0.3 Biomedical research careers: a service of innovation

Workshop Author: Belinda Seto, Ph.D.; Deputy Director; National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

Slide 1: outline

• Why is this so fun and rewarding
• NIBIB funding opportunities
• Grant writing
• resources

Slide 2: why is this so fun and rewarding

Slide 3: nibib funding opportunities

• The NIH Mission
  • NIH is the steward of medical and behavioral research for the nation. Its mission is science in pursuit of fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to extend healthy life and reduce the burdens of illness and disability.

• The NIH ICs (27 Separate Institutes and Centers)
  • Different missions and priorities
  • Different budgets
  • Different ways of deciding which grants to fund

Slide 4: nibib mission

• To improve human health by leading the development and accelerating the application of biomedical technologies. The Institute is committed to integrating the physical, engineering, and computer sciences with the life sciences to advance basic research and medical care.

Slide 5: current nibib grant portfolio areas

• Imaging Agents and Molecular Probes
• Image Displays
• Image Guided Therapies and Interventions
• Image Perception
• Image Processing
• Magnetic, Biomagnetic and Bioelectric Devices
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy
• Nuclear Medicine
• Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy
• Ultrasound and Acoustics
• X ray, Electron and Ion Beam
• Biosensors
• Biomaterials
• Biomechanics
• Biomedical Informatics
• Computational Biology
• Drug and Gene Delivery Systems
• Lab-on-a-chip Technologies
• Medical Devices and Implant Science
• Nanotechnology
• Rehabilitation Engineering
• Surgical Tools and Techniques
• Telemedicine
• Tissue Engineering

Slide 6: how is nibib different?

• Design- and needs-driven research, as well as hypothesis-driven
• Focus on enabling technologies with broad applications to multiple diseases or biological processes
• Multi-disciplinary and collaborative research
• Inter-agency and inter-institute activities

Slide 7: nibib-hhmi interfaces initiative (phase i)

• Reduce existing barriers to interdisciplinary graduate education:
  • Develop integrated courses, laboratory experiences, and other education mechanisms for trainees from different scientific backgrounds
  • Promote academic and administrative institutional change that facilitates interdisciplinary graduate study
  • Produce set of ‘best practices’ on how to modify existing academic and administrative structures to facilitate interdisciplinary education

Slide 8: program focus

• NJIT/Rutgers/NJMS – Neuroscience
• JHU - Nanotechnology
• UCI – Systems Biology (Molecular-Population)
• UCSD – Systems Biology (Molecular-Organismal)
• UPenn - Imaging Informatics
• Brandeis – Systems Biology (Molecular-Population)
• CMU/UPitt – Imaging Informatics, Structural Biology
• UChicago – Biocomplexity (Molecular-Population)
• UCSF – Systems Biology (Molecular-Cellular)
• UNM – Biocomplexity (Molecular-Population)

Slide 9: interfaces initiative transition plan

• Phase I (3+ years)
  • January, 2005 – Program Announcement
  • November, 2005 – Phase I awards
• Phase II (5 years)
  • June, 2008 - Receipt date
  • September/October, 2008 - Scientific review
  • January, 2009 – Advisory Council review
  • March/April, 2009 – First Awards

Slide 10: interfaces initiative (phase ii)

• Relationship to Strategic Plan:
  • This initiative will support the NIBIB commitment to interdisciplinary research training by providing student support for new institutional training programs designed to reduce existing barriers to interdisciplinary graduate education.
• Initiative Response:
  • We expect all 10 of the funded Phase I programs to respond to this initiative. We also anticipate that other interdisciplinary training programs, including new programs and programs that applied for but did not receive Phase I funding, to respond to this initiative. We will not permit our existing T32 training programs to respond to this initiative.

Slide 11: training-related awards

Slide 12: inter-agency partnerships

Slide 13: grant writing

Slide 14: general nih review criteria

• Significance
• Approach
• Innovation
• Investigator
• Environment

Slide 15: what reviewers really want to know

• The significance of what you are proposing
• That your approach is appropriate
• That you can do what you propose

Slide 16: why is good grant writing so important?

• Reviewers are very busy people
• Committees review many grants
• Reviewers have a very limited amount of time to make the case for your grant
• Even in times of plenty, there are more meritorious applications than can be paid

Slide 17: resources

Inside the nih grant review process

• Mock Study Section Video
• (External Link)

Slide 18: conclusion

“To give away money is an easy matter and in any man’s power. But to decide to whom to give it, and how much and when, and for what purpose and how, is neither in every man’s power nor an easy matter. Hence, it is that such excellence is rare, praiseworthy, and noble.”---Aristotle