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Program Overview

Contents

• NIBIB Contacts
• Introduction
• National Research Service Awards
• Career Development Awards
• Research Supplements
• Other NIBIB Training Opportunities
• NIH Blueprint and Roadmap Opportunities
• Looking to the Future

NIBIB Contacts

You may contact NIBIB program staff with your questions about training awards or the application process. We welcome the opportunity to speak with potential applicants to the Institute's training programs. 

Richard A. Baird, Ph.D.
Director
Phone: 301-496-7671
 
Todd Merchak, B.S.
Biomedical Engineer
Phone: 301-496-8592

Introduction

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering supports the development, improvement, and application of emerging biomedical technologies based in the physical and engineering sciences. This research agenda will dramatically advance the Nation's healthcare by improving the detection, management, understanding and, ultimately, the prevention of disease.

Training a new cadre of interdisciplinary researchers is an important component of the Institute's mission.  In an effort to draw bright, young, talented researchers into the activities of the Institute, NIBIB is developing new training programs in the biomedical imaging and bioengineering fields. The Institute's proactive approach is to develop creative and flexible opportunities that will fill critical gaps in the career continuum, while also enhancing the participation of underrepresented populations.

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National Research Service Awards (NRSAs)

Ruth L. Kirschtein NRSA support provides a stipend to predoctoral students while they work toward their research degrees or to postdoctoral fellows while they obtain additional research experience in a mentor's laboratory.

• Institutional Training Grants (T32) are awarded to institutions with strong research programs to support a designated number of pre- and/or postdoctoral fellows (see funded training programs).
  
• Individual Predoctoral Fellowships (F31) provide up to five years of support for research training leading to the Ph.D. or equivalent. The focus of this program is on doctoral students who have passed their qualifying (or equivalent) exams.
  
• Individual Predoctoral Fellowships (F31) to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research provide up to five years of support for research training leading to the Ph.D. or equivalent.
  
• Individual Postdoctoral Fellowships (F32) provide up to three years of postdoctoral training support for qualified individuals who have received a Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent degree.
  
• Individual Senior Fellowships (F33) provide the opportunity for experienced scientists to make major changes in the direction of their research careers, to broaden their research capabilities, or to enlarge their command of an allied research field.
  

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Career Development Awards

Career development awards provide salary and laboratory support for individuals who have completed their postdoctoral training, or who need protected time to perform research during critical periods of their careers.

• NIH Pathway to Indepedence (PI) Awards (K99/R00) provide up to five years of support consisting of one to two years of mentored support for highly promising, postdoctoral research scientists followed by up to three years of independent support contingent on securing an independent research position.
  

• Mentored Research Scientist Development Awards (K01) provide Ph.D. or other comparable researchers with three to five years of mentored research support as they transition to independence.
  
• Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Awards (K25) provide individuals with quantitative scientific and engineering backgrounds who wish to focus their research on basic or clinical behavioral or biomedical research with three to five years of mentored research support.
  

• Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Awards (K08) provide clinician scientists with three to five years of mentored research support.
  
• Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Awards (K23) provide clinically trained professionals with three to five years of patient-oriented research support.
  
• Midcareer Investigator Awards in Patient-Oriented Research (K24) provide established clinically trained professionals actively engaged in patient-oriented research three to five years of patient-oriented research support to serve as mentors for new clinical investigators.
  

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Research Supplements

• Research Supplements to Promote Clinical Resident Research Experiences are supplemental awards to an existing NIBIB grant. They are designed to attract outstanding clinicians into research careers related to the mission of the NIBIB by providing a one to two-year research opportunity during residency training.
  
• Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research are supplemental awards to an existing NIBIB grant. They are designed to attract individuals from underrepresented groups to biomedical science. Candidates include individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. Eligibility extends from the high school level to established research faculty.
  
• Research Supplements to Promote Reentry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers are designed to enable talented individuals with high potential to re-enter biomedical research after taking time off for family responsibilities.

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Inter-agency Training Opportunities

• HHMI-NIBIB Interdisciplinary Graduate Research Training Program is a partnership between the NIBIB and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). The goal of this program is to train a cadre of scientists who possess the knowledge and skills to conduct interdisciplinary research at the interface between the biological and physical sciences. Phase I, funded by HHMI, supports the establishment of new interdisciplinary training programs. Phase II, funded by NIBIB, will provide student support for these interdisciplinary training programs.
  
• NIH/NSF Bioengineering and Bioinformatics Summer Institutes (BBSI) Program is a partnership between the NIBIB and the National Science foundation (NSF) designed to attract individuals to careers in bioengineering and bioinformatics. The 10-week summer program provides interdisciplinary research and education experiences to junior and senior undergraduates and early graduate students.
  
• Biomedical Engineering Summer Internship Program (BESIP) is a partnership between NIH and the NIH Foundation. This 10-week summer program provides undergraduate biomedical engineering students an opportunity to participate, under the mentorship of world class scientists, in cutting-edge biomedical research projects at NIH laboratories.
  
• NIH/NIST Joint Postdoctoral Program is a partnership between NIH and NIST designed to cultivate a scientific work force competent in both the biological and the physical sciences. Each Postdoctoral Associate has two Advisors, one at the NIH and one at NIST, and is expected to spend time at both NIH and NIST laboratories during the course of the two-year award.

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NIH Blueprint and Roadmap Opportunities

The NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research aims to develop new tools, resources, and training opportunities to accelerate the pace of discovery in neuroscience research. Concepts proposed to enhance broadly relevant research in neurodegeneration include the following areas:

• New methods for delivering biologically active molecules into the brain or sensory organs with emphasis on blood brain barrier transport
• Biomarkers/biosignatures for early detection of neurodegeneration (including imaging)
• Interdisciplinary training at the postdoctoral level that would require fellows to have mentors in two areas that are traditionally distinct, but which promise to contribute new insight for understanding and treating neurodegenerative disorders.
• A similar interdisciplinary program for senior investigators that would provide short-term awards to established scientists for research training in a laboratory from a different discipline that would foster new approaches.

Additional information on NIH Blueprint initiatives can be found at http://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov.

The NIH Roadmap is a series of far-reaching initiatives designed to build on the progress in medical research achieved through the recent doubling of the NIH budget. The Roadmap focuses on three main areas: new pathways to discovery, research teams of the future, and re-engineering the clinical research enterprise.  Initiatives in the training arena include:

• Meetings and Networks for Methodological Development in Interdisciplinary Research
• Training for a New Interdisciplinary Research Workforce
• Short Programs for Interdisciplinary Research Training
• Curriculum Development Award in Interdisciplinary Research
• Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career Development Programs

Additional information on NIH Roadmap initiatives can be found at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/.

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Looking to the Future

Several new and exciting training programs are under development at the NIBIB. Watch the NIBIB training website for additional information on programs for medical residents and young investigators.