National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Encyclopedia
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) is a part of the National Institutes of Health
that primarily supports research that lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention. The Institute's research training programs help provide the next generation of scientists.
Each year, NIGMS-supported scientists make many advances in understanding fundamental life processes. In the course of answering basic research questions, these investigators increase our knowledge about the mechanisms and pathways involved in certain diseases. Institute grantees also develop important new tools and techniques, some of which have medical applications. In recognition of the significance of their work, a number of NIGMS grantees have received the Nobel Prize and other high scientific honors.
NIGMS is organized into divisions and a center that support research and research training in a range of scientific fields. One division has the specific mission of increasing the diversity of the biomedical and behavioral research workforce.
NIGMS was established in 1962. In fiscal year 2010, the Institute’s budget was $2.048 billion. The vast majority of this money goes into local economies through grants to scientists at universities, medical schools, hospitals and other research institutions throughout the country. At any given time, NIGMS supports approximately 4,500 research grants—about 10% of the grants funded by NIH as a whole. NIGMS also supports approximately 25% of the trainees who receive assistance from NIH.
NIGMS produces a number of free science education booklets on topics such as cell biology, genetics, chemistry, pharmacology, structural biology and computational biology. The Institute also produces the magazine Findings, which showcases diverse scientists who do cutting-edge research and lead interesting lives.
NIGMS has initiatives in structural genomics (the Protein Structure Initiative), pharmacogenomics, and computational modeling of infectious disease outbreaks. The Institute also has several "glue grants" that promote the collaborative approaches increasingly needed to solve complex problems in biomedical science.
NIGMS research training programs recognize the interdisciplinary nature of biomedical research and stress approaches that cut across disciplinary and departmental lines. Such experience prepares trainees to pursue creative research careers in a wide variety of areas.
Certain NIGMS training programs address areas in which there are particularly compelling needs. One of these, the Medical Scientist Training Program, produces investigators who hold the combined M.D.-Ph.D. degree and are well trained in both basic science and clinical research. Other programs train scientists to conduct research in rapidly growing areas like biotechnology and at the interfaces between fields such as chemistry and biology and behavioral and biomedical sciences.
NIGMS also has a Pharmacology Research Associate Program, in which pharmacologically oriented postdoctoral scientists receive training in NIH or Food and Drug Administration laboratories.
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
that primarily supports research that lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention. The Institute's research training programs help provide the next generation of scientists.
Each year, NIGMS-supported scientists make many advances in understanding fundamental life processes. In the course of answering basic research questions, these investigators increase our knowledge about the mechanisms and pathways involved in certain diseases. Institute grantees also develop important new tools and techniques, some of which have medical applications. In recognition of the significance of their work, a number of NIGMS grantees have received the Nobel Prize and other high scientific honors.
NIGMS is organized into divisions and a center that support research and research training in a range of scientific fields. One division has the specific mission of increasing the diversity of the biomedical and behavioral research workforce.
NIGMS was established in 1962. In fiscal year 2010, the Institute’s budget was $2.048 billion. The vast majority of this money goes into local economies through grants to scientists at universities, medical schools, hospitals and other research institutions throughout the country. At any given time, NIGMS supports approximately 4,500 research grants—about 10% of the grants funded by NIH as a whole. NIGMS also supports approximately 25% of the trainees who receive assistance from NIH.
NIGMS produces a number of free science education booklets on topics such as cell biology, genetics, chemistry, pharmacology, structural biology and computational biology. The Institute also produces the magazine Findings, which showcases diverse scientists who do cutting-edge research and lead interesting lives.
Research and research training funding
NIGMS places great emphasis on supporting investigator-initiated research grants. It funds a limited number of research center grants in selected fields, including structural genomics, trauma and burn research, and systems biology. In addition, NIGMS supports several important scientific resources, including the NIGMS Human Genetic Cell Repository and the Protein Data Bank.NIGMS has initiatives in structural genomics (the Protein Structure Initiative), pharmacogenomics, and computational modeling of infectious disease outbreaks. The Institute also has several "glue grants" that promote the collaborative approaches increasingly needed to solve complex problems in biomedical science.
NIGMS research training programs recognize the interdisciplinary nature of biomedical research and stress approaches that cut across disciplinary and departmental lines. Such experience prepares trainees to pursue creative research careers in a wide variety of areas.
Certain NIGMS training programs address areas in which there are particularly compelling needs. One of these, the Medical Scientist Training Program, produces investigators who hold the combined M.D.-Ph.D. degree and are well trained in both basic science and clinical research. Other programs train scientists to conduct research in rapidly growing areas like biotechnology and at the interfaces between fields such as chemistry and biology and behavioral and biomedical sciences.
NIGMS also has a Pharmacology Research Associate Program, in which pharmacologically oriented postdoctoral scientists receive training in NIH or Food and Drug Administration laboratories.
Research advances
Among the advances that scientists have made with NIGMS support are:- Discovering a gene-silencing process called RNA interference, or RNAi, that is both a powerful research tool and a promising new approach for treating diseases.
- Revealing how a protein's shape affects its function, which plays a key role in health and disease and also informs the design of new drugs.
- Increasing survival from burn injury, in part by improving methods of wound care, nutrition and infection control.
- Explaining how genes affect the way a person responds to drugs, including those to treat cancer and prevent blood clots.
- Shedding light on the critical functions of carbohydrates, sugar molecules found on all living cells that are vital to fertilization, inflammation, blood clotting and viral infection.
- Modeling infectious disease outbreaks and the impact of interventions through computer simulations to provide valuable information to public health policymakers.
- Developing new methods to look inside cells and other living systems. These approaches have advanced what we know about basic life processes in a range of organisms.