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.
NIDDK Releases Report: Health Disparities and Equities: NIDDK announced the release of “Pathways to Health for All,” a new report from its Health Disparities and Health Equity Research Working Group of Council, which makes innovative recommendations to advance research in health equity and health disparities. It also includes guiding principles for embedding equity into research activities and tips for researchers who plan to engage in robust health equity research.
Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis: The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health agency launched their first program announcement: the Novel Innovations for Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis (NITRO). NITRO seeks to develop new ways of helping the human body repair its own joints, with the goal of revolutionizing treatment for osteoarthritis. Join the program.
Reverse Mentoring with FASEB’s LEAD: FASEB’s Leadership Engagement and Appreciation of Differences (LEAD) is a reverse mentoring program that pairs senior-level professionals with junior-level mentors to gain different perspectives of views in the workplace. The program facilitates mentoring and networking experiences to help the individuals in the program while helping to transform the culture of the biological research community. Apply by Friday, June 30.
White House Virtual Listening Sessions with Early Career Researchers: The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) will host a series of virtual listening sessions from May 31–June 12 to explore perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for advancing open science in the United States and solutions that might be implemented by the US Government. Register to attend.
Secondary Analyses of Existing Datasets in Aging Research: The National Institute on Aging encourages the use of existing cohorts and datasets for secondary analyses to investigate novel scientific ideas and/or address clinically related issues on: (1) aging changes influencing health across the lifespan (2) diseases and disabilities in older persons, and/or (3) the changes in basic biology of aging that underlie these impacts on health. Apply by this Monday, June 5 with subsequent receipt dates through Wednesday, May 8, 2024.
Aging Research Dissertation Awards to Promote Diversity: The National Institute on Aging invites R36 applications to support senior graduate students with Aging Research Dissertation Awards to Promote Diversity. These awards provide funding to support graduate students from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, in finishing their dissertations on aging and aging-related health conditions. Submit your application by Wednesday, July 19 with subsequent receipt dates through Monday, October 16.
Awards Supporting Cutting-Edge Technologies for Translational Science (ASCETTS): The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) invites applications for the ASCETTS to foster investigator-initiated development of highly innovative technologies to address barriers, limitations, or bottlenecks in translational science. Your applications are due by Wednesday, July 19 with subsequent receipt dates through Tuesday, June 19, 2025.
NIH Research Enhancement Award (R15) Programs Webinar: The NIH R15 programs support small-scale research projects at educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees for a significant number of the nation’s research scientists but have not been major recipients of NIH support. Prospective applicants can attend a webinar on Thursday, June 15 at 2:30pm-3:30 PM ET to receive an overview of the program and insight into key components of the R15 grant application, including a Q&A with NIH officials. Register now.
Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health Administrative Supplement: The NIH announced a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to award administrative supplements for the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) program, including funds that may be used to support one additional trainee at funded BIRCWH sites. This NOSI promote careers for independent women’s health researchers and facilitates their successful transition to K12 BIRCWH scholars. Only current BIRCWH Program awardee institutions are eligible to apply. Apply by Monday, June 5.
Virtual EDC and Women’s Health Symposium: The Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health is hosting a symposium on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and women’s health from July 18-19, 2023. This virtual symposium will feature federal and non-federal stakeholders in the fields of research, prevention, and treatment, focusing on the impact of EDCs on women’s health and to explore actionable solutions addressing evidence to policy and practice gaps. To receive the meeting link, you must register in advance.
Funding Opportunity on Clinical Trial Readiness for Rare Diseases: This funding opportunity invites researchers to submit applications for support of projects that address critical needs for clinical trial readiness in rare diseases. The initiative seeks applications that facilitate rare diseases research by enabling efficient and effective movement of candidate therapeutics or diagnostics toward clinical trials, and to increase their likelihood of success through development and testing of rigorous biomarkers and clinical outcome assessment measures, or by defining the presentation and course of a rare disease to enable the design of upcoming clinical trials. Applications are due October 17 this year.
Interventions to Expand Cancer Screening and Prevention in Populations that Experience Health Disparities: The Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) and participating National Institutes of Health (NIH) Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICs) are soliciting applications to address barriers and facilitators that impede use or uptake of cancer screening and preventive services in populations that experience health disparities. Interventions should include screening, preventive services, or other healthcare processes, including timely follow-up of abnormal findings, and referral to accessible care. Projects are encouraged to leverage collaborations with community partners and service providers. Apply by Thursday, October 5.
Urge Congress to Reauthorize the Special Diabetes Program: Funding for the Special Diabetes Program will end on September 30 unless Congress passes legislation to reauthorize the program. SDP is a federal program comprised of two components - the Special Diabetes Program for Type 1 Diabetes and the Special Diabetes Program for Indians. It is critical that members of Congress hear from you, the constituent, about the importance of reauthorizing the Special Diabetes Program.
FOA to Support Diversity in Research Education Experiences: The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities that encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds to pursue careers in research. Applications for this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) are encouraged to propose integrated educational activities that include 3 elements: a summer bridge program for incoming freshmen, and in the freshman and sophomore years, academic year activities and summer research experiences. Applications are due June 7, 2023.
