NIH is calling for proposals for their intramural “Bedside-to-Bench” (B2B) Award Program. The program funds research to translate clinical observations to the laboratory and then back to the patient. The program also promotes collaborations that can involve either intramural investigators from different laboratories or both intramural and extramural investigators. A B2B award provides up to $135,000 a year for two years.
Projects have represented research categories such as AIDS, rare diseases, behavioral and social sciences, minority health and health disparities, women’s health, diseases, drug development, pharmacogenomics, and other general research areas.
Through the end of the 2012 program cycle, about 700 principal and associate investigators have collaborated on 209 funded projects for approximately $48 million distributed in total bedside-to-bench funding resulting in partnerships at 74 institutions.
NIH funding is anticipated from the Office of Rare Diseases, National Center for Advancing Translations Research (NCATS), the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, Office of AIDS Research, Office of Research on Women’s Health, the Office of Intramural Research, and the Center for Regenerative Medicine.
Categories for awards to be funded include:
- AIDS—four awards related to AIDS
- Behavioral and Social Sciences—up to two projects with particular interest in interdisciplinary research, systems thinking, and modeling approaches that integrate multiple levels of analysis
- Rare Diseases—NCATS will co-fund two projects related to a rare disease
- Regenerative Medicine—one project to accelerate the clinical translation of stem cell-based technologies and to develop widely available resources to use as standards in stem cell research
- Women’s Health—one project will be funded to focus on improving the health of women through biomedical and behavioral research related to the roles of sex and gender in health and disease
The B2B teams involve basic and clinical researchers often come from different NIH Institutes and Centers. However, in 2006, the B2B program started uniting the efforts of intramural and extramural NIH researchers. As a result, both intramural and extramural NIH investigators are able to apply for research projects.
Extramural principal investigators with an existing NIH grant may initiate proposals by seeking an intramural partner at NIH who would function as the project leader and serve as the point of contact. To identify a collaborator, interested parties can research the NIH database of current intramural research, the PI directory, or contact the B2B program office for assistance in identifying intramural partners.
A Letter of Intent is due April 3, 2013 with full proposals to be submitted by May 2013. For more information, email bedisdetobench@mail.nih.gov or go to www.cc.nih.gov/ccc/btb/awards.shtml.
