The contribution of each research group is like one piece of colored glass in a stained glass window. Viewed together, these colorful pieces form a radiant picture of our understanding of living systems. Photo: Donovan Marks for National Cathedral

Many scientists across the country are united by one chief desire -- to improve our understanding of how life works. Whether they gaze at or grind up, create or calculate, model or manipulate, if their work sheds light on living systems, it may well receive financial support from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).

NIGMS is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Government that is one of the world's leading supporters of biomedical research. As the "General" in its name implies, NIGMS has broad interests. It funds basic research in cell biology, structural biology, genetics, chemistry, pharmacology, and many other fields. This work teaches us about the molecules, cells, and tissues that form all living creatures. It helps us understand -- and possibly find new ways to treat -- diseases caused by malfunctions in these biological building blocks. The Institute also supports training programs that provide the most critical element of good research: well-prepared scientists.

Because the NIGMS mission is so wide-ranging, the Institute has one of the largest budgets of all the NIH components. In 2002, the NIGMS budget is over $1.7 billion, and it supports the research of more than 3,000 scientists at universities, medical schools, hospitals, and other research institutions.

NIGMS-funded work has yielded many scientific breakthroughs and contributed substantially to an explosion of progress in biomedical research. Many NIGMS grantees are at the forefront of their fields, and a number have received the Nobel Prize and other high scientific honors.

Supporting and contributing to the work of these leaders are legions of collaborators, postdoctoral fellows, and students. We are not able to include the names of all of those who contributed to the advances featured in this booklet. But without question, today's scientific research would not be possible without the ideas, advice, labor, supplies, and tools of such coworkers.

Division of Cell Biology and Biophysics
Division of Genetics and Developmental Biology
Division of Minority Opportunities in Research
Division of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biological Chemistry
Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

The Institute also has a Division of Extramural Activities that is responsible for grant-related activities and policies.

The following pages provide a sampling of the research supported by NIGMS and some of the resulting scientific advances.

To learn more about the science supported by NIGMS and how to become involved yourself as a scientist, a student, or an interested citizen, go to the NIGMS Web site at http://www.nigms.nih.gov.

Alisa Zapp Machalek
Science Writer, NIGMS
May 2002