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Description and Application Guidance
Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PDs and PIs) holding specific types of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants may be eligible for administrative supplement funding (see the full program announcement) to improve the diversity of the research workforce by recruiting and supporting students, postdoctorates, and eligible investigators from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups that have been shown to be underrepresented in health-related research. This supplement opportunity is also available to PDs/PIs of research grants who are or become disabled and need additional support to accommodate their disability in order to continue to work on the research project. Administrative supplements must support work within the scope of the original project.
This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is designed specifically for applicants proposing research that does not involve leading an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or an ancillary clinical trial. Applicants to this FOA are permitted to propose research experience in a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor. This FOA is designed to provide support for research experiences for individuals from diverse backgrounds throughout the continuum from high school to the faculty level. The proposed research experience must be an integral part of the approved, ongoing research of the parent award, and it must have the potential to contribute significantly to the research career development of the candidate.
Detailed eligibility criteria are described in the full program announcement. Also see the Notice of NIH’s Interest in Diversity (November 22, 2019). Specific application guidance includes the following:
- The institution/university of the PI determines, justifies, and certifies the eligibility of the candidate based on the Notice of NIH's Interest in Diversity.
- The PI of the NIDCD-funded award prepares the supplement application with input from the candidate.
- Typically, supplements are provided for one year, with a strong justification required for a second year.
- The application must clearly describe the need for additional mentored research training.
- The research strategy section in the application must include the following subheadings:
- Career development plan: The PI should include details of specific activities and milestones to be accomplished during the supplement duration. For predoctoral fellows, postdoctoral fellows, and medical students, a plan to transition to NIH mainstream research training and/or research funding should be provided
- Mentoring research plan: The PI should describe the specific activities planned for the candidate during the supplement period and the PI’s previous training and mentoring experience.
- For high school, undergraduate, postbaccalaureate, master’s, predoctoral students (including Au.D. and medical students), and postdoctoral fellows, the application should include a biosketch for the candidate using the NIH fellowship biosketch format.
- The parent award must have an active budget that is at least equivalent to the duration of the requested supplement and should not be in (or go into) a no-cost extension.
- Typically, NIDCD allows one supplement per parent award to support one candidate. Possible exceptions will be considered for exceptional PIs and candidates with a strong justification and with support from the program official assigned to the parent award.
- Supplements are limited to candidates who are citizens or non-citizen nationals of the U.S. or to candidates who have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the U.S. (i.e., in possession of a Permanent Resident Card, Form I-551).
- Candidates supported on a research award (such as an R01) may not be transferred to a supplement to increase the availability of funds to the parent award for other uses.
- Candidates may be temporarily supported by the parent award while the application is under reviewed.
- Discussions of the supplement request with the program officer assigned to the parent award are highly encouraged to make sure that the proposed project falls within the scope of the parent award.
- NIDCD accepts applications on a rolling basis.
For application guidance and additional information on administrative supplements to promote diversity in NIDCD-supported research, please contact Alberto Rivera-Rentas.
Institution: Northwestern University
Career Level: Postbaccalaureate
Research Summary: I received a B.S. in psychology from the University of Georgia in 2021. I am currently a research assistant at Northwestern University in the Developmental Mechanisms Lab. Under the direction of Drs. Elizabeth Norton and Lauren Wakschlag, I work on the When 2 Worry Study, investigating early language and mental health trajectories with a focus on language delays and behavioral and emotional development. W2W has allowed me to work with a diverse set of families, conduct child and adult language assessments, and run infant and child electroencephalography (EEG) data collection. The focus of this research is to generate a clearer model of language delay in toddlerhood and help parents and clinicians better identify when to be concerned about children's language development.
Institution: New York University
Career Level: Postdoctoral
Research Summary: I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Language Experience and Acquisition Research at NYU Lab (LEARN Lab). One of my research interests is the early language development of individuals with autism. The goal of our diversity supplement project is to develop an eye-tracking measure that will assess the receptive language vocabulary of young children who are on the autism spectrum.
Institution: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Career Level: Postbaccalaureate
Research Summary: The Chaudhari lab at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine focuses on the gustatory sensory pathway which, at its core, involves the first detection of taste stimuli at the taste bud cells and subsequent sensory transmission by way of the geniculate ganglion neurons to the central nervous system. The lab studies these neurons at the molecular, anatomical, and functional levels. My 2020-2022 diversity supplement research project looked at how a new capsid of the adeno-associated virus (AAV-PHP.S) could be used to label peripheral sensory ganglion neurons with fluorescent markers, including in a Cre-dependent fashion to label selective neuronal cell types. We used the method to view real-time physiological activity of selected subsets of cranial ganglion sensory neurons (Asencor, et al., eNeuro. 2022 Jun 6;9(3): ENEURO. 0373-21.2022). I am now a first-year neuroscience Ph.D. student at the University of California San Francisco and in the midst of laboratory rotations.
