IN
THIS ISSUE . . .
February 22, 2006
A Message from the NIGMS Director
Advisory Council Concept Clearances
Funding Opportunities
NIGMS-Sponsored Events
Research Administration Notes
Resources
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
is one of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. By supporting
basic biomedical research and training nationwide, NIGMS
lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis,
treatment, and prevention.
The NIGMS Feedback Loop is an e-mail newsletter
alerting researchers to NIGMS funding
opportunities, trends, and plans. We encourage your
input
and feedback on Institute activities.
All NIGMS grantees are automatically subscribed to the
NIGMS Feedback Loop; other interested individuals
are encouraged to subscribe themselves. To subscribe,
change your subscription options, or unsubscribe, visit
the NIGMS Feedback Loop subscription
page on the NIH LISTSERV Web site.
Subscribe to the RSS version of the NIGMS Feedback Loop by selecting this XML link and following your news reader's instructions for adding a feed.
A Message from the NIGMS Director
Developing a strong scientific workforce is a core element
of the NIGMS mission. We support this goal through a range
of training programs in addition to our research funding
activities.
One NIGMS component, the Division
of Minority Opportunities in Research (MORE), focuses
on increasing the representation of groups that have traditionally
been underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce.
The division utilizes a wide variety of mechanisms to
address this aim.
Recently, the National
Advisory General Medical Sciences Council formed a
working group to examine MORE division programs and explore
alternative approaches to increasing the diversity of
the biomedical workforce to more closely match the diversity
of American society. The working group presented its initial
report at the January 26 advisory council meeting. The
report is now available on the NIGMS Web site, and I invite
those of you with an interest in mentoring, training,
or workforce issues to read
it.
The efforts of this working group are linked to similar
efforts across NIH to examine existing programs and consider
creative new approaches to broadening participation in
biomedical research. On January 27, NIH director Elias
A. Zerhouni announced one such activity: the NIH Pathway
to Independence award, a new program to aid the transition
of scientists to independent careers. These awards will
support 1 to 2 years of mentored postdoctoral work followed
by up to 3 years of research in an independent, tenure-track
or equivalent position. Both U.S. citizens and noncitizens
are eligible for these awards. Women and members of groups
underrepresented in biomedical research are encouraged
to apply. The first deadline for applications is April
7, 2006.
All NIH institutes and centers are participating in this
program. In making funding decisions, NIGMS will give
high priority to applications that are directly related
to the missions of its divisions
and center, including those of the MORE division.
On February 6, the President released his budget request
for Fiscal Year 2007. The proposed budget for NIH is $28.587
billion, the same as the budget enacted for Fiscal Year
2006. The proposed budget for NIGMS is $1.923 billion,
a reduction of 0.7 percent from the $1.936 billion budget
enacted for Fiscal Year 2006. In mid-March, Dr. Zerhouni
will present the Fiscal Year 2007 NIH budget to the House
and Senate appropriations subcommittees for their consideration
and action.
Following up on the data
for R01 grants presented in the previous edition of
the Feedback Loop, we have posted plots of the number
of grants funded versus the priority score for Fiscal
Year 2005 for three
additional mechanisms: Small Business Innovation Research
(SBIR) grants (R43), Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research
Service Awards for Individual Postdoctoral Fellows (F32),
and Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) grants
(R15).
I welcome your feedback on these or other topics.
Jeremy M. Berg
Director
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
bergj@mail.nih.gov
Advisory Council Concept Clearances
Proposed new NIGMS research and training programs are
made public at the open session of National Advisory General
Medical Sciences Council meetings. Council approval of
new initiatives (and major changes to existing initiatives)
is called “concept clearance.” Concept clearance authorizes
NIGMS staff to develop plans, publish announcements in
the NIH Guide
for Grants and Contracts, and fund grants. During
the initiative planning stages that follow concept clearance,
NIGMS welcomes comments and suggestions from the community.
At its September 2005 meeting, the Council discussed
the concept clearances summarized below. For additional
details, see the Council
minutes or contact the identified NIGMS staff member.
