Education grants for Students

Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) invites applications for projects to expand, improve, or transform the utility of mammalian cancer and tumor models for translational research. With this NOFO, the NCI intends to encourage submission of projects devoted to demonstrating that mammalian models or their derivatives used for translational research are robust representations of human biology, are appropriate to test questions of clinical importance, and provide reliable information for patients' benefit. These practical goals contrast with the goals of many mechanistic, NCI-supported R01 projects that employ mammals, or develop and use mammalian cancer models, transplantation tumor models, or models derived from mammalian or human tissues or cells for hypothesis-testing, non-clinical research. Among many other possible endeavors, applicants in response to this FOA could propose demonstrations of how to overcome translational deficiencies of mammalian oncology models, define new uses of mammalian models or their genetics for unexplored translational challenges, advance standard practices for use of translational models, test approaches to validate and credential models, or challenge current practices for how models are used translationally

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The overarching goal of this R25 program is to encourage individuals who have not had substantial biomedical research experience, or who have the potential to significantly benefit from additional biomedical research experience to pursue further studies or careers in research. To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this NOFO will support educational activities with a primary focus on: (1) Research Experiences, (2) Curriculum or Methods Development and (3) Outreach. The NCI’s mission is to conduct and support research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs concerning cancer. This funding opportunity seeks to facilitate educational activities that encourage students to become knowledgeable about cancer and available to focus on cancer later in their careers. To promote broad interest in pursuing a career in biomedical research via early intervention strategies, the NCI Youth Enjoy Science (YES) Program will support efforts to create and maintain an institutional program to engage grades 6-12 and/or undergraduate students in cutting edge cancer research experiences. The proposed institutional programs may also provide research experiences for the grade 6-12 teachers and undergraduate faculty members. The goals are to inspire interest in biomedical sciences, help envision research as a career path, and strengthen practical research and career skills. In alignment with these goals, institutions may develop unique programs that capitalize on their research strengths and are responsive to their target populations.

Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) intends to accelerate the adoption and validation of molecular/cellular/imaging markers (referred to as "markers" or "biomarkers") and assays for cancer detection, diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring, and prediction of response or resistance to treatment, as well as markers for cancer prevention and control. This NOFO will also support the validation of pharmacodynamic markers and markers of toxicity. Applicants to this NOFO must have an assay(s) whose performance has been analytically validated in specimens similar to those for the intended clinical use of the marker(s) and assay(s). As chemotherapies and/or radiation therapies are increasingly combined with immunotherapies to enhance the durability of anti-cancer responses, assays for measuring multiple markers, including immune markers, can be developed and validated simultaneously. The UH3 mechanism will support the clinical validation of established assays for up to 3 years using specimens from retrospective or prospective clinical trials or studies. This NOFO may be used to validate existing assays for use in other trials, observational studies, or population studies. Efforts to harmonize clinical laboratory tests, including investigation into the performance and reproducibility of assays across multiple clinical laboratories, are also appropriate for this funding opportunity. Projects proposed for this NOFO will require multi-disciplinary interaction and collaboration among scientific investigators, oncologists, statisticians, and clinical laboratory scientists. This NOFO is not intended to support early-stage development of technology or the conduct of clinical trials but is intended for validation of assays to the point where they could be integrated into clinical trials/studies as investigational assays.

The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to invite research grant applications (R01) for the development and use of current and emerging molecular imaging methods to gain fundamental insights into cancer inflammation in vivo. The motivation for this initiative is that much of current imaging research into the role of inflammation in cancer is largely based on in vitro and ex vivo methods with limited utilization of imaging approaches that could lead to significant new insights relevant to dynamic cancer and inflammation interactions. Utilization of molecular imaging probes in pre-clinical and clinical investigations for precise temporal resolution at the molecular and cellular level are valuable approaches for identification and characterization of in vivo inflammatory cellular physiology in cancers and of molecular changes in response to treatment. This FOA encourages applications that focus on developing integrated imaging approaches to interrogate the role of inflammation in cancer through strong cross-field collaboration between cancer basic science researchers and imaging scientists. These collaborations are expected to advance science and understanding of cancer inflammation interactions.

Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) invites applications for support of investigator-initiated studies addressing mechanisms by which bariatric surgery impacts cancer risk, and seeks to draw in talented scientists who study bariatric surgery to investigate its effects on cancer, rather than shorter-term outcomes such as weight loss and diabetes.