Institution: Massachusetts Eye and Ear
Career Level: Undergraduate
Research Summary: My interest in conducting research in the lab of Artur A. Indzhykulian, M.D., Ph.D., stemmed from witnessing my mother suffer from Usher syndrome type 2A. Having the opportunity to contribute to projects ameliorating the effects of hearing conditions has been incredibly meaningful to me. I have received training in structural biology and biochemistry and have contributed to the lab’s work on characterizing the stability and structural properties of IPT domains 1 and 2 of polycystic kidney and hepatic disease 1-like 1 (PKHD1L1). I have learned how to perform primer design, DNA cloning, bacterial protein expression, and X-ray protein crystallography and have used these skills, alongside others, to advance the PKHD1L1 project and assist with an Usher syndrome type 1F gene therapy project as well. In the future, I hope to continue researching the pathophysiology of hearing-ocular conditions such as Usher syndrome type 2A.
Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Career Level: Postbaccalaureate
Research Summary: Although higher-order cortical areas are known to extract complex sensory features such as vocal communications, the circuits underlying these integrative functions are still unclear. Higher-order cortices are generally considered to receive pre-processed inputs from the primary cortices. However, recent studies across sensory modalities suggest that secondary cortices may also receive sensory inputs directly from the periphery, bypassing primary cortical areas. As a research technician at UNC Chapel Hill, my research focuses on delineating the ascending pathways from the periphery to the mouse secondary auditory cortex, using anatomical tracing, in vivo electrophysiology, and optogenetics. The results will inform us of the circuit mechanisms underlying the integrative functions of the secondary auditory cortex and provide insights into the general principles underlying how higher-order cortices integrate parallel ascending pathways to generate a coherent percept.
Institution: Rutgers University
Career Level: Predoctoral
Research Summary: I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in the lab of Kasia Bieszczad, Ph.D. As a neuroscientist, my interests lie in the epigenetic mechanisms that underlie learning and memory. My work currently investigates how one epigenetic regulator, HDAC3, targets genes in the adult auditory cortex that are involved in long-term auditory memory formation. My findings will provide genetic targets of epigenetic regulation that may be critical for facilitating the experience-dependent neural processes required for behavioral adaptation. Epigenetic mechanisms are likely key to producing the most robust and long-lasting functional changes in the brain, which are critical for long-term memory formation.
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Career Level: Predoctoral
Research Summary: I am an M.D./Ph.D. student studying the neurobiological bases of speech processing at the Center for Neuroscience and Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh. My research leverages direct intracerebral recordings across the auditory cortex from patients undergoing monitoring with stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG) for intractable epilepsy to examine the central hypothesis that listening context systematically affects the encoding of acoustic dimensions in signaling phonemes. My work aims to investigate how human cortical response to speech represents perceptual weights of phonemes, and how connectivity flexibly adjusts to represent perceptual weights under different listening demands in experimental and naturalistic speech paradigms. This will establish how feedback and feedforward signaling between primary auditory cortex (HG) and STP (planum temporale) informs the flexible encoding of perceptual weight of acoustic dimensions, as well as how experimental observations compare to neural encoding during natural speech. Understanding this phenomenon at the neural level is essential for building a complete picture of how the brain perceives human speech. Our scientific premise is that next-generation neurobiological models must account for adaptive plasticity—the dynamic, flexible mapping of speech acoustics to perception.
Institution: University of Connecticut
Career Level: Undergraduate
Research Summary: Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others. Studies including typically developing (TD) children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have shown that children with ASD struggle more often with ToM tasks than TD children. Our big-picture project is investigating the degree to which the language development of children with ASD can impact the development of their ToM. My specific study further explores the potential relationship between ToM and language by examining the use of internal state language by children and parents, using both manual and computer-based coding of children’s narratives and their interactions with their parent.
Institution: Mayo Clinic
Career Level: Undergraduate
Research Summary: I am currently a freshman undergraduate student at Duke University, where I am majoring in psychology and biology. During my diversity summer internship at Mayo Clinic, I performed acoustic measurements of diadochokinetic speech tasks in patients with primary progressive apraxia of speech and examined how these rates are associated with clinical markers of severity and regional 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) variables. This work helped determine the value of acoustic measurements as objective markers of speech impairment in primary progressive apraxia of speech.
