This addition to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) career development programs announcement provides further guidance for potential applicants for the K award mechanisms supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). The following information supplements, does not supplant, the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts announcements, as indicated below, for each of the mechanisms listed. All K awards require that the applicant be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident of the U.S. The NIDDK encourages applications for the Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01), Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08), Mentored Patient-oriented Research Career Development Award (K23), Midcareer Investigator Award In Patient-Oriented Research (K24), and Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award (K25), but has discontinued its use of the Independent Scientist Award (K02), except as announced in subsequent Program Announcements (PA) or Requests for Applications (RFAs). The areas of scientific interest to the NIDDK are: diabetes, endocrinology, metabolic disorders, gene therapy, cystic fibrosis, obesity, digestive diseases, liver diseases, nutrition, eating disorders, kidney and urologic disorders, and hematologic diseases.
Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01)
Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08)
Career Enhancement Award for Stem Cell Research (K18)
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
Midcareer Investigator Award In Patient-Oriented Research (K24)
Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award (K25)
Pathway to Independence (PI) Award (K99/R00)
Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01 Award)
(http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-05-066.html)
The K01 award is intended to provide research support and training for a three, four or five-year transition period between postdoctoral training and an independent research career. Applicants must have a research doctorate (usually Ph.D.), have completed at least two, but usually not more than five, years of postdoctoral training; identify a mentor; and design a strong research proposal. Preference will be given to applications from fellows supported by NIDDK Institutional National Research Service Awards (T32s) or Individual National Research Service Awards (F32s). Applications from Research Associates, or the equivalent, supported by R01 funding are usually not appropriate.
The NIDDK will provide up to $90,000 for salary, the appropriate fringe benefits, and up to $25,000 for research support for K01 awards.
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Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08)
(http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-042.html)
The purpose of the K08 award is to provide a flexible approach to training for clinicians (M.D., D.V.M., or other clinical degree) committed to an academic research career. The NIDDK wishes to promote the training of clinical investigators who, in addition to being excellent physicians, are excellent researchers. The K08 award supports up to five years of a mentored research experience, as well as related career development activities, in basic, clinical, or behavioral science areas appropriate to the NIDDK. Applicants should have completed all their clinical training and be board eligible by the time the award would begin. MD applicants who have trained in another country and who are not board eligible in the U.S. are not appropriate candidates for NIDDK K08 awards.
Applicants with little or no research experience will require a more structured training program and therefore may want to incorporate the courses and requirements that will lead to a master's degree into their K08 application. The research proposal from these individuals may incorporate an initial period of didactic coursework and training in laboratory techniques for the first two years of the K08 award, followed by a more laboratory-intensive research period of up to three years.
Applicants with more research experience, such as those holding both the M.D. and Ph.D. degrees, typically will have less need for didactic coursework and should propose a five year research project as well as career development plans that will build upon their past experience and position them for independent funding.
All applicants for K08 awards are encouraged to take advantage of the mentors available to them at their institutions and have, in addition to a primary mentor, one or more co-mentors, as appropriate. The NIDDK will provide up to $90,000 for salary, the appropriate fringe benefits, and up to $25,000 for research support for each of five years for K08 awards.
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Career Enhancement Award for Stem Cell Research (K18)
(http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-07-359.html)
The purpose of the K18 award is to allow either (1) independent junior faculty or (2) established investigators, to take time to broaden their scientific expertise by acquiring the skills needed to use human or animal embryonic, adult, or cord blood stem cells in their research. All applicants need to identify and enlist a stem cell expert to serve as a sponsor at their own or another institution.
Applicants may request six months to one year or, if well-justified, two years of support to engage in both didactic and laboratory training at a minimum 50% effort
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Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
(http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-043.html)
The purpose of the K23 award is to allow clinical investigators an opportunity to develop into independent clinical researchers involved in patient-oriented, rather than basic, research. Just as with the K08 award, applicants should design a five year program that will enable them to become independent clinical investigators by the end of the K23 award period. In particular, NIDDK encourages applicants for the K23 award to enroll in programs of study leading to a master's in clinical investigation as supported by the NIH K30 program awards, which NIDDK supports. Information on K30 programs is available at http://grants.nih.gov/training/k30.htm.
The NIDDK will provide up to $90,000 for salary, the appropriate fringe benefits, and up to $25,000 for research support for each of five years for K23 awards.
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Midcareer Investigator Award In Patient-Oriented Research (K24)
(http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-037.html)
The NIDDK recognizes the need for outstanding mentors in the area of patient-oriented research, and encourages clinicians who are actively engaged in clinical research, have served as mentors, and who wish to free up more time for their research and mentoring responsibilities, to apply for the K24 award. Applicants should have an ongoing, funded patient-oriented research program and access to trainees at the pre- or postdoctoral level. Funding for ongoing research does not need to be from NIH R01 grants, but may come from Clinical Research Centers, private foundations, professional societies, or industry.
The NIDDK will provide up to 50% of the NIH salary cap for salary, the appropriate fringe benefits, and up to $50,000 for research support for each of five years of the K24 award. One competitive renewal application will be accepted, giving the potential for 10 years of support with this mechanism.
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Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award (K25)
(http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-039.html)
The K25 award is intended to provide engineers, mathematicians, computer scientists, physicists, and others with an advanced degree in a 'quantitative' discipline the opportunity to develop into cross-cutting investigators in the biomedical sciences. Such individuals are encouraged to identify a mentor in a discipline of interest to the NIDDK and develop an application that will incorporate both didactic coursework as well as a research project to take advantage of the applicant's background as well as the mentor's expertise.
The NIDDK will provide up to $90,000 for salary, the appropriate fringe benefits, and up to $40,000 for research support for each of the five years of a K25 award.
