NIH DIRECTOR'S INTRAMURAL CHALLENGE AWARDS

Michael Gottesman

By the time you read this, my office will have announced a request for applications for a new source of intramural funding: the NIH Director’s Intramural Challenge Awards.

Dr. Zerhouni has provided $1.5 million in new intramural funds to stimulate highly innovative, potentially high-impact research. 

The awards seek to bring together researchers from multiple institutes and centers (ICs), who will take advantage of the strengths and unique aspects of the NIH intramural program. 

This year the funds will support projects related to the three existing trans-NIH initiatives—the Center for Human Immunology, Autoimmunity, and Inflammation (CHI), the Imaging Initiative (Molecules to Cells), and the Systems Biology Initiative (Molecular Networks).

Funds will be awarded in mid-July, and must be spent by September 30, 2008.

Beginning October 1, 2008, we will expand the program.

First, we will solicit ideas for additional programmatic topics, and new areas of interest will be selected. The intent here is to broaden the trans-NIH initiatives beyond Immunology, Systems Biology, and Imaging to new areas of potential trans-NIH cooperation.

We will cast a wide net among all of our investigators for subject areas that are well-matched to the talents, environment, and resources in the intramural program.

The scientific directors will choose the topics from among the nominations received from our faculty. Then, senior investigators and investigators can apply for funds, with approval of their scientific directors, to support projects related to one of the newly selected topics, or to one of the three current trans-NIH initiatives. 

Awards will be made for up to two years of funding, and can be used to support personnel, equipment, and/or supplies.

Requests should be in the range of $50,000–$200,000 per year.  Preference will be given to proposals that bring together two or more ICs, but the major emphasis will be on highly innovative, potentially high-impact research.

Our hope is that your scientific directors will use this opportunity to invest in projects that would have been difficult to support without these new funds.

In reviewing the current budget situation, it has become clear that declining budgets have taken their toll on NIH intramural equipment and supply funds, and many of our laboratories are having trouble purchasing cutting-edge equipment and expensive reagents. 

For work that can create new fields or make paradigm-shifting contributions to existing fields—and that takes advantage of trans-NIH collaborations—we hope that these NIH Director’s Intramural Challenge Awards can make a difference. 

The Office of Intramural Research is in the process of creating a website that lists other sources of trans-NIH funds that are competitive and bring new resources into your IC and your lab, including the Intramural AIDS Targeted Anti-Viral Program, the NIAID Biodefense Program, the Clinical Center Bench-to-Bedside Program, and several NIH training and education programs. We’ll let you know when this website is activated.

As always, your comments on these new initiatives are welcome.

—Michael Gottesman

Deputy Director for Intramural Research

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