NIGMS Collaborative Program Grant for Multidisciplinary Teams (RM1)

External Deadline:        LOI Deadline (not required): April 27 2021       

                                    Application Deadline: May 27 2021

Internal Deadline:         February 8 2021

Instructions for electronic submission: To apply for the NIGMS RM1, please submit the materials requested below to this link no later than Monday , February 8 at 11:59 PM.

Budget: Up to $1.5 millions in direct cost per year, for up to 5 years. An additional $250,000 in direct costs per year may be requested for optional exploratory pilot studies for early stage investigators.

Number of Applications: 1 application from WCM (not including Ithaca)

Program Description:

Many research questions in biomedical science can be pursued by single investigators and their close collaborators and are adequately supported by individual and multiple PD/PI research grants. However, the scope of some scientific problems is beyond the capabilities of a small group of investigators. Such complex and challenging research questions benefit from the integrated efforts of teams of research laboratories employing complementary approaches and having diverse areas of intellectual and technical expertise, and the necessary resources to accomplish a unified scientific goal. Such team-based efforts can produce convergent, lasting scientific benefits with high impact, such as the creation of new disciplines of study, resolution of long standing or intractable problems, or definition of new areas that challenge current paradigms.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) encourages Collaborative Program Grant applications from institutions/organizations that propose to conduct research to address complex and challenging biomedical problems, important for the mission of NIGMS, through deeply integrated, multidisciplinary research teams. The Collaborative Program Grant is designed to support research in which funding a team of interdependent investigators offers significant advantages over support of individual research project grants. Applications should address critical issues and be sufficiently challenging, ambitious, and innovative that objectives could not be achieved by individual investigators.

See the FOA-PAR-20-103 website for details.

Scope of Research:

Successful Collaborative Program Grant applications will bring together scientists to apply complementary approaches to work on an important and well-defined problem. Applications may address any area of science within the NIGMS mission, which is to support basic research that increases understanding of biological processes at a range of levels, from molecules and cells to tissues, whole organisms and populations. NIGMS also supports research in a limited number of clinical areas that affect multiple organ systems (see below). Truly new interdisciplinary ideas for approaching significant biological problems are encouraged. Applications that bridge the research interests of more than one NIGMS division are also encouraged, but must remain within the scope of the NIGMS mission. Consultation with NIGMS staff (see below) prior to preparing an application is strongly encouraged.

Applications that are mainly focused on the creation, expansion, and/or maintenance of community resources, or on infrastructure development are not appropriate for this FOA. Although Collaborative Program Grants may include some technology development, applications with a central focus on the creation of new technologies would not be considered for funding as a Collaborative Program Grant. 

Applications that employ specific cells or tissues to address a fundamental biomedical question are appropriate. However, applications that focus solely on a specific organ or disease state and that are within the mission areas of other NIH Institutes and Centers would not be appropriate for this FOA. All clinical research must be completely within the context of NIGMS clinical areas (anesthesiology and peri-operative pain; clinical pharmacology; sepsis; trauma, burn injury and wound healing). Finally, NIH-defined clinical trials are not allowed.

Program Organization:

Applications submitted to this FOA are expected to propose a single, well-integrated research plan of sufficient scope, complexity, and impact to justify the investment of significant resources. Applicants are expected to describe a cohesive program with a single set of specific aims sufficient to accomplish program objectives that can be achieved within a maximum of ten years (one five-year program with one competitive five-year renewal). Program objectives that are unlikely to be achieved within ten years are not appropriate for this FOA. 

Applications should be sufficiently challenging, ambitious, and innovative that the proposed research cannot be achieved by a single investigator or small group of investigators. Therefore, a multiple PD/PI application is required and applications must include a minimum of three and a maximum of six PD/PIs who are all necessary to provide sufficient research capacity and the relevant expertise to address the proposed scientific problem. Applications that propose extrapolations of a single line of research or propose parallel but independent advancement of different areas are not appropriate for this FOA.

Applicant teams should be sufficiently nimble to provide new knowledge and techniques mid-stream that might be required to tackle unsolved challenges and achieve program objectives. 

Important Note: Prior Consultation with IC staff 

NIGMS intends to fund a limited number of applications. Therefore, consultation with relevant staff, to ensure that proposed research strategy meets NICMS' programmatic needs, is strongly encouraged.