Basic Research on Human Embryonic
Stem Cells
NIGMS is the major source of NIH support for research
on the basic biology of human embryonic stem cells (hESC).
The current NIGMS commitment of $7 million to support
small-scale efforts (supplements and P20 Exploratory Centers)
will end in Fiscal Year 2006-Fiscal Year 2008. In order
to maintain the Institute's commitment to basic hESC research
in future years, the Council approved a request for applications
for program project (P01) grants. The plan for program
projects was developed with input from NIGMS grantees
who attended an April 2005 workshop
on recent progress and future directions in hESC research.
Each grant would include core resources to provide an
institutional infrastructure to grow, maintain, and further
characterize federally approved hESC lines. This core
also would support the development of research tools and
reagents to enhance the use of hESC as a model system
and train investigators to work with hESC. In addition,
each program project must also support at least three
related, R01-like hESC research projects relevant to the
NIGMS mission.
NIGMS has set aside $6 million in Fiscal Year 2007 to
fund up to three grants under this initiative, which is
still being developed. We welcome your suggestions.
For more information or to comment, contact NIGMS program
director Marion Zatz at zatzm@nigms.nih.gov
or 301-594-0943.
Economic, Ethical, Legal, and
Social Studies of Pharmacogenetics Research
The Council approved a program announcement for R01 applications
addressing economic, ethical, legal, and social issues
(EELSI) related to pharmacogenetics research and the challenge
of translating basic research results into clinical practice.
Areas of interest under consideration for the program
include banking samples, informed consent, data-sharing,
rights to intellectual property in pharmacogenetics, economic
factors in medical and personal decision making, cultural
preferences in personalized medicine, and how pharmacogenetic
tests differ from other genetic testing.
The EELSI program announcement is still being developed,
and we seek input from researchers with expertise in these
and other relevant areas.
For more information or to comment, contact NIGMS program
director Rochelle Long at longr@nigms.nih.gov
or 301-594-3827.
Funding Opportunities
Career Development in Clinical
Research Fields
NIGMS invites qualified academic physicians beginning
their independent research careers in anesthesiology,
clinical pharmacology, or trauma and burn injury to apply
for the K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award
or the K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development
Award.
These awards have institute-specific eligibility restrictions.
We strongly encourage interested individuals to speak
with NIGMS program staff before preparing an application
to determine eligibility and receive general advice.
For more information, see the Mentored
Career Development Awards in Anesthesiology, Clinical
Pharmacology, and Trauma and Burn Injury page on the
NIGMS Web site or contact one of the following NIGMS program
directors, based on your area of interest.
- Anesthesiology, Alison Cole, colea@nigms.nih.gov;
- Clinical pharmacology, Richard Okita, okitar@nigms.nih.gov;
- Trauma, burn, and perioperative injury, Scott Somers,
somerss@nigms.nih.gov;
- Wound healing, Richard Ikeda, ikedar@nigms.nih.gov.
You also can reach any of them by phone at 301-594-3827.
Structural Biology of Membrane
Proteins
This new R01 program announcement offers support for the
development of new methods and the application of current
methods for solving specific membrane protein structures.
Areas of interest include innovative methods for producing
membrane proteins in quantities sufficient for characterization
and structural studies of membrane proteins.
One objective of this announcement is to stimulate collaborations
among chemists, biochemists, molecular biologists, and
biophysicists with expertise in the synthesis of probes
and novel solubilizing and stabilizing reagents; cloning
and expression; isolation and characterization of membrane-bound
proteins; and X-ray crystallography, NMR, and other structural
methods.
For more information, see PA-06-119
in the NIH Guide and contact NIGMS cell biology program
director Jean Chin at chinj@nigms.nih.gov
or 301-594-0828, or NIGMS biochemistry program director
Peter Preusch at preuschp@nigms.nih.gov
or 301-594-3827.
NIH Pathway to Independence
Awards
This new NIH-wide program helps investigators receive
R01 awards earlier in their research careers by providing
highly promising postdoctoral scientists with up to 2
years of mentored support, followed by up to 3 years of
additional support contingent on securing an independent
research position.