The Biomedical Research Environment and Sponsored Programs Administration Development (BRE-SPAD) Program aims to promote broad participation in the biomedical research ecosystem by supporting resource limited organizations to conduct research, enhance the research environment, and increase sponsored programs administration capacity.This program intends to support eligible, domestic organizations with limited research resources and few biomedical doctoral students.

The purpose of the Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP) for Health Professional Schools and Graduate Schools is to stimulate basic and clinical research in educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees for a significant number of the Nation's research scientists, but that have not been major recipients of NIH support. REAP grants create opportunities for scientists and institutions otherwise unlikely to participate extensively in NIH research programs to contribute to the Nation's biomedical and behavioral research effort. REAP grants are intended to support small-scale research projects proposed by faculty members of eligible, domestic institutions, to expose undergraduate and/or graduate students at health professional schools or graduate schools to meritorious research projects, and to strengthen the research environment of the applicant institution.Eligible institutions must award NIH-relevant baccalaureate or advanced degrees in health professions and have received less than $6 million per year of NIH support (total costs) in 4 of the last 7 fiscal years. In this NOFO, a college is a stand-alone entity and not a component of a university system.

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The over-arching goal of this NIDA R25 program is to support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nations biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs. This NOFO is intended to support research education activities that enhance the knowledge of substance use and substance use disorder research. The program is intended for those in clinically focused careers and/or those training for careers as clinicians/health service providers, clinical researchers, or optimally a combination of the two. This mechanism may not be used to support non-research-related clinical training.

NLM wishes to accelerate access to, and availability of, secure, complete datasets and computational models that can serve as the basis for transformative biomedical discoveries. Innovative at-scale computational approaches that increase the speed and scope of curation processes are needed for data mining and knowledge discovery from growing quantities of biomedical data being produced from ongoing data science advances.

The SuRE program supports research capacity building at eligible higher education institutions by funding investigator-initiated biomedical research inbasic, social, clinical, behavioral, or translational science that falls in the mission areas of the NIH. The purpose of SuRE awards is to provide support for investigator-initiated research at resource-limited institutions by full-time faculty who are not currently funded by any NIH Research Project Grants (RPGs) with the exception of SuRE or SuRE-First awards, to furnish students with high-quality undergraduate and/or graduate research experiences, and to enhance the institutional scientific research culture.

The SuRE program supports research capacity building at eligible higher education institutions through funding investigator-initiated biomedical research inbasic, social, clinical, behavioral, or translational science that falls in the mission areas of the NIH. The purpose of SuRE-First awards is to provide support for investigator-initiated research at resource-limited institutions by full-time faculty who have not had any prior independent, peer-reviewed, external research grants, to furnish students with high-quality undergraduate and/or graduate research experiences, and to enhance the institutional scientific research culture.

Awards will be made as cooperative agreements to accredited Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) partnered with non-profit organizations in the United States that are eligible to apply for this NASA Research Announcement (NRA). The period of performance for an award is up to 2 years. Prospective proposers are requested to submit any questions in writing to NASAMUSIC@nasaprs.com no later than 10 business days before the proposal due date so that NASA will have sufficient time to respond. Proposers to this NRA are required to have the following, no later than the due date: 1) a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, 2) a valid registration with the System for Award Management (SAM) [formerly known as the Central Contractor Registry (CCR)], 3) a valid Commercial And Government Entity (CAGE) Code, 4) a valid registration with NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) (this also applies to any entities proposed for sub-awards or subcontracts.) Consult Appendix H Section H.3.1 for more eligibility information. Consult Appendix H Section 2.2 regarding teaming requirements and partnership guidelines. The goal of NASA MUSIC is: to provide strategic effort that will leverage research and contract relationships of MSIs and NASA through relationships developed by non-profit organizations that may include collaboration of subject matter experts and access to NASA research facilities; An effort to improve STEM education and research at MSIs; A funded activity that seeks to build institutional capacity of MSIs; An activity to support long-term sustainability of STEM research at MSIs. MUSIC seeks to address the agency goals and objectives through: Increasing the institutional awareness of NASA competitive resources that can build the capacity of MSIs to offer and conduct STEM undergraduate and graduate research with a focus on NASA opportunities. Assembling MSIs and their stakeholders with common interests, and challenges then provide common tools for MSIs to increase efficiency and optimize resources including opportunities to develop formal and informal partnerships. Connecting MSI administrators and university STEM leaders to cutting-edge initiatives at NASA that can increase interest in securing research and contracting opportunities while supporting NASA’s policy to achieve an Agency-wide goal of providing one percent of total contract value of prime and subcontracting awards to MSIs. https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/1826.htm To achieve these goals, MUSIC seeks to increase university program capacity about practical uses of research to drive institution sustainability through the following targets: Advance the understanding of MSIs on how to effectively develop institutional administrative support by competing at the university level for funding opportunities, which will result in successful application to, and management of these funding opportunities (including those at NASA). Extend MSI’s capabilities by: A. Leveraging the MSIs research capabilities with NASA research to develop Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) projects that develop and demonstrate innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs and have significant potential for successful commercialization. B. Increasing the preparation of undergraduate and graduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics faculty with opportunities to participate with NASA researchers and missions through grants and contracts. To achieve these goals and objectives, NASA solicits proposals from MSIs to implement the NASA MUSIC; to engage MSIs in authentic STEM experiences related to NASA missions; and to inspire and captivate learners utilizing NASA’s unique assets to develop a keen interest in STEM. Every institution that intends to submit a proposal to this NRA, including the proposed prime award or any partner whether an education institution, other non-profit institutions, and other organizations that will serve as sub-awardees or contractors, must be registered in NSPIRES. Electronic submission of proposals is required by the due date and must be submitted by an authorized official of the proposing organization. Such registration must identify the authorized organizational representative(s) who will submit the electronic proposal. All principal investigators and other participants (e.g. co-investigators) must be registered in NSPIRES regardless of submission system. Potential proposers and proposing organizations are urged to access the system(s) well in advance of the proposal due date(s) of interest to familiarize themselves with its structure and enter the requested information. Electronic proposals may be submitted via the NASA proposal data system NSPIRES or via Grants.gov. Organizations that intend to submit proposals via Grants.gov must be registered 1) with Grants.gov and 2) with NSPIRES. Additional programmatic information for this NRA may develop before the proposal due date. If so, such information will be added as a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) or formal amendment to this NRA and posted on http://nspires.nasaprs.com. It is the proposer’s responsibility to regularly check NSPIRES for updates to this NRA.

Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) solicits applications for identification of small molecules that function to elucidate the biology of disease as chemical probes or function as agonists or antagonists of disease target(s) for therapy or immunotherapy. The NOFO is intended to support discovery research for the identification of validated hits relevant to health-related outcomes of participating NIH Institutes. Stages of discovery research covered by this NOFO include: 1) assay development for specific biological targets and disease mechanisms relevant to the mission of participating NIH Institutes with the intent to screen for small molecule compounds that show potential as probes for use in advancing knowledge about the known targets, identifying new targets, or as pre-therapeutic leads; 2) screen implementation high throughput target-focused approaches or moderate throughput phenotypic- and fragment-based approaches to identify initial screening hits; 3) hit validation, including implementation of secondary assays that are orthogonal to the primary assay, advanced cheminformatics analysis and initial medicinal chemistry inspection to prioritize the hit set, and follow-up assays to characterize mode and mechanism of action of the validated hits; 4) hit-to-lead optimization, including SAR to optimize target engagement, selectivity and to minimize chemical liabilities, ADME, PK and PD studies, and, if appropriate, in vivo modeling to test efficacy or biological effects.

The purpose of this announcement is to encourage investigators to pursue a small clinical trial to obtain critical information necessary to advance recording and/or stimulating devices to treat central nervous system disorders and better understand the human brain (e.g., Early Feasibility Study). Clinical studies supported may consist of acute or short-term procedures that are deemed Non-Significant Risk (NSR) by an Institutional Review Board (IRB), or Significant Risk (SR) studies that require an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) from the FDA, such as chronic implants. The clinical trial should provide data to answer key questions about the function or final design of a device. This final device design may require most, if not all, of the non-clinical testing on the path to more advanced clinical trials and market approval. The clinical trial is expected to provide information that cannot be practically obtained through additional non-clinical assessments (e.g., bench top or animal studies) due to the novelty of the device or its intended use. Activities supported by this Funding Opportunity include a small clinical trial to answer key questions about the function or final design of a device.As part of the BRAIN Initiative, NIH has initiated a Public-Private Partnership Program (BRAIN PPP) that includes agreements (Memoranda of Understanding, MOU) with a number of device manufacturers willing to make such devices available, including devices and capabilities not yet market approved but appropriate for clinical research. In general it is expected that the devices' existing safety and utility data will be sufficient to enable new IRB NSR or FDA IDE approval without need for significant additional non-clinical data. For more information on the BRAIN PPP, see http://braininitiative.nih.gov/BRAIN_PPP/index.htm

