UPDATE: This position is now closed.

We’re seeking a highly qualified Branch Chief for our Division of Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity (TWD). Applicants should have interest and experience in the areas managed by the Postdoctoral, Early Career, and Workforce Development Branch. Position responsibilities include programmatic and administrative planning, management, and evaluation; optimization of Branch procedures; and oversight of the grant portfolio activities of the Branch program directors. The Branch Chief will also manage a grant portfolio and will work closely with the other TWD Branch Chiefs and the Division Director.

We’re pleased to announce that the notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) R15 program for undergraduate-focused institutions has been reissued as PAR-24-152 (clinical trial not allowed). NIGMS supports R15 grants through this NOFO for research in scientific areas related to our mission.

As graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, you may find yourself searching for opportunities to support the current or next stage of your research training. NIGMS has a long history of fostering research training and developing a strong biomedical research workforce through a variety of programs at all education levels. Many of our research training grants are made to organizations, which in turn select the students or postdoctoral researchers who’ll receive support. This post focuses on programs individual graduate students and postdoctoral scientists can directly apply to, regardless of your institutional or organizational affiliation.  

UPDATE: This position is now closed.

We’re seeking a highly qualified scientist to serve as Branch Chief for our Division of Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biosciences (BBCB). Applicants should have interest and experience in the scientific areas managed by the Biomedical Technology Branch. Position responsibilities include scientific and administrative planning, management, and evaluation; optimization of Branch procedures; and overseeing of Branch program directors' grant portfolio activities. The Branch Chief will also manage a research grant portfolio and work collaboratively with the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and Biophysics Branch Chiefs and the BBCB Division Director.

We’re pleased to announce that the notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs) for the Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE) (PAR-24-137) and Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) (PAR-24-138) programs have been reissued. These NOFOs aim to promote broad participation in the biomedical research workforce by strengthening research training environments and expanding the pool of well-trained students who:

• Complete their baccalaureate degree, and
• Transition into and complete biomedical, research-focused higher degree programs (such as a Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D.).

We’re pleased to announce a virtual “office hour” on May 1 for potential applicants to our new Advancing Research Careers (ARC) predoctoral to postdoctoral transition award (F99/K00).

The ARC program 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) and an institutional research education cooperative agreement (UE5) to provide these scholars with additional mentoring, networking, and professional development activities. The office hour will focus on the F99/K00 portion.

UPDATE: The SuRE webinar occurred on April 2. The video is now available.

We’re pleased to announce that two funding opportunities for the Support for Research Excellence (SuRE) program have been reissued.

SuRE awards support investigator-initiated research projects in NIH mission areas and are open to faculty at institutions that award bachelor and/or graduate science degrees, receive limited NIH research support, and either serve a substantial number of students supported by Pell grants or are historically Black colleges and universities or Tribal colleges and universities. Faculty investigators who aren’t currently program directors/principal investigators (PD/PIs) of an active NIH research project grant are eligible to apply for a SuRE award (PAR-24-144). Faculty who haven’t had any prior independent research funding as PD/PIs are encouraged to apply for the SuRE-First award (PAR-24-145).

NIGMS supports a wide range of research, training, workforce development, and institutional capacity building grants in the biomedical sciences. While NIH’s Center for Scientific Review reviews the majority of our investigator-initiated research grants (read our post on NIGMS RPGs), NIGMS has its own scientific review branch (SRB) that manages the review of applications to programs in workforce development and in research capacity building (past posts on training and capacity building provide more information). These programs often require reviewers with unique experiences, in addition to scientific or technical expertise. Thus, SRB is always searching for volunteers with varying experiences and scientific expertise from all career stages, funding and review experiences, geographic locations, and institution types to provide expert reviews. Some examples include individuals familiar with research training programs, institutional administration, faculty mentorship, Tribal communities, and people with experience conducting research in states that are eligible for Institutional Development Awards.

NIGMS continues to support a broad range of scientific topics and investigators within its research portfolio, including support for investigator-initiated research project grants (RPGs) at institutions throughout the country. As part of its commitment to transparency, NIGMS examines and publishes data on annual trends reflected in its RPG portfolio. In this post, we review and describe investigator-level trends associated with competing R01/R01-equivalent RPGs including those in the Institute’s R35 Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) program.

UPDATE: The video for this webinar is available.

We’re pleased to announce our Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) has been reissued (PAR-24-128). This NOFO continues our support of eligible, domestic organizations to develop and implement effective, evidence-informed approaches to dual-degree training and mentoring that will keep pace with the rapid evolution of the biomedical research enterprise and lead to the completion of both a clinical degree (for example, M.D., D.O., D.V.M., D.D.S., Pharm.D.) and a research doctorate degree (Ph.D.). We expect that the proposed research training programs will incorporate didactic, research, and career development elements to prepare trainees for careers that will have a significant impact on the health-related research needs of the nation.