Key Dates

Related Announcements

• October 6, 2023 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences Predoctoral Basic Biomedical Sciences Research Training Program (T32). See NOFO PAR-23-228.

Issued by

National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)

Purpose

Background

The overall purpose of the NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) program is to help ensure that a diverse pool of highly trained scientists is available in appropriate scientific disciplines to address the nation's biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs. More information about NRSA programs may be found at the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award website. The NRSA program has been the primary means of supporting predoctoral and postdoctoral research training programs since enactment of the NRSA legislation in 1974. 

Each NIGMS funded NRSA program is expected to provide a rigorous, well-designed research training program to provide mentored research experiences, courses, seminars, and additional training opportunities that equip trainees with the following skills required for careers in the biomedical research workforce:

• Technical (for example, appropriate methods, technologies, and quantitative/computational approaches).
• Operational (for example, independent knowledge acquisition, rigorous experimental design, interpretation of data, and conducting research in the safest manner possible).
• Professional (for example, management, leadership, communication, and teamwork). 

Areas of Predoctoral Training Grant Program Need 

NIGMS intends to fund applications that propose feasible, rigorous, well-designed research training programs that will build on the most effective elements of successful programs, while encouraging creative and transformational approaches to biomedical research training - ranging from curricular reform to changes in the research training environment. The predoctoral training grant areas of special interest include the following: 

• Behavioral-Biomedical Sciences Interface: The goal of the program is to develop basic behavioral scientists with rigorous broad-based training in biology and biomedical science, who are prepared to assume leadership roles related to the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs. Programs must provide an interdisciplinary research training experience and curriculum for predoctoral trainees that integrates both behavioral and biomedical perspectives, approaches and methodologies. 
• Biotechnology: The goal of this program is to produce broadly trained investigators who have the facility and orientation to combine basic and applied research. The biotechnology training program is required to include a two- or three-month industrial internship, to give students a meaningful research experience in a biotechnology or pharmaceutical firm. This research experience may be fully integrated with the trainee’s Ph.D. research, but it may also be used by the trainee to delve into new areas. 
• Trans-Departmental Basic Biomedical Sciences: The goal of this program area is to broaden the scope and geographic distribution of NIGMS training programs and is open only to organizations that currently do not have an NIGMS-funded institutional predoctoral T32 training program unless it is a LEAD-MSTP or Bridges to the Doctorate program. Applicants may not have an active NIGMS T32 in any of the 12 Basic Biomedical Sciences areas, MSTP, G-RISE or IMSD, at the time of the Trans-Departmental T32 award. Institutions that do not have large enough graduate student enrollments in a single department to warrant a T32 in one of the 11 specific areas supported by NIGMS can apply for the Trans-Departmental Basic Biomedical Sciences T32 program to support training across multiple departments.

NIGMS encourages more applications for these three programs, particularly from:

• Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), (i.e., institutions described in section 4(b) of Executive Order 14041 (incorporating by reference the institutions listed in 34 C.F.R. 608.2))
• Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), (i.e., institutions described in section 5(e) of Executive Order 14049)
• Institutions in an IDeA state or territory - Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico

Application and Submission Information 

This NOSI applies to due dates on and after January 25, 2025.

Submit applications for this initiative using the following notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) or any reissuances of this announcement through the expiration date of this notice.

• PAR-23-228 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences Predoctoral Basic Biomedical Sciences Research Training Program (T32). 

All instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide and the NOFO used for submission must be followed, with the following additions:

• For funding consideration, applicants must include “NOT-GM-24-056” (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4B will not be considered for this initiative. 

Applications nonresponsive to terms of this NOSI will not be considered for the NOSI initiative.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to the contacts in Section VII of the listed notice of funding opportunity with the following additions/substitutions:

Behavioral-Biomedical Sciences Interface
Mercedes Rubio, Ph.D.
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Email: [email protected]

Biotechnology
Miljan Simonovic, Ph.D.
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Email: [email protected]

Trans-Departmental Basic Biomedical Sciences
Sydella A. Blatch Alexander, Ph.D.
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Email: [email protected]