Research Opportunities

resources for pursuing endocrine-related research opportunities

Endocrine researchers are at the core of solving many of the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, thyroid conditions, and hormone-related cancers. Your work has led to incredible accomplishments and remarkable progress in the biological and biomedical sciences that have benefited the lives of millions of Americans.

Highlights for Endocrine-related Research from the NIH Grants Guide

NIH Requests Information on Environmental Data for Research Cohort: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input on how to best collect and integrate environmental health data into the All of Us Research Program dataset. NIH is requesting advice from scientists on specific environmental measures that would be most important to collect for their own research programs. Interested members are encouraged to review the notice and respond to the questions before May 31.

NIH Issues Maternal Health NOSI: NIH has issued a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to advance the goals of the NIH Implementing a Maternal health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) Initiative. Research supported by this program will involve “the development and implementation of strategies to inform integrated efforts involving policy and practice changes to improve preconception, pregnancy, perinatal, and postpartum care and advance maternal health and maternal health equity.” More information.

NIH Extends Some COVID-19 Flexibilities: The National Institutes of Health issued a notice extending the special exception for post-submission material to applications submitted for the January 2023 Council rounds. NIH, AHRQ, and NIOSH will accept a one-page update with preliminary data as post-submission materials for applications submitted under all activity codes, only if the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) used for submission allowed preliminary data in the application. One page of preliminary data will be accepted for single component applications or for each component of a multi-component application. The deadline for submitting all post-submission materials, including preliminary data, will be 30 days before the study section meeting, unless specified otherwise in the FOA.

NIDDK Intends to Issue FOA on COVID and Diabetes: The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) issued a Notice of Intent to publish a new Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) soliciting applications to establish a longitudinal cohort of individuals who developed diabetes following SARS-CoV-2 infection. The cohort would help researchers understand how individuals develop diabetes post-infection and study their clinical course. The estimated publication date for the FOA is July 1, 2022, with applications due December 20, 2022.

NICHD Intends to Reissue RSDP FOA: The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) issued a Notice of Intent that they plan to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) as a reissue of RFA-HD-18-103 to solicit applications to provide career development support for obstetricians and gynecologists who have completed their clinical training and who are committed to a career conducting basic science research in an academic setting. The notice will be published in collaboration with other NIH Institutes and Centers around September 1, 2022. Applications will be due on November 1, 2022.

HHS Issues NPRM for LRP: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NRPM) to update the National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program (NIH LRP). According to the NPRM, the NIH LRP will be split into separate intramural and extramural programs; the NIH Director will now administer the program instead of the HHS Secretary; and the maximum annual repayment amount will be raised to $50,000 from $35,000. These changes are consistent with previous NIH policy announcements.

NIH Common Fund Issues FOA on Health Disparities: The NIH Common Fund’s Transformative Research to Address Health Disparities and Advance Health Equity initiative has issued the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) “Limited Competition: Transformative Research to Address Health Disparities and Advance Health Equity at Minority Serving Institutions (U01 Clinical Trials Optional) (RFA-RM-22-001)” to support investigators at minority serving institutions (MSIs) who propose unusually innovative research projects that would have a major impact in developing, implementing, or disseminating innovative and effective interventions to prevent, reduce, or eliminate health disparities and advance health equity. All applications are due on May 23rd, 2022.

NIH Issues NOSI for DEAI Mentorship Supplements: The National Institutes of Health issued a new Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) encouraging grant submissions for administrative supplements to recognize Excellence in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) mentorship. Participating Institutes & Centers will provide awardees up to $250,000 to grants supporting faculty members who have existing awards that include a mentorship component and have demonstrated excellence in mentorship and training, especially to individuals from groups identified as underrepresented in the biomedical sciences. More information.

NIDDK Announces Medical Student Research Training NOSI: The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) issued a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) encouraging applications for administrative supplements to active institutional training grants to support medical students interested in taking a year off from their medical school studies to work in an academic research lab. Expiration date is April 19, 2024. Learn more.

NIA Announces K22 Awards: The National Institute of Aging (NIA) announced the NIA Career Transition Award (CTA) to facilitate the transition of mentored researchers to tenure-track faculty positions conducting research that advances the mission of NIA. This award will provide three years of protected time through salary and research support to conduct biomedical research at an extramural sponsoring institution/organization to which the individual has been recruited, been offered, and has accepted a tenure-track full-time assistant professor position (or equivalent). Learn more.

NIH Issues MOSAIC FOAs: The Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) program is part of NIH’s efforts to enhance diversity within the academic biomedical research workforce, and is designed to facilitate the transition of promising postdoctoral researchers from diverse backgrounds, for example individuals from groups underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce at the faculty level, into independent, tenure-track or equivalent research-intensive faculty positions. Expiration date is September 08, 2024. Please see the relevant guide notices (clinical trial not allowed, independent clinical trial required, and independent basic experimental studies with humans required) for more information.

NIH NOSI Supports Returning Biomedical Researchers: NIH has announced a new supplements program for researchers returning to biomedical careers after a qualifying absence. Under this Notice of Special Interest, applicants can apply to participate in full- or part-time mentored research experiences through existing NIH research grants. Eligible for these reentry supplements are individuals whose research careers have been interrupted for at least 6 months because of family responsibilities or other qualifying circumstances. Click here for more information, including detailed eligibility requirements. The first available due date for submissions is August 26, 2021, and the supplements program is set to expire on October 7, 2023.

