Wanted: Program Director, Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences Branch
We’re recruiting for an accomplished scientist with interest and experience in total body responses to traumatic and other injuries, as well as sepsis, to join the Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences (PPS) Branch of the Division of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biological Chemistry (PPBC). The successful applicant will have responsibility for scientific and administrative management of a portfolio of research, career development, and training grants. Opportunities also exist for Small Business Innovation and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) grants. The PPS Branch of PPBC supports both basic an...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - September 11, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Job Announcements Source Type: blogs

Wanted: Biomedical Technology Branch Chief
We’re recruiting for an outstanding individual to serve as branch chief in our Division of Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biosciences (BBCB). This person will oversee the scientific and administrative management of the Biomedical Technology (BT) Branch and will be responsible for advising, directing, and evaluating program activities for a portfolio of research grants in one of the branch areas. The BBCB Division supports the development of biophysical and computational methods and tools for understanding basic biological questions; physical and theoretical methodologies, bioinformatics ...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - September 10, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Job Announcements Source Type: blogs

NIGMS Resources on Rigor and Reproducibility
I’d like to remind the NIGMS community of our clearinghouse site of materials designed to teach rigorous experimental design and enhance data reproducibility. There, you’ll find links to a number of online resources including: NIH-developed modules on integral aspects of rigor and reproducibility in the research endeavor, such as bias, blinding, an exclusion criteria The Big Data to Knowledge program’s virtual lecture series on the data science underlying modern biomedical research A 6-week iBiology course designed for students and practitioners of experimental biology Rigor and reproducibility training m...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - September 1, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Resources Research Resources Rigor and Reproducibility Source Type: blogs

Webinar for NIGMS Institutional Predoctoral Training Grant Program Applicants
If you’re planning to submit an application for the NIGMS Institutional Predoctoral Training Grant (T32) program in the basic biomedical sciences (PAR-20-213) for receipt dates on or after September 25, don’t miss our upcoming webinar: Friday, August 28, 12:00-1:30 p.m. ET During the webinar, we’ll provide an overview of our expectations for NIGMS-funded training grant applications, share our observations from the previous rounds of review of new T32 applications in basic biomedical sciences, and answer any questions you may have. You can send questions before the webinar or post them in the cha...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - August 21, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Funding Opportunities Meetings/Events Training/Fellowships/Career Development Predoctoral Preparing an Application Webinars Source Type: blogs

Funding Opportunities: Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Radical (RADx-rad) Emergency Awards
We’ve joined the NIH Office of the Director and several institutes in two Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Radical (RADx-rad) initiative funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). These FOAs offer an excellent opportunity for NIGMS-supported researchers with expertise in technology development and/or artificial intelligence/machine learning to conduct innovative research addressing the public health emergency caused by COVID-19. RADx-rad Wastewater Detection of SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) (U01-Clinical Trials Not Allowed)RFA-OD-20-015Solicits cooperative agreements for field studies and small business research on opti...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - August 13, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Funding Opportunities COVID-19 Source Type: blogs

Remembering Former NIGMS Director Marvin Cassman
Credit: NIGMS. We in the NIGMS family are deeply saddened by the loss of our former director Marvin Cassman, Ph.D., on August 6. Dr. Cassman joined NIGMS in 1975 as a health scientist administrator in what was then the Cellular and Molecular Basis of Disease Program, advancing through the ranks to become NIGMS’ deputy director, acting director, and from 1996 to 2002, director. Dr. Cassman’s tenure as director coincided with the period of NIH’s budget doubling, and he ably led NIGMS’ establishment of key initiatives that have had a worldwide impact. These included the Protein Structure Initiative, the goal of which...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - August 12, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: News Source Type: blogs

Webinar for Bridges to the Baccalaureate (T34) and Bridges to the Doctorate (T32) Program Applicants
Are you preparing a grant application for the Bridges to the Baccalaureate or Bridges to the Doctorate institutional research training program? If so, please join our informational webinar to learn about the programs and application components. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions: Tuesday, August 25, 2:00-4:00 p.m. ET During the webinar, we’ll provide a broad overview of the programs and share our expectations of applications and the required data tables for the upcoming September 25 receipt date. You may send questions to us before the webinar or post them in ...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - August 10, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Meetings/Events Training/Fellowships/Career Development Preparing an Application Webinars Source Type: blogs

Join Our Virtual IDeA Program Meeting
The objectives of the meeting are to: Introduce strategies and initiatives from NIH and NIGMS leaders in response to COVID-19 Highlight scientific progress by IDeA investigators and trainees Answer questions from IDeA grantees IDeA principal investigators (PIs) are encouraged to submit abstracts for short presentations highlighting their respective scientific progress. Abstracts should be no more than 300 words and include the name of the presenter and their role in the funded program (e.g., PI, research project leader, graduate student, etc.). Approximately eight COVID-related and eight non-COVID-related resea...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - August 6, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Meetings/Events Institutional Development Award Research Capacity Building Source Type: blogs

