Introduction

 

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES GOT ITS START in 1962 as the "basic research institute" of the National Institutes of Health. Forty years later, the Institute's investments have paid off in major advances in many fields of science, including genetics, cell biology, structural biology, chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, and physiology. Breakthrough discoveries made by NIGMS-funded scientists have led to 51 Nobel Prizes and countless other prominent scientific honors. Institute training programs continue to produce investigators who do cutting-edge science that spans many different areas of biomedicine, and NIGMS maintains its steadfast commitment to increasing the number of minority biomedical researchers. Looking to the future, the Institute is helping to support and develop areas that will likely dominate 21st-century science, such as bioinformatics, computational biology, and proteomics. To commemorate NIGMS' first 40 years, here are 40 ways we say "NIGMS."