• Approved

• Grant

• Federal Agencies / Federal Government
• For Profit Organizations (Other than Small Business)
• Institutes of Higher Education (IHE) / Colleges & Universities
• Local Governments
• Non-profits / Non-academic Organizations
• Small Businesses
• Tribal Nations or Native American Tribal Organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
• Other

• SAM
• GRANTS

Purpose
To enhance grant funding efficiency and efficacy, the NIGMS established the Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA), a single grant that provides support for an investigator's NIGMS-aligned research program, encompassing all projects within their laboratory that align with the scientific mission of NIGMS.

It is anticipated that MIRA will achieve the following:

Increase the stability of funding for NIGMS-supported investigators, which could enhance their ability to take on ambitious scientific projects and approach problems more creatively;
Increase flexibility for investigators to follow important new research directions within the NIGMS mission as opportunities arise, rather than being bound to specific aims proposed in advance of the studies;
More widely distribute funding among the nation's highly talented and promising investigators to increase overall scientific productivity and the chances for important breakthroughs;
Reduce the time spent by researchers writing and reviewing grant applications, allowing them to spend more time conducting research;
Reduce the administrative burden associated with a PD/PI managing multiple NIGMS research grants; and
Enable PD(s)/PI(s) to devote more time and energy to mentoring junior scientists in a more stable research environment.
This NOFO invites new applications from eligible investigators as defined in the eligibility section (Section III. 1) and renewals from all current MIRA recipients. Early-Stage Investigators (ESIs) should apply through the ESI MIRA NOFO, not this NOFO.

The NIGMS MIRA differs from other institutes' R35 awards in that the MIRA is not a grant designed to only support a small number of investigators; instead, as described in the Institute's 2021-2025 strategic plan, MIRAs represent over 60% of NIGMS' R01-equivalent awards.

NIGMS will ensure a broad research portfolio, encompassing varied scientific disciplines, methodologies, geographic regions, institutions, and investigators. This approach maximizes the exploration of innovative ideas and enhances the potential for high impact scientific breakthroughs.

Overview of the MIRA
The NIGMS MIRA is intended to provide support for the NIGMS-mission aligned research program in an investigator’s laboratory. NIGMS supports basic research on biological processes as well as translational and clinical research in specific areas. In addition to investigating scientific questions, MIRA can support technology development and computational approaches, either as sole research program interests or as components of a broader research program. MIRA investigators have the flexibility to explore new ideas, techniques, and approaches, provided the research remains within the scientific mission of NIGMS. Research involving human subjects, vertebrate animals, stem cells, select agents, or foreign components requires prior approval by NIGMS staff per existing policies and procedures.

Compared to traditional R01 funding, the MIRA offers distinct advantages:

Grants typically have longer grant periods, on average, than NIGMS R01s;
Allows flexibility in changing research directions;
Significantly higher renewal rates as compared to NIGMS R01s;
Reduced administrative burden by consolidating multiple current or prospective NIGMS research grants into a single award, allowing investigators to spend less time on application writing and grant management, and more time on research.
Although mutually beneficial collaborations are encouraged during the course of a MIRA, the MIRA is designed to support the NIGMS-aligned research of an independent investigator's laboratory. For research requiring financial support of collaborators and subcontractors, other funding mechanisms may be more appropriate.

Research involving human subjects is permitted in the MIRA program. Clinical research must be completely within the context of the research areas supported by NIGMS, which include several specific clinical areas: anesthesiology, perioperative pain, clinical pharmacology, sepsis, injury and critical illness, wound healing, innate immunity and inflammation. Clinical research that involves recruitment of human subjects at more than one site or the substantial financial support of multiple collaborators and subcontractors is not allowed, because these fixed commitments are not consistent with the highly flexible nature of the MIRA program. Mechanistic clinical trials are permitted in MIRA when the mechanistic study is an essential part of the research program. Clinical trials that are designed to test safety and efficacy of interventions (Phase I, Phase II, Phase III) for the purpose of future clinical treatment and/or regulatory approval are not permitted in MIRA. Studies that propose clinical dissemination and implementation research, comparative effectiveness research, and/or pragmatic clinical trials are also not permitted.

Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to confer with the NIGMS program official managing their qualifying award(s) or relevant research portfolio(s), or for additional questions, the Scientific/Research Contacts listed in this NOFO (in Section VII. Agency Contacts) before submitting a MIRA application. NIGMS will not fund applications containing research projects that align with the missions of other NIH Institutes and Centers or federal agencies.

Overlap During Peer Review

Since a MIRA is designed to provide support for a PD's/PI's entire NIGMS-mission-aligned research program, it will overlap with most other NIGMS research grant applications. Therefore, a PD/PI may not have a MIRA application and another NIGMS research project grant application (e.g., R01, R15, R21, and R37) pending review at the same time. An application is pending review until its summary statement is issued. The following NIGMS applications are exempted from this policy:

Grants supporting resources for the research community (e.g., R24 grants)
Collaborative Program Grant for Multidisciplinary Teams (RM1) grants;
Biomedical Technology Optimization and Dissemination (RM1) grants;
Training or workforce development;
Multi-site clinical research, both clinical trials and observational studies, with costs for patient recruitment, protocol-related expenses, and/or community resource activities (e.g., specimen banking, dissemination);
INBRE, COBRE, IDeA-CTRs, SEPA, and NARCH;
SBIR/STTR ;
Conference.

--------------------------
Read NOFO for more information:
https://files.simpler.grants.gov/opportunities/59c3ea57-ba49-4e96-9706-0528937de746/attachments/20666c46-d283-4b74-aaf1-bc7abe7d35a2/PAR-26-121-Revised-Full-Announcement.html