For more information, see PA-06-133
in the NIH Guide and the eligibility
criteria for each participating institute or center.
NIGMS-Sponsored Events
Short Courses in Integrative
and Organ Systems Science
Interested registrants of the Experimental Biology 2006
meeting are encouraged to attend a workshop on four NIGMS-funded
summer courses that provide specialized training for using
intact organ system and in vivo animal models
in research.
The workshop is scheduled from 12:30-2:00 p.m. on Monday,
April 3, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.
Attendees will hear from this summer's course directors
and from students who participated last summer.
For more information, see the Monday afternoon heading
in the Special Sessions section of the Experimental
Biology 2006-ASPET Program Web page or contact NIGMS
program director Peter Preusch at preuschp@nigms.nih.gov
or 301-594-3827.
Protein Structure Determination
and Target Selection
NIGMS program director Charles Edmonds invites interested
individuals to attend two workshops related to protein
structure determination and target selection.
The first workshop—scheduled for April 13-14, 2006, in
the NIH Natcher Conference Center, Bethesda, MD—will address
bottlenecks to high-throughput structure determination.
The second workshop—scheduled for June 26-27, 2006, also
in the Natcher Conference Center—will address issues of
protein structure target selection.
Space is limited; advance registration for these meetings
is required. For more information, contact Dr. Edmonds
at edmondsc@nigms.nih.gov
or 301-594-0828.
Predictive Models of Complex
Systems
Interested investigators, postdoctoral fellows, and students
are invited to attend a research symposium highlighting
the emerging use of empirically detailed computer simulation
models in biology, with examples drawn from molecular
and cellular biology, developmental biology, neurobiology,
and physiology.
Speakers will include the principal investigators from
the five NIGMS
National Centers for Systems Biology and other prominent
scientists working in systems biology and allied fields.
The meeting is scheduled from June 3-7, 2006, at the
University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories,
located on San Juan Island.
Advance registration for this meeting is required and
is limited to 65 participants. For more information, see
the symposium
Web page (which includes an online registration form)
or contact NIGMS program director Jerry Li at lij@nigms.nih.gov
or 301-594-0828.
Research Administration Notes
R21 Program Redesign
NIGMS is redesigning its R21 program for Exploratory
Studies for High Impact/High Risk Research (PA-03-100)
and will no longer accept applications submitted in response
to PA-03-100 after March 1, 2006. We expect to announce
the new R21 program before the end of 2006.
Other R21 program announcements on which NIGMS is listed
are not affected by this change.
For more information, contact NIGMS program director
Laurie Tompkins at tompkinl@nigms.nih.gov
or 301-594-0943.
Help Us Communicate Your Research
Results
Please help us spread the word about the results of NIGMS
funding by acknowledging our support of your research
in journal articles (citing your NIGMS grant by number
when possible), oral or poster presentations, news releases,
interviews with reporters, and other communications.
If you have a manuscript accepted for publication that
describes an especially significant finding, please contact
your NIGMS program director to discuss the possibility
of a news release or other publicity. (NIGMS honors journal
embargoes in its news releases). Also consider submitting
research advances and images for inclusion in Biomedical
Beat, a monthly news digest from NIGMS.
For more information, contact Ann Dieffenbach, chief
of the NIGMS Office of Communications and Public Liaison,
at dieffena@nigms.nih.gov
or 301-496-7301.
Resources
Training Town Hall Meeting
Videocast and Report
Comments and insights concerning possible revisions to
fiscal policies governing NIH institutional training grants
(T32, T34, and T35) and individual fellowships (F30, F31,
F32, and F33) from a November 30, 2005 NIH town hall meeting
are now available on the NIH Web site. Discussion at the
event focused primarily on funding costs such as tuition,
fees, and health insurance provided through institutional
training grants (T32). View the videocast
of the entire meeting (requires free RealPlayer)
or read the summary
report (189 KB Microsoft Word document). |