NIH supports 106 grants totaling ~$329M featuring high-risk, high-reward research

NIH awarded 106 grants to support highly innovative and broadly impactful biomedical or behavioral research by exceptionally creative scientists through the Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. Supported research this year includes understanding how long-term memory might be encoded in the shape of folded DNA in our neurons, mining data from unconventional sources to reveal social determinants of suicide, establishing new paradigms to address the functional consequences of health disparities in drug development, and looking at the impact of high school and collegiate athlete injuries on long-term health. The 106 awards total approximately $329 million over five years, pending availability of funds.

The High-Risk, High-Reward Research program manages the following four awards, including two awards aimed specifically to support researchers in the early stages of their careers:

• The NIH Director’s Pioneer Award challenges investigators at all career levels to pursue new research directions and develop groundbreaking, high-impact approaches to a broad area of biomedical, behavioral, or social science.
• The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award supports unusually innovative research from early career investigators who are within 10 years of their final degree or clinical residency and have not yet received a research project grant or equivalent NIH grant.
• The NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award promotes cross-cutting, interdisciplinary approaches and is open to individuals and teams of investigators who propose research that could potentially create or challenge existing paradigms.
• The NIH Director’s Early Independence Award provides an opportunity to support exceptional junior scientists who have recently received their doctoral degree or completed their medical residency to skip traditional post-doctoral training and move immediately into independent research positions.

Unique to this year was the addition of two special-focus areas:

• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
• COVID-19 (funds provided through the CARES Act)

NIH issued 10 Pioneer awards, 64 New Innovator awards, 19 Transformative Research awards (10 general, four ALS-related, and five COVID-19-related), and 13 Early Independence awards for 2021. Funding for the awards comes from the NIH Common Fund, NIGMS, National Institute of Mental Health, and the NINDS.

Recipients from IDeA jurisdictions include:

• Brian Koss, PhD, University of ARKANSAS for Medical Sciences – Early Independence Award
• Eric Lazartigues, PhD, LOUISIANA State University Health, New Orleans; Southeast Louisiana Veterans Healthcare System – Transformative Research Award: COVID-19
• Joe Nadeau, PhD, MAINE Medical Center Research Institute - Transformative Research Award
• Abraam M. Yakoub, PharmD, PhD, University of NORTH DAKOTA – Transformative Research Award: COVID-19
• Ahmed S. Abdelfattah, PhD, Brown University (RHODE ISLAND) – New Innovator Award