Purpose
These awards are made in memory of our colleague Dr. Deborah A. Nickerson who was deeply committed to mentoring and to supporting increased diversity in the genomics workforce.
Applications may be submitted for one of two purposes:
- To receive funding for professional development and/or training for up to one year at an institution of the applicant’s choice that enhances the applicant’s ability to pursue genomic research; or
- To receive funding for travel, registration, or other expenses related to attending a conference, workshop, or other short-term educational or professional development experience. Preference will be given to trainees and early-stage investigators.
Eligibility
Any investigator who is not part of a funded GREGoR center (i.e., does not have ‘core member’ status in GREGoR) is eligible for this funding call. An awardee may, however, be at the same institution as a GREGoR center.
Apply here by 11:59 p.m. PT on January 13, 2025
Collaboration Opportunities
As you consider your professional development activities for this award, some of the GREGoR Research Centers and Partner Members may include investigators who work in the area(s) that you are interested in learning about.
You will find information about the GREGoR Research Centers here, and further information about their areas of phenotypic interest here. To inquire whether Research Center investigators have interest and capacity, you can contact the Research Center directly to ask if they can support your application. If so, please obtain a Letter of Support from them and include this with your grant application.
Research Centers
Baylor College of Medicine Research Center (BCM-GREGoR)
Contact: Dr. Jennifer Posey at Jennifer.Posey@bcm.edu
Broad Institute
Contact: Dr. Anne O’Donnell-Luria at odonnell@broadinstitute.org
GREGoR Stanford Site (GSS)
Contact: Dr. Stephen Montgomery at smontgom@stanford.edu and CC: Devon Bonner Devonbonner@stanfordhealthcare.org and Lauren Meador lmeador@stanford.edu
University of California, Irvine - GREGoR (UCI-GREGoR)
Contact: Dr. Eric Vilain at EVilain@hs.uci.edu and CC: Miguel Almalvez miguel.almalvez@uci.edu
University of Washington Center for Rare Disease Research (UW-CRDR)
Contact: Dr. Chia-Lin Wei weicl@uw.edu and CC: Colleen Davis codavis@uw.edu
Partner Members
Likewise, the following GREGoR Partner Member groups may be interested in supporting your grant proposal. You can contact the PI for these groups directly. As noted above, if applicable, you should include their Letter of Support with your grant application.
Bujakowska - Massachusetts Eye and Ear
Contact: Dr. Kinga Bujakowska at kinga_bujakowska@meei.harvard.edu
Carvalho - Pacific Northwest Research Institute
Contact: Dr. Claudia Carvalho at ccarvalho@pnri.org
The Carvalho Lab investigates pathogenic genomic variants in the human genome. We are interested in identifying and characterizing the molecular features of such types of variants, how they are generated and consequences for disease expression. We have performed groundbreaking studies in disease gene discovery and the underlying mechanism of formation of genomic rearrangements in neurodevelopmental diseases (https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=JvZz2rUAAAAJ). Our research program aims:
- To unveil the intrinsic properties and architecture of the human genome leading to genomic instability and formation of structural variants (i.e., copy-number variants, inversions, insertions, translocations);
- To identify the functional impact of pathogenic variants to gene expression; and
- To determine the biological mechanism contributing to the expression of clinical traits.
Towards such goals, our lab applies multiple genomic methodologies to study genomic variation including optical genome mapping, short-reads and long-reads genome sequencing (Oxford Nanopore and PacBio), array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH), droplet digital PCR. We have established collaborations with clinicians and research centers across the world to support efforts in solving unsolved diseases including Latin America and Europe.
Hagman - Ambry Genetics
Contact: Kelly Hagman at AmbryStudies@ambrygen.com
As a diagnostic testing laboratory, Ambry offers the opportunity to leverage a large clinical dataset either for gene-disease discovery or to systematically study variant assessment.
Li - University of Chicago
Contact: Dr. Yang Li at yangili1@uchicago.edu
The Li lab is interested in developing approaches to better use RNA-seq and splicing information to improve Mendelian disease characterization.
Crawford - Illumina/iHope
Quinlan - University of Utah
Contact: Dr. Aaron Quinlan at aquinlan@genetics.utah.edu
Dudley - Pacific Northwest Research Institute
Contact: Dr. Aimee Dudley at adudley@pnri.org
Model organisms, including yeast, are an important part of the ecosystem of human disease research. The sequence, structure, and function of orthologous proteins are often so conserved that a human protein coding sequence can functionally replace (complement) its yeast orthologs in vivo. We have a generalizable approach for assessing the functional impact of missense variants in human genes with a highly conserved yeast ortholog at scale.
Xia - Broad/NYU Langone Health
Contact: Dr. Bo Xia at xiabo@broadinstutute.org
The Xia lab develops high-throughput in silico and experimental approaches to systematically investigate the functions of non-coding variants.
Wagner - Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Contact: Dr. Alex Wagner at Alex.Wagner@nationwidechildrens.org
The Wagner Lab is focused on standardizing the representation of cohort allele frequency information. In collaboration with the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) and our colleagues at Oregon Health and Sciences University, our partner site focuses on the development and application of tools for standardizing and searching the GREGoR combined consortium dataset using the AnVIL platform.
Required Materials
The application via the button above, which includes:
- Description of your planned activities
- Description of associated costs
- Letters of support if the proposed activities depend on collaborating with others
Selection Criteria
For the Grants to Support Workforce Diversity in Genomics Research, NHGRI will review all applications and determine priority funding for these awards. With input from Consortium leadership, NHGRI will make the final funding decisions for these awards. GREGoR Consortium members on the Opportunity Fund Sub-Committee may be given confidential access to application materials and asked to provide input during the application review process.
Deadline Dates and Submission Details
| Deadline Dates and Time | Submission Detail |
|---|---|
| January 13, 2025 by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (PT) | Grants to Support Workforce Diversity in Genomics Research Application Due |
| March 3, 2025 | Awards announced |
| April 1, 2025 | Planned earliest start date of awards |
| March 31, 2026 | Professional development and educational events need to be completed |
Reporting requirements for awardees
These include a brief written report describing the funded work or activities completed, their impact on the awardee’s professional development and how this will help foster diversity in the genomics workforce.