NIH Institutional Excellence in DEIA Prize Competition: NIH is now accepting submissions for a new initiative that rewards effective strategies for enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in research environments: the NIH Institutional Excellence in DEIA in Biomedical and Behavioral Research Prize Competition. The prize competition aims to recognize transformative cultures, systems, projects, and processes developed by academic institutions to promote inclusive excellence and create environments that foster and value a culture of DEIA. NIH will award up to 10 prizes of $100,000 each through the competition. Up to half of the prizes will be set aside for consideration for limited-resourced institutions. To participate, registration is required by Tuesday, September 12, 2023. There is a webinar on May 17, 2023 to provide an overview of this new initiative and answer questions.
Urge Congress to Increase Funding for the NIH in FY2024: Congress is beginning the process of determining funding for the National Institutes of Health in fiscal year (FY) 2024. This will affect all researchers who receive grant funding from NIH. There is a lot of pressure coming from certain groups within Congress to cut funding significantly for all programs, including NIH. This is why the Endocrine Society needs all NIH-funded endocrine researchers to help us prevent funding cuts and advocate for increased funding. The Endocrine Society is urging Congress to provide $51 billion for the NIH base budget, which is a 7.3% increase over FY 2023. Our number reflects a 2.3% increase to account for biomedical inflation plus a 5% increase in real growth. To ensure increased funding for the NIH, it is critical that your Representative and Senators hear from you about this issue.
Research Supplements for Common Fund Datasets: There are existing Common Fund public data sets that contain multi-dimensional molecular and phenotypic data from humans and model systems. To maximize the impact of these data and to engage a broader community of data utilization, the NIH Office of Strategic Coordination is supporting administrative supplements encouraging the use of Common Fund datasets. To be eligible, the parent award must be able to receive funds in Fiscal Year 2023 (Oct. 1, 2022-Sept. 30, 2023) and must not be in the final year or a terminal no-cost extension period as of September 2023. Apply by Friday, June 30.
Transformative Research Awards: The NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award Program supports individual scientists or groups of scientists proposing groundbreaking, exceptionally innovative, original, and/or unconventional research with the potential to create new scientific paradigms, establish entirely new and improved clinical approaches, or develop transformative technologies. Individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups, are strongly encouraged to apply. Submit your application by Friday, September 1.
Chronic Conditions Understudied Among Women: The purpose of this funding opportunity is to invite R01 applications on chronic conditions understudied among women and/or that disproportionately affect populations of women who are understudied, underrepresented, and/or underreported in biomedical research. View the application deadlines and the award cycles.
Addressing the Impact of Structural Racism and Discrimination in Minority Health and Health Disparities: The NIH announced a new R01 that will support intervention research to address the impact of structural racism and discrimination (SRD) on minority health and health disparities. Research designs should allow for the assessment of mechanisms through which the intervention modifies SRD and how these changes result in improvement in the targeted health outcomes. Application deadlines and the award cycles are now available.
Reminder: Updated NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing Took Effect: The updated NIH Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Plan took effect on Wednesday, January 25. The DMS Policy applies to all NIH research, and DMS Plans should describe how data will be managed and appropriately shared. Learn more about the policy and its requirements. The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) has also put together excellent resources to help with the transition to this new policy.
Time-Sensitive Research Opportunities in Environmental Health Sciences: The NIH released a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) that is intended to support novel environmental health research in which an unpredictable event or policy change provides a limited window of opportunity to collect human biological samples or environmental exposure data. A feature of an appropriate study is the need for rapid review and funding; the entire cycle, from submission to award, is expected to be within 4-6 months. Review the deadlines and award cycles.
Climate Change and Healthcare Research: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) are interested in receiving health services research grant applications that address the intersection of climate change and healthcare. Specifically, applications that address three primary areas: 1) Reducing the healthcare sector’s greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint, 2) Creating resilient healthcare systems and communities that can plan, prepare, respond, and adapt to climate-related threats, and 3) Addressing the inequitable impacts of climate change. Learn more.
Validation of Biomarker Assays Revision Applications: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is encouraging revision applications from currently funded NCI R01 research projects. The focus of applications submitted should be on the adaption and clinical validation of molecular/cellular/imaging biomarkers for cancer detection, diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring, and prediction of response in treatment, as well as markers for cancer prevention and control.
Mood and Psychosis Research During the Menopause Transition: The NIH issued a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to encourage applications that will advance mechanistic and translational research on the onset and worsening of mood and psychotic disorders during the menopausal transition. In particular, they are seeking proposals that will advance the understanding of the underlying neurobiological and behavioral mechanisms during the menopause transition that will identify novel targets for future mental health interventions. Learn more.
NIH Grants Policy Changes: The NIH announced that they have published updated “Significant Changes” made to the NIH Grants Policy Statement (GPS) in fiscal year 2022 that will be reflected in the GPS for 2023. Highlights include an updated definition of terms (added the data management and sharing plan, unique entity identifier, etc.), a new section titled “NIH Disclosure Requirements”, and a new section titled “Plans to Promote Safe Environments at Conferences”, among others. Learn more about the changes.