The purpose of the NCI Pathway to Independence Award for Early-Stage Postdoctoral Researchers (K99/R00) program is to increase and maintain a strong cohort of new and talented, NCI-supported, independent investigators. This program is designed for postdoctoral fellows with research and/or clinical doctoral degrees who do not require an extended period of mentored research training beyond their doctoral degrees. The objective of this award is to facilitate a timely transition of these fellows from their mentored, postdoctoral research positions to independent tenure-track (or equivalent) faculty positions. The program will provide independent NCI research support during this transition to help awardees to launch competitive, independent research careers. Researchers in the scientific areas of cancer control, cancer prevention and cancer data sciences are especially encouraged to work with their institutions to apply. This notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) is designed specifically for candidates proposing to serve as the lead investigator of an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or a separate ancillary clinical trial, as part of their research and career development. Those not planning an independent clinical trial, or proposing to gain research experience in a clinical trial led by another investigator, must apply to the 'Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed' companion NOFO (PAR-23-286).

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will support students at institutions without NIH-funded institutional predoctoral dual-degree training programs. The purpose of the Kirschstein-NRSA, dual-doctoral degree, predoctoral fellowship (F30) is to enhance the integrated research and clinical training of promising predoctoral students, who are matriculated in a combined MD/PhD or other dual-doctoral degree training program (e.g. DO/PhD, DDS/PhD, AuD/PhD, DVM/PhD), and who intend careers as physician/clinician-scientists. Candidates must propose an integrated research and clinical training plan and a dissertation research project in scientific health-related fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers. The fellowship experience is expected to clearly enhance the individual's potential to develop into a productive, independent physician/clinician-scientist. This NOFO is designed specifically for candidates proposing research that does not involve leading an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or an ancillary clinical trial, but does allow candidates to propose research experience in a clinical trial led by a sponsor or co-sponsor.

The purpose of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (Parent F32) is to support research training of highly promising postdoctoral candidates who have the potential to become productive, independent investigators in scientific health-related research fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers. Applications are expected to incorporate exceptional mentorship.

The purpose of this Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions is to support small scale research grants at institutions that do not receive substantial funding from the NIH, with an emphasis on providing biomedical research experiences primarily for undergraduate students and enhancing the research environment at applicant institutions. Eligible institutions must award baccalaureate science degrees and have received no more than $6 million dollars per year of NIH support (in both direct and F and A/indirect costs) in 4 of the last 7 fiscal years. For institutions composed of multiple schools and colleges, the $6 million funding limit is based on the amount of NIH funding received by all the non-health professional schools and colleges within the institution as a whole. This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) supports investigator-initiated mechanistic and/or minimal risk clinical trials addressing the mission and research interests of the participating NIH institutes. For the purpose of this NOFO, minimal risk clinical trials are defined as those that do not require FDA oversight, do not intend to formally establish efficacy, and have low risks to potentially cause physical or psychological harm.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits applications from research partnerships formed by academic and industrial investigators to accelerate the development and adoption of promising bioengineering tools and technologies that can address important biomedical problems. The objectives are to establish these tools and technologies as robust, well-characterized solutions that fulfill an unmet need and are capable of enhancing our understanding of life science processes or the practice of medicine. Awards will focus on supporting multidisciplinary teams that apply an integrative, quantitative bioengineering approach to developing technologies. The goal of the program is to support technological innovations that deliver new capabilities which can realize meaningful solutions within 5 10 years.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards senior individual research training fellowships to experienced scientists who wish to make major changes in the direction of their research careers or who wish to broaden their scientific background by acquiring new research capabilities as independent investigators in research fields relevant to the missions of participating NIH Institutes and Centers.

The purpose of the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) program is to increase and maintain a strong cohort of new and talented, NIH-supported, independent investigators. This program is designed to facilitate a timely transition of outstanding postdoctoral researchers with a research and/or clinical doctorate degree from mentored, postdoctoral research positions to independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions. The program will provide independent NIH research support during this transition in order to help awardees to launch competitive, independent research careers.

The purpose of this FOA is to facilitate well planned clinical trials across the cancer prevention and control spectrum aimed at improving prevention/ interception, cancer-related health behaviors, screening, early detection, healthcare delivery, management of treatment-related symptoms, supportive care, and the long-term outcomes of cancer survivors. Although the scientific literature or preliminary data may provide the rationale for conducting a clinical trial, investigators often lack critical information about the study population, accrual challenges, intervention, outcome/ endpoints, data/statistical challenges or operational risks necessary to finalize the trial protocol completely. These information gaps can result in multiple protocol changes before and after trial start-up, leading to the need for additional time and expenses that may prevent study completion. Further, the suitability and feasibility of new trial designs, which minimize infrastructure and reduce costs may need to be tested in the context of a particular intervention, at-risk group, symptom or venue. Preparatory studies may fill information gaps and address unknowns, improving trial design and knowledge of trial feasibility and thus saving NCI time and money.

