of the Biomedical Technology (BT) Branch and will be responsible for advising, directing, and evaluating program activities for a portfolio of research grants in one of the branch areas.

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:

If you’re planning to submit an application for the NIGMS Institutional Predoctoral Training Grant (T32) program in the basic biomedical sciences (PAR-20-213) for receipt dates on or after September 25, don’t miss our upcoming webinar:

Friday, August 28, 12:00-1:30 p.m. ET

We’ve joined the NIH Office of the Director and several institutes in two Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Radical (RADx-rad) initiative funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). These FOAs offer an excellent opportunity for NIGMS-supported researchers with expertise in technology development and/or artificial intelligence/machine learning to conduct innovative research addressing the public health emergency caused by COVID-19.

Credit: NIGMS.

We in the NIGMS family are deeply saddened by the loss of our former director Marvin Cassman, Ph.D., on August 6. Dr. Cassman joined NIGMS in 1975 as a health scientist administrator in what was then the Cellular and Molecular Basis of Disease Program, advancing through the ranks to become NIGMS’ deputy director, acting director, and from 1996 to 2002, director. Dr. Cassman’s tenure as director coincided with the period of NIH’s budget doubling, and he ably led NIGMS’ establishment of key initiatives that have had a worldwide impact. These included the Protein Structure Initiative, the goal of which was to make the three-dimensional, atomic-level structures of most proteins easily obtainable from knowledge of their corresponding DNA sequences. This enabled investigators to apply the new paradigm of high-throughput structure determination to study important biological and biomedical problems.

Are you preparing a grant application for the Bridges to the Baccalaureate or Bridges to the Doctorate institutional research training program? If so, please join our informational webinar to learn about the programs and application components. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions:

Tuesday, August 25, 2:00-4:00 p.m. ET

We were unable to get together for this year’s National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence. In response to requests from the community, we’re hosting a virtual meeting for investigators and program leaders supported by the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program:

Tuesday, September 22, 2:00-5:30 p.m. ET

UPDATE: The video and slides [PDF] from the MOSAIC webinar are now available.

Last summer, we shared with you our new Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). MOSAIC, which NIGMS oversees, is part of NIH’s efforts to enhance diversity within the academic biomedical research workforce. It’s designed to facilitate the transition of promising postdoctoral researchers from diverse backgrounds into independent faculty careers at research-intensive institutions. The program has two components: a research education cooperative agreement (UE5) and a postdoctoral career transition award (K99/R00).