Reporting Back Environmental Health and Non-Genomic Research Results: The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), in partnership with the NIH Office of Science Policy (OSP) and the All of Us Research Program, intends to publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for applications that identify, develop, and test strategies for reporting back environmental health and non-genomic research results to study participants and/or key partners. The FOA expected application deadline is June 2023.
Continuity of Research Among First-Time NIH Grant Recipients Administrative Supplement: This retention program seeks to maintain the productivity of current first-time recipients of eligible independent NIH research project grant awards who are dealing with a critical life event(s), such that they can remain competitive for the first renewal of their award or for a second research project grant award. The overarching goal of this program is to enhance the retention of investigators facing critical life events who are transitioning to the first renewal of their first independent research project grant award or to a second new NIH research project grant award. . Learn more.
Administrative Supplements to Recognize Excellence in DEIA Mentorship: The NIH announced a notice of special interest (NOSI) wherein participating Institutes and Centers (ICs) invite applications to support administrative supplements to existing NIH awards and ongoing future efforts. These supplements will support scientists who have demonstrated compelling commitments and contributions to mentorship and enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the biomedical sciences. The webinar recording is now available.
Trailblazer Award Opportunity for New and Early Stage Investigators: The Trailblazer Award is an opportunity for new and early stage investigators to pursue research programs that integrate engineering and the physical sciences with the life and/or biomedical sciences. A Trailblazer project may be exploratory, developmental, proof of concept, or high risk-high impact, and may be technology design-directed, discovery-driven, or hypothesis-driven. Applicants must propose research approaches for which there are minimal or no preliminary data. View the application due dates and award cycles.
Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award for Early Stage Investigators: The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) announced they are planning to issue a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to continue the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award for Early Stage Investigators (MIRA-ESI) R35 program. ESIs are encouraged to submit an application that falls within the mission of NIGMS.
Urgent Competitive Revisions to Existing NIH Grants: The NIH announced that Principal Investigators on specific types of NIH research grants may apply to funds for competitive revisions to meet immediate needs to help address a specific public health crisis which were unforeseen when the application was submitted. Applications for Urgent Competitive Revisions will be routed directly to the NIH awarding component listed on the Notice of Award of the most recent parent award. Review the full notice.
Improving Management of Exercise for People with T1D: The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust’s (Helmsley) Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Program is launching a Request for Proposals (RFP) to support the development of novel, real-world solutions to help people with T1D exercise safely and to improve their quality of life. Researchers and clinicians are expected to partner with statistical teams to analyze the real-world data that was collected under Helmsley’s T1D Exercise Initiative (T1-DEXI), build collaborations with other necessary third parties, and to test their novel solutions in studies with people with T1D. The overarching purpose of this initiative is to move real-world data towards real-world solutions. View RFP for details and deadlines.
Women’s Health Research in Institutional Development Award (IDeA)-eligible States: The NIH announced a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to support women’s health research in Institutional Development Award (IDeA)-eligible states. The proposed research must address at least one of the strategic goals of the Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women's Health Research “Advancing Science for the Health of Women” to enable innovative research relevant to the health of women and to address emerging women’s health issues of public importance. The first available due date is Monday, January 30. View all the deadlines.
Resources and Technologies for Enhancing Rigor and Reproducibility: The Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) encourages research project grant applications aimed at developing and implementing broadly applicable technologies, tools, and resources for validating animal models and enhancing rigor, reproducibility, and translatability of animal research. The earliest submission date is February 5. Review the award cycles.
Intersection of Sex and Gender Influences on Health and Disease: The NIH issued a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to invite R01 applications on the influence and intersection of sex and gender in health and disease. This FOA supports basic, preclinical, translational, and clinical research investigations. Review the application deadlines and award cycles.
Cancer Moonshot Scholars Diversity Program: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) issued a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) that supports the Cancer Moonshot Scholars Diversity Program. This FOA solicits R01 grant applications that propose independent research projects within the scientific mission of the NCI. The overarching goal of this program is to increase the number of R01 Early Stage Investigators and enhance the diversity of the cancer research workforce. Review the table for grant deadlines.
Multisite Clinical Research Trials Funding: The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) issued a notice of intent to publish a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for multisite clinical research projects. They are looking to support projects that advance research and outcomes for women, children, pregnant and lactating individuals, and/or persons with disabilities. The first estimated application due date is Monday, June 5, 2023.
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. Learn more, 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 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.
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.
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. The expiration date is May 08, 2024.
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. The final application due date for non-AID applications is September 26, 2023, and for AIDS and AIDS-related applications is December 28, 2023. For other information, see the NIH Notice.
The following resources may be useful for researchers seeking data repositories, databases, or other opportunities for data deposition and/or sharing.
Carol A. Lange, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Endocrinology, and Stephen R. Hammes, MD, PhD, past Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Endocrinology share critical tips on how to get published.