NOSI on Atypical Femoral Fracture (AFF) and Osteonecrosis of the Jaw (ONJ): The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) also joined NIA and NIAMS to publish a Notice of Special Interest for research studies “on Mechanisms of Pathogenesis and Pathophysiology of Atypical Femoral Fracture (AFF) and Osteonecrosis of the Jaw (ONJ).” The Notice is active through July 18, 2023.

NOSI for Placental Research: The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) issued a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) encouraging research on several “High Priority Areas in Placental Research for Healthy Pregnancies”. Topics of special emphasis in these areas include, but are not limited, to 1) Elucidating the gene-regulatory pathways and molecular mechanisms involved in trophoblast differentiation and function; 2) Understanding the role of the immune system in normal placentation and pregnancy rejection; and 3) Developing safe and effective therapeutics for the treatment of placental dysfunction/disorders. Research addressing themes of diversity and inclusion are also highly encouraged. The notice expires October 06, 2024.

NINDS Issues Diversity NOSI: The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) issued a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to encourage R01 applications from diverse backgrounds. Relevant applicants include individuals from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown by the National Science Foundation to be underrepresented in health-related sciences on a national basis; individuals with disabilities as defined in the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act; and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, according to criteria in the notice. The NOSI also acknowledges the additional challenges faced by women from any of the aforementioned backgrounds. The Notice expires May 8, 2023.

NOSI on Physical Activity Interventions: The Office of Disease Prevention and participating NIH Institutes and Centers issued a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to highlight their interest in encouraging highly innovative and promising translational research to improve our understanding of how to increase and maintain health-enhancing physical activity using multi-level interventions in a wide range of population groups across the lifespan. The notice applies to a number of grant mechanisms, and expires on February 16, 2024. For more information, please see the full notice.

Women’s Health Research Administrative Supplements: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a Notice of Special Interest for the availability of administrative supplements to IDeA awards to expand research and research capacity in the IDeA states to address important issues of women’s health across the lifespan. The proposed research must address at least one of the strategic goals of the 2019-2023 Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women's Health Research "Advancing Science for the Health of Women." Research on maternal and infant morbidity and mortality is of particular interest.

Administrative Supplements for Childcare Costs: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced the availability of administrative supplements to support childcare costs on NRSA-supported Fellowship awards. Fellows may request $2,500 per budget period for costs for childcare provided by a licensed childcare provider. For more information, please see the Notice of Special Interest and policy announcement.

NOSI for Biophysical and Biomechanical Aspects of Embryonic Development: The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) issued a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to encourage innovative and high risk/impact research in the area of physics/mechanics of embryonic development explored in model organisms. The Notice expires on November 17, 2022. Learn more at the NIH Grants Guide.

NOSI for Secondary Analysis of Human Connectome Data: Several NIH institutes issued a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to encourage secondary analyses of data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) including the multiple datasets in the Lifespan Human Connectome projects and the Human Connectomes Related to Human Disease. Applicants beyond the groups that originally collected the data are encouraged to apply. For more information, see the announcement in the grants guide or the website for the Connectome Coordination Facility.

NOSI For Adopting Techniques and Tools Developed from the BRAIN Initiative: The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) issued a NOSI expressing interest in leveraging these technologies developed as part of the BRAIN initiative to understand nervous system function in the service of cognition, social, or affective processing. Applicants are encouraged to propose research to understand functioning of brain circuits in healthy subjects as well as translational work. NIMH is particularly interested in BRAIN tools that allow large, population-scale in vivo recording, imaging, or circuit manipulation during cognitive, social, or affective behavior. Learn more at the NIH Grants Guide, or the BRAIN Initiative website.

NIH Launches New Early Investigator Grant: National Institutes of Health recently announced the Stephen I. Katz Early Stage Investigator Research Project Grant award. This new award will support early stage investigators (ESIs) for innovative projects in an area of science that represents a change in research direction for the investigator. Importantly, applications will not be allowed to submit preliminary data. For application deadlines and other information, see the NIH Notice.

Data Repositories

The following resources may be useful for researchers seeking data repositories, databases, or other opportunities for data deposition and/or sharing.

NIH Newsletters

NIEHS Environmental Factor: The March issue of Environmental Factor features a summary of a symposium on pre- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and highlights from discussions from recent meetings of the National Toxicology Program Board of Scientific Counselors and NIEHS Advisory Council.
CSR Peer Review Notes: The September issue of Peer Review Notes highlights updates to NIH efforts to enhance the reproducibility of supported research. The issue also includes information on new videos to help NIH grant applicants navigate peer review.
NICHDevelopments: The February issue features research showing sex differences in concussions, new data sharing resources to connect investigators to research resources for projects aimed improving the health outcomes of newborns with genetic or congenital disorders, and selected NICHD requests for applications and program announcements
NIDDK Annual Report: In January 2019, NIDDK released their annual Recent Advances & Emerging Opportunities report. The publication demonstrates the value and promise of research by sharing examples of NIDDK-funded research including “Stories of Discovery”, “Scientific Presentations” and “Patient Profiles”