The National Institutes of Health is promoting a new funding opportunity under the Recovery Act that will support approximately $200 million in large-scale research projects that have a high likelihood of enabling growth and investment in biomedical research and development, public health and healthcare delivery.
The new program, the Research and Research Infrastructure "Grand Opportunities," or GO, is designed to support high impact ideas that lend themselves to short-term funding and may lay the foundation for new fields of scientific inquiry.
"With this new program, we will support large biomedical and biobehavioral research endeavors that will benefit from a significant two-year jumpstart in funds and are ready for immediate implementation," said acting NIH Director Raynard S. Kington, MD. "The goals are to fund high impact research that will lead to growth and investment in these fields and stimulate the economy in the process."
The GO grants will support large-scale research projects that accelerate critical breakthroughs, early and applied research on cutting edge technologies and new approaches to improve the synergy and interactions among multi and interdisciplinary research teams.
Kington said potential grant applicants might propose to address either a specific research question or the creation of a unique infrastructure/resource designed to accelerate scientific progress in the future.
An example of the type of project that could be funded under this program is the identification and validation of biomarkers in human genetics and biology that indicate the risk for disease or that could serve as a marker of disease progression or responsiveness to treatment.
Another priority is research on information technology that will enable physicians to share radiological images across healthcare institutions, which could result in reduced healthcare costs as well as improved accuracy for medical decision-making.
The National Institutes of Health is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research.