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to invite applications for a broad range of research efforts in computational genomics, data science, statistics, and bioinformatics relevant to one or both of basic or clinical genomic science, and broadly applicable to human health and disease. This FOA supports fundamental genomics research developing innovative analytical methodologies and approaches, early-stage development of tools and software, and refinement or hardening of software and tools of high value to the biomedical genomics community. Work supported under this FOA should be enabling for genomics and be generalizable or broadly applicable across diseases and biological systems. All applications should address how the methods would scale to address increasingly larger data sets.

The purpose of the NCI Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) program is to facilitate a timely transition of talented postdoctoral researchers with a research and/or clinical doctorate degree from mentored, postdoctoral research positions to independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions. The program will provide independent NCI research support during this transition in order to help awardees to launch competitive, independent research careers.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages the submission of applications that propose to advance research in cancer etiology and early detection biomarkers, utilizing the advantages of the unique biorepository resources of the NCI-sponsored Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer (PLCO) Screening Trial. The PLCO Biorepository offers high-quality, prospectively collected, serial pre-diagnostic blood samples from the PLCO screened arm participants, and a onetime collection of buccal cells from the control arm participants. Available data associated with the biospecimens includes demographic, diet, lifestyle, smoking, screening results, and clinical data. This FOA supports a wide range of cancer research including, but not limited to, biochemical and genetic analyses of cancer risk, as well as discovery and validation of early detection biomarkers. The proposed research project must involve use of PLCO biospecimens; additionally, it should also take advantage of the unique characteristics of the PLCO biospecimens. Research projects that do not involve the use of PLCO biospecimens will not be supported under this FOA.

The purpose of this funding opportunity is to encourage multidisciplinary investigators to submit applications developing exploratory, highly novel new approaches, or innovative applications of existing approaches to measure brain activity, connectivity, genomics, or other aspects across the age spectrum of neurodevelopment. The overarching goal is to extend our understanding of brain development and aging, including studies of the neurodevelopmental origins of later health and disease, by improving repeated measures across longer epochs of the lifespan to better predict outcomes at later ages. . Research can include healthy human participants of any age, specific clinical groups such those with cognitive, motor, or affective regulation challenges, and/or animal research on these domains of function. The studies can focus on longitudinal neuroanatomical or functional changes at any level, including genetics/genomics, single cells, connectomics, neural population activity patterns, and others. This funding opportunity is intended to encourage technological and conceptual innovation through this high risk, high reward funding mechanism to develop highly innovative ideas that either lack preliminary data or need additional preliminary data

The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function. The new tools and technologies should inform and/or exploit cell-type and/or circuit-level specificity. Plans for validating the utility of the tool/technology will be an essential feature of a successful application. The development of new genetic and non-genetic tools for delivering genes, proteins and chemicals to cells of interest or approaches that are expected to target specific cell types and/or circuits in the nervous system with greater precision and sensitivity than currently established methods are encouraged. Tools that can be used in a number of species/model organisms rather than those restricted to a single species are highly desired. Applications that provide approaches that break through existing technical barriers to substantially improve current capabilities are highly encouraged.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will award Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grants (T32) to eligible, domestic institutions to develop and/or enhance predoctoral and postdoctoral research training, including short-term research training, to help ensure that a highly trained workforce is available to meet the needs of the Nations biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research agenda. Research training programs are expected to incorporate engaging, didactic, research, and career development elements to prepare trainees for careers that will have a significant impact on the health-related research needs of the Nation. Programs proposing only short-term predoctoral research training should not apply to this announcement, but rather to the Kirschstein-NRSA Short-Term Institutional Research Training Grant Program (T35) exclusively reserved for predoctoral, short-term research training.This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) does not allow appointed Trainees to lead an independent clinical trial but does allow them to obtain research experience in a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor.

The purpose of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral (Parent F31) award is to enable promising predoctoral students will obtain individualized, mentored research training from outstanding faculty sponsors while conducting dissertation research projects in scientific health-related fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers. The proposed mentored research training must reflect the candidates dissertation research project and is expected to clearly enhance the individuals potential to develop into a productive, independent research scientist. This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) does not allow candidates to propose to lead an independent clinical trial but does allow candidates to propose research experience in a clinical trial led by a sponsor or co-sponsor.