Mission Statement

The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), provides laboratory scientists and clinical researchers with the tools and training they need to understand, detect, treat, and prevent a wide range of diseases. NCRR supports all aspects of clinical and translational research, connecting researchers, patients, and communities across the nation. This support enables discoveries made at a molecular and cellular level to move to animal-based studies, and then to patient-oriented clinical research, ultimately leading to improved patient care. Through programs such as the Clinical and Translational Science Awards, NCRR brings together innovative research teams and equips them with essential tools and critical resources needed to tackle the nation’s complex health problems.

NCRR, through all of its programs, is sparking innovation and leveraging shared resources to:

• Establish clinical research infrastructure, including specialized research staff, informatics support, and laboratories that enable studies of the full range of human disorders.

• Fund career development programs that attract talented medical students, physicians, and dentists to the challenge of clinical research careers.
• Enhance development programs for underserved states and institutions, focusing on health disparities that negatively impact racial and ethnic minority populations.
• Stimulate basic research to develop versatile new technologies and methods that help researchers to study virtually every human disease.
• Provide access to state-of-the art technologies and instruments that enable both basic biomedical research and clinical investigations of a multitude of health issues, from cancer to infectious diseases.
• Develop and provide access to critical animal models, which offer essential clues to a broad range of human disorders such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and AIDS.
• Train veterinarians in translational research in order to respond to deadly human diseases, such SARS, influenza, and hepatitis.
• Provide funding to expand, remodel, and renovate or alter existing research facilities or construct new research facilities.
• Improve the public understanding of medical research and provide adults and children with information about healthy living and science career opportunities.