Institution: Gallaudet University
Career Level: Undergraduate
Research Summary: I am an undergraduate research assistant supported on a diversity supplement to an U01 grant that focuses on promoting cancer screening adherence among deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing (DDBHH) people. In addition to participating in all aspects of this U01 project, I am working with my co-mentors on a paper that examines the role of DDBHH community health navigators in strengthening the relationship between DDBHH patients and their healthcare providers. After graduation, I plan to take a gap year and do postbaccalaureate research before attending medical school.
Institution: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Career Level: Predoctoral (medical school student on a research year between years 3 and 4)
Research Summary: I am a medical student at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine on a research year between my third and fourth years. I was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and raised in Houston. I double majored in biology and theatre at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. I am spending my research year in Dr. Alexander Hillel's Otolaryngology Translational Research Lab. I am studying wound healing and fibrosis via the pathogenesis of iatrogenic laryngotracheal stenosis (iLTS) and idiopathic subglottic stenosis (iSGS). The goal of Dr. Hillel's lab is to establish the etiology of iSGS by studying the local immune environment, as well as to develop better treatment options for iLTS and iSGS patient populations. I plan on applying into residency for otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and hope to continue translational tissue engineering research in a Ph.D. program.
Institution: Rutgers University
Career Level: Postdoctoral
Research Summary: I received my Ph.D. in biology at Rutgers University – Newark, where I was trained as a developmental neuroscientist. My current interest is to understand the epigenetic changes during development of inner ear neurosensory progenitors. The diversity supplement allows me to focus on whether CHD7 regulates non-canonical DNA regulatory elements such as anti-sense promoters when otic neurosensory progenitors differentiate into auditory neurons. Using genome editing tools such as CRISPRi, I will specifically block CHD7 binding at anti-sense promoters and determine whether neuronal differentiation is altered. The research will identify new mechanisms that underlie inner ear development.
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Career Level: Undergraduate
Research Summary: I am an undergraduate student at Johns Hopkins University. As a native Spanish speaker, I have always been interested in the cognitive neuroscience of speech development and language learning, and specifically in the advancement of auditory learning methods for learning impairments and auditory processing deficits. For my diversity supplement project at the University of Pittsburgh, I am currently working to uncover neural biomarkers of auditory health. My work focuses on using electroencephalography (EEG), a non-invasive maker of brain processing, to analyze the coalescence of multiple brain areas necessary to process acoustic cues in real-time speech.
Institution: The Ohio State University
Career Level: Junior faculty
Research Summary: I am an assistant professor of social work at The Ohio State University. My research focuses on building resilience in grandfamilies. I am committed to understanding the strengths and challenges of grandfamilies in order to create and deliver interventions that encourage self-care, communication, and empowerment. I am also interested in culturally grounded research and the development of culturally grounded measures and interventions. Some of my current projects include conducting social network analysis to examine the relationship between social support and resilience in grandparents raising grandchildren; assessing the human service landscape in central Ohio as it relates to grandparents raising their grandchildren; and implementing a self-care program for grandparents raising grandchildren.
Institution: Northeastern University
Career Level: Postbaccalaureate
Research Summary: I graduated from Wellesley College with a B.A. in neuroscience. In 2021, I joined the Language Acquisition and Brain Lab (the QLAB) directed by Zhenghan Qi, M.D., Ph.D., at Northeastern University, where the research focus is on the neurobiological organization of language and how language learning context may affect language differences in typical and atypical development. With the support of the diversity supplement, I have embraced opportunities as a lab manager to conduct behavioral and fMRI sessions with children and adults, improve my lab management skills through completing the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) Good Clinical Practice Training, and enrich my awareness in the field by attending conferences such as the 14th Annual Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL) Conference. I am blessed to be among such genuine researchers, and I look forward to facilitating crucial research and refining methods that will lend more insight into language differences in diverse populations.
Institution: University of California San Diego
Career Level: Postbaccalaureate
Research Summary: I received a B.S. in biochemistry at UC San Diego, where I am now a research assistant with the Komiyama Lab. Our laboratory studies the activity of neuronal ensembles and how it might change with experience and learning. My research focuses on the mechanisms that govern the plasticity of adult-born neurons in the olfactory bulb. Understanding how behavior contexts affect brain plasticity and memory abilities can impact future diagnosis and treatments of memory disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Career Level: Undergraduate
Research Summary: I am a senior at the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in communication science and minoring in Spanish. I am currently an undergraduate research assistant in the Brain Systems for Language Lab, and my long-term goal is to become a speech-language pathologist who supports bilingual children who have communication disorders. The overall goal of the research project I am working on is to provide a mechanistic understanding of speech sound processing in children who stutter. We are assessing the rapid transformation from acoustic encoding to perception of phonetic/syllable categories in children who stutter. This requires complementary evidence from multiple non-invasive neuroimaging methods, including EEG and MRI.
