It has been over a year since NIH Director Francis Collins announced the creation of the National Center for Advancing Translational Science. From the NIH website: “The goal of NCATS will be to develop new ways of doing translational research that the public and private research and development communities can adopt. Innovations that come out of NCATS are intended to cut down the time or expense needed to develop a new drug, or allow us to predict which compounds will work best and be safe earlier in development.”
CLICK HERE for more information on the mission of NCATS.
One casualty of the formation of NCATS has been the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR.) Where have the NCRR programs gone? Two have wound up at NIGMS. From a NIGMS blog post by Judith Greenberg:
“In the first major reorganization of NIGMS since 1994, we have just established two new divisions that bring together existing NIGMS programs with programs transferred to NIGMS from the former National Center for Research Resources (NCRR). These changes give us the opportunity to create synergies and strengthen efforts in areas that are central to our mission.
“The Division of Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity (TWD) merges NIGMS research training programs with activities that were previously in the Institute’s Division of Minority Opportunities in Research (MORE). It also houses the Institutional Development Award program from NCRR. Our decision to create this division was informed by input we received from many stakeholders, and it responds to key goals and recommendations of our strategic plans. Its director is Clif Poodry, who formerly directed the MORE Division.
“The Division of Biomedical Technology, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology (BBCB) combines programs of our Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CBCB) with biomedical technology programs from NCRR. Karin Remington, who previously directed CBCB, is the director of this new division.
“You might be wondering what the reorganization will mean for your current or future funding. The amount of money allocated to programs in the new divisions will not change as a result of the reorganization or the transfer of NCRR programs to NIGMS. The review of applications will stay the same, too, as will most of the staff who manage the grants and review the applications.”
