NIH Institutes Research Articles

NIH unit reorganizes research support programs

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...

The Human Brain Project: an international resource.

As the amount of basic neuroscientific information increases dramatically, its day-to-day integration and application becomes an increasing difficulty. Technological advances, particularly in computer and information sciences, should allow this information 'explosion' to become more manageable. To this end, the Human Brain Project, an initiative of several NIH Institutes and other United States Government agencies, is being developed to provide a computer database that will allow neuroscientists access to information at all levels of integration, from genes to behavior. In this article Michael Huerta, Stephen Koslow and Alan Leshner outline the genesis and ideas behind the initiative and discuss its future development.

Sharing the Pain — NIH Institutes Cope With Lean Times

Sharing the Pain — NIH Institutes Cope With Lean Times

An environmental look at human health

Just 432 kilometers (270 miles) south of the Bethesda, Md, campus of the NIH lies yet another of the 11 NIH institutes—the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Being apart from the main campus takes a little extra effort on our part to ensure that the NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services remember that we're down here [in Research Triangle Park, NC], says David P. Rall, MD, PhD, director of the institute. But we make a deliberate effort to ensure a scientific cross-fertilization between the Bethesda campus and our folks. The institute is the principal federal agency for investigating the effects of chemical, physical, and biologic environmental agents on human health. It was created in 1966 as the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, as federal officials recognized the need for a focal center among government agencies to coordinate the study of environmental health issues. After three