NIH unit reorganizes research support programs

Abstract

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), the largest single source of chemistry funding within the National Institutes of Health, has reorganized to reflect the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of the research it supports. The changes are also meant to streamline its operations in accord with the Clinton Administration's push to re-invent government. NIGMS's mission is much broader than those of the other NIH institutes, which specialize in specific diseases or organs. NIGMS, in contrast, supports the basic science underlying health-related research. The institute also leads NIH's activities aimed at increasing the number of minority scientists in biomedical research. NIGMS staff conducts no research itself, so the bulk of its budget—approximately $900 million for fiscal 1995—goes directly to universities and other research institutions. In the most significant change, the institute has rearranged its four program branches—Cellular & Molecular Basis of Disease, Genetics, Biophysics...