Biophysical Society Newsletter - March 2015

10 / 16

BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER 10 MARCH 2015
NIGMS Director Lorsch on
Developing a More
Productive, Efficient and
Sustainable Biomedical
Research Enterprise
The Public Affairs Committee was pleased to host
Jon Lorsch, Director of the National Institute for
General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of
Health (NIGSM, NIH), as a guest speaker at the
Meeting. Lorsch, who has been director of the
Institute since 2013, focused his talk on a new
pilot program the Institute has launched, which
he hopes will become a new model for funding
research at NIH.
The purpose of the new program, “Maximizing
Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA),” is to fund
labs rather than individual projects. In exchange
for more flexibility, longer support periods (five
years), and less time writing grant proposals than
R01 grants allow, principal investigators agree that
if awarded a MIRA, it will be their only NIGMS
grant. Lorsch hopes that a side benefit to the
Institute and the research community is that the
program will free up valuable dollars currently
going to a small number of labs for wider distribu-
tion, increasing the pure number of investigators
funded. MIRA grants will be capped at $750,000
per year. Lorsch would like the community to
start talking about how many researchers NIH
funds, rather than grants, as a metric.
In order to keep the size of the pilot program
manageable, the first RFA allows only investigators
currently holding two or more NIGMS grants or
one grant of more than $400,000 to apply. This
RFA can be found at
A second RFA is under development that will be
open to early career investigators.
As part of his presentation, Lorsch presented data
illustrating how NIGMS funds are currently (and
historically) distributed, productivity per principle
investigator based on funding levels, and several
other illuminating charts. Lorsch was generous
enough to provide these slides for individuals to
view after the meeting. They can be viewed on the
BPS website at
Biophysical Society TV
The Society is pleased to provide Biophysical
Society TV as a means for individuals to hear
directly from some of the meeting presenters, the
Society leadership, and meeting attendees. The
short videos provide another opportunity for the
biophysics community to stay up-to-date on
interesting research findings and learn more about
the Society’s programs. The videos are freely
available at
High School Students
Visit BPS 2015
Students from Baltimore's ConneXions Com-
munity Leadership Academy toured the Exhibit
Hall in small groups with BPS members Candice
Etson, Ryan Hoffman, Virginia Smith , and Liskin
Swint-Kruse. The goal of their visit was to have
fun socializing with professional scientists, helping
to overcome one of the social barriers towards a
career in science. The groups enjoyed the Biomo-
lecular Discovery Dome, learned about new tech-
nologies from exhibitors, viewed the submissions
for the Art of Science competition, and heard
poster presentations.
When the afternoon was over, the students were
excited about the range of activities that scientists
enjoy, from making art to developing technology.
They returned to their school with new insights
into the social world of science, along with some
new vocabulary and sore feet.