MOSAIC Announcements and Upcoming Webinar
Last summer, we shared with you our new Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). MOSAIC, which NIGMS oversees, is part of NIH’s efforts to enhance diversity within the academic biomedical research workforce. It’s designed to facilitate the transition of promising postdoctoral researchers from diverse backgrounds into independent faculty careers at research-intensive institutions. The program has two components: a research education cooperative agreement (UE5) and a postdoctoral career transition award (K99/R00). We’re pleas...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - August 3, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Matt Mills Tags: Funding Opportunities Meetings/Events Training/Fellowships/Career Development Biomedical Graduate Education Biomedical Research Enterprise Postdoctoral Webinars Source Type: blogs

Changes to COBRE Phase 1 and Phase 2 Awards and Applications
We’d like to call your attention to a pair of recently published notices (NOT-GM-20-042 and NOT-GM-20-043) that address the unfavorable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on institutions’ ability to recruit faculty investigators. In response to this, we’ve reduced the minimum number of research projects required for our Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Phases 1 and 2 from three to two. Additionally, we’ll allow budget increases for recruitment costs and pilot projects. These changes apply to active awards and to applications submitted for new Phase 1 (PAR-19-313) and Phase 2 (PAR-19-312...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - July 29, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Matt Mills Tags: Funding Opportunities Research Administration Institutional Development Award Research Capacity Building Source Type: blogs

Remembering Ward Smith
Credit: NIGMS. I am deeply saddened to tell you that Ward Smith, chief of our Biomedical Technology Branch in the Division of Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biology, passed away at the beginning of July. Ward first joined NIGMS in 2007 as a program director in our former Division of Cell Biology and Biophysics. Among his major contributions to NIGMS were his management of the Protein Structure Initiative, for which he was honored with an NIH Director’s Award, and of the NIH-supported synchrotron facilities. Ward also oversaw a large portfolio of grants in biomedical technology. The recipient...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - July 23, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Matt Mills Tags: News NIGMS Staff News Source Type: blogs

Webinar and Other Resources for New MIRA ESI Funding Opportunity
We recently reissued the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) for Early Stage Investigators (PAR-20-117). The first application due date is October 2, 2020. We’re hosting a webinar to discuss this FOA and to answer your questions about the program on Thursday, August 6, 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT. To access the webinar, visit the WebEx meeting page and enter the meeting number 126 938 7475 and the password NIGMS. For an audio-only presentation, call 1-650-479-3208 (US/Canada) and enter access code 126 938 7475. We plan to post the archived webinar and slide...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - July 22, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Funding Opportunities Meetings/Events Early Stage Investigator MIRA Webinars Source Type: blogs

Funding Trends: MIRA Applications and Overall Impact Scores
One of the most common questions we receive about the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) program is the likelihood of an application’s funding given a certain overall impact score. Frequent readers of this blog may note that we typically provide statistics as they relate to our R01 portfolio, but we’ve yet to provide a similar “funding curve” for the MIRA program. One reason that MIRA applications haven’t been included in these analyses is that, unlike most R01 applications, MIRA R35 applications don’t receive a percentile score. The percentile score allows for normalization of overall impact ...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - July 21, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Funding Trends Funding Outcomes Funding Policies MIRA Source Type: blogs

Retiring Peer Review Site Visits for NIGMS Training Programs
At NIGMS, site visits have traditionally been part of the peer review process for some training program renewal applications. The visits, which generally happened every other renewal cycle for existing programs, were conducted by NIGMS staff and review panel members to gain additional information about the programs. For those of you who are program directors or peer reviewers of our undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral training programs, it may feel as if site visits went away a long time ago. This is because changes to most of our training programs required new application submissions (see our previous post), which r...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - July 15, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Peer Review Research Administration Training/Fellowships/Career Development Source Type: blogs

Webinar for IDeA-CTR Program Applicants
If you’re preparing an Institutional Development Award Networks for Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR) grant application for the October 7 receipt date, don’t miss our upcoming webinar: Thursday, August 6, 3:00-4:30 p.m. ET During the webinar, IDeA program staff will answer your questions about changes in the goals, objectives, and organizational structures of the IDeA-CTR program, as described in the funding opportunity announcement. Principal investigators who plan to submit new or renewal applications are encouraged to attend. To access the webinar, visit the WebEx meeting page and ente...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - July 14, 2020 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Funding Opportunities Meetings/Events Institutional Development Award Preparing an Application Webinars Source Type: blogs