Institution: Gallaudet University
Career Level: Postbaccalaureate
Research Summary: In my training with the Center for Deaf Health Equity at Gallaudet University, we want to explore the relationship between cancer worry, cancer beliefs, and cancer screening behavior within the deaf, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing (DDBHH) population. This investigation aligns with the Center’s U01 grant that advances cancer health equity among diverse DDBHH populations by leveraging technology-enhanced approaches and community health workers who use American Sign Language (ASL). Among DDBHH people who use ASL, there are documented reports of difficulties in understanding cancer health information in print, accessing clinical services for screenings, and understanding and following treatment-related directives if the screening results warrant a cancer diagnosis. By elucidating the relationship between cancer worry and cancer screening behaviors in DDBHH people, we aim to identify optimal strategies for resolving cancer worry-related barriers to receiving cancer prevention and screening.
Institution: The City College of New York
Career Level: Postdoctoral
Research Summary: We focus on the maturation of auditory cortical circuitry and the emergence of hemispheric asymmetry in neuronal circuit architecture. Failure to develop hemispheric specializations in auditory circuits is a common endophenotype in communication disorders. A better understanding of the functional connectivity programs guiding healthy development will provide a comparative template to mechanistically examine deficiencies found in human neurodevelopmental communication disorders. I received my B.S.E in biomedical engineering from Duke University and my Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. I was a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at Cold Spring Harbor and am a current postdoctoral fellow in biology at The City College of New York.
Institution: Duquesne University
Career Level: New/junior investigator
Research Summary: I am a person who stutters, a speech-language pathologist, and an assistant professor at Duquesne University. My research interests include better understanding and predicting individual differences in the experience of stuttering (stammering), understanding how adverse impacts related to the condition develop, and determining how moments of stuttering occur in speech. I am currently investigating the role cognitive-affective processes have on speech production and language formulation processes in stuttering and non-clinical populations. I practice clinically and am actively involved in clinical education regarding stuttering assessment and treatment.
Institution: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Career Level: Predoctoral
Research Summary: In collaboration with colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Eye and Ear, I am working on a project using sheep as a large-animal model to test a novel implantable microphone for fully implantable hearing prosthetics, such as cochlear implants. Specifically, we are developing the surgical approach and bracing mechanism for implantation of the microphone in the middle ear of cadaveric sheep temporal bones, with the long-term goal of live-animal trials. We are also investigating surgical access to the round window membrane in a specific breed of sheep. After this research year, I plan to complete my final year of medical school and apply to otolaryngology residency.
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Career Level: Undergraduate
Research Summary: The combination of functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) with tasks such as narrative comprehension and picture naming has been used to study brain activation patterns in people with aphasia. However, these previous language mapping paradigms were found to be lacking in feasibility, reliability, and validity. An adaptive semantic matching task was recently developed by Wilson, Yen, and Eriksson (2018) to address these issues, and their results suggest that the procedure is feasible, reliable, and valid for mapping language activation in persons with aphasia. My 2022 summer research project focused on replicating their results in an independent data set collected as part of an ongoing aphasia treatment study.
Institution: The University of Texas at Dallas
Career Level: Predoctoral
Research Summary: Individuals with autism spectrum disorders often experience difficulties with everyday communication. Receptive language ability can be impacted by neural dysfunction along the auditory pathway. My doctoral research is focused on understanding the relationship between neurophysiological responses to sound and functional behavior. My diversity supplement project focuses on evaluating the influence of vagus nerve stimulation paired with sound presentation on anterior auditory field sound-evoked responses in a rat model of autism. The results from my research will contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms of altered auditory processing among individuals with autism spectrum disorders, and will evaluate targeted therapeutic interventions for improving sound processing.
Institution: Boston University
Career Level: Predoctoral
Research Summary: I am currently a doctoral candidate in the lab of Helen Tager-Flusberg, Ph.D. As a developmental and clinical psychologist, I am interested in studying the neurological correlates of language and social communication differences in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). My work currently investigates receptive language processing in children with ASD who are minimally verbal (i.e., have fewer than 20 spoken words) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). I am interested in seeing how this population responds to stories that contain references to their specific interests. The findings will be used to help identify the neurological characteristics of children with ASD who respond to individually targeted language. This has important implications for developing novel targeted and intensive language interventions for this group of children.
