NIH Grant Opportunity for Community Colleges

NHGRI (National Human Genome Research Institute) of NIH (National Institutes of Health) has released a funding announcement “Broadening Opportunities for Computational Genomics and Data Science Education (UE5 – Clinical Trial Not Allowed)” that is suited for community colleges.

The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) Number RFA-HG-23-002 aims to help faculty members at eligible institutions create new curricula in Computational Genomics and Data Science (CGDS) topics for training undergraduate and master's students in genomics. It also focuses on teaching tools, approaches, and quantitative analysis concepts in CGDS using NIH-supported cloud platforms like AnVIL and the All of Us Researcher Workbench. The funded curricula will include both classroom instruction and hands-on training using these cloud platforms for biomedical data analysis.

For our community college colleagues, undergraduate means associate’s and bachelor’s degrees. Additionally, NIH is seeking applications from institutions with a historical and current mission to educate students from any of the populations that have been identified as underrepresented in biomedical research as defined by the National Science Foundation NSF (see http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/).

What do you need to know:

• Funding level: $150,000 direct - unlike NSF, indirect costs (up to 60%) are added on
• Project Description: 1 page specific aims + 6 page research plan
• Submission method: NIH Assist - your school needs to be registered
• Optional letter of intent: Oct 8, 2023
• Submission dates: Nov 8, 2023 and Jun 10, 2024
• Earliest start dates: July 2024 (for Nov 8 submissions), and Apr 25, 2025 (for Jun 10 submissions)

Background and other details:
The NIH has established the Educational Hub for Enhancing Diversity in Computational Genomics and Data Science (referred to as the Hub) through  RFA-HG-22-002 (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HG-22-002.html). This Hub will provide educational support, cloud computing resources, and assistance with adapting curricula developed by the Sites (awardees of this NOFO). The Sites will collaborate with the Hub to enhance CGDS education. The Hub is at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

Key activities for awardees (Sites) include developing and delivering CGDS educational content, creating cloud-based exercises, applying for opportunity funds for student research projects, and sharing their work with the broader educational community.

The Hub's role includes raising awareness of CGDS and cloud computing among Sites faculty and students, helping adapt educational content for cloud-based student exercises, administering opportunity funds for student research, creating a centralized resource portal, and serving as a community organizer for CGDS education.

Together, the Sites and Hub will collaborate to share educational content, convene annually to share progress, and work toward creating a community of institutions interested in integrating CGDS into biomedical curricula nationally. They aim to develop diverse CGDS materials for use by other institutions.

The NOFO also encourages hands-on genomic research experience, and the Hub will support student research projects in CGDS during the second and third years of the award period.

In summary, this NOFO seeks to:

• Develop CGDS curricula using cloud platforms.
• Share curricula with the wider educational community.
• Create a network of educational institutions for CGDS education.
• Provide hands-on research opportunities for students.

If you are interested contact Todd Smith (todd@digitalworldbiology.com) to learn more.