On October 6, 2020 The National Institutes of Health reported that it has awarded 85 grants through its High-Risk, High-Reward Research (HRHR) Program that will fund highly innovative and unusually impactful biomedical or behavioral research proposed by extraordinarily creative scientists (Press release, US NIH, OCT 6, 2020, View Source [SID1234568151]). Examples of supported research include understanding the role of neighborhoods on urban substance abuse, brain-machine interfaces that allow learning by both brain and machine, engineering multi-organs in a dish, and exploiting latent immune pathways to treat disease. The 85 awards total approximately $251 million over five years, pending available funds.
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The High-Risk, High-Reward Research program catalyzes scientific discovery by supporting research proposals that, due to their inherent risk, may struggle in the traditional peer-review process despite their transformative potential. Program applicants are encouraged to think "outside the box" and to pursue trailblazing ideas in any area of research relevant to the NIH’s mission to advance knowledge and enhance health.
"The breadth of innovative science put forth by the 2020 cohort of early career and seasoned investigators is impressive and inspiring," said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. "I am confident that their work will propel biomedical and behavioral research and lead to improvements in human health."
The High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program is part of the NIH Common Fund, which oversees programs that pursue major opportunities and gaps throughout the research enterprise that are of great importance to NIH and require collaboration across the agency to succeed. The High-Risk, High-Reward Research program manages the following four awards, including two awards aimed specifically to support researchers in the early stages of their careers:
The NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, established in 2004, challenges investigators at all career levels to pursue new research directions and develop groundbreaking, high-impact approaches to a broad area of biomedical, behavioral, or social science.
The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, established in 2007, supports unusually innovative research from early career investigators who are within 10 years of their final degree or clinical residency and have not yet received a research project grant or equivalent NIH grant.
The NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award, established in 2009, promotes cross-cutting, interdisciplinary approaches and is open to individuals and teams of investigators who propose research that could potentially create or challenge existing paradigms.
The NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, established in 2011, provides an opportunity to support exceptional junior scientists who have recently received their doctoral degree or completed their medical residency to skip traditional post-doctoral training and move immediately into independent research positions.
NIH issued 10 Pioneer awards, 53 New Innovator awards, nine Transformative Research awards, and 13 Early Independence awards for 2020. Funding for the awards comes from the NIH Common Fund; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; National Cancer Institute; National Human Genome Research Institute; National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering; National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research; National Institute of General Medical Sciences; National Institute of Mental Health; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; and National Institute on Aging.