Membership Opportunities and Benefits

NCIBC Membership

Intended to serve as a “mixing chamber” for diverse approaches and scientific expertise, the Nebraska Center for Integrated Biomolecular Communication (NCIBC) promotes and coordinates collaborative, interdisciplinary research efforts focused on filling fundamental gaps in understanding spatial and temporal aspects of biomolecular communication. We encourage interested faculty across the university system to participate in the center and its activities. 

NCIBC MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS INCLUDE: 

  • Priority access to all services provided by the Systems Biology Core (SBC) and the Light and Electron Microscopy Core (LEMC);
  • Eligibility to apply for SBC and LEMC vouchers for reduced cost services to obtain preliminary results for proposals;
  • Eligibility to apply for matching funds for seminar speakers and student/postdoc fellowship and travel funds to present NCIBC related research at scientific meetings;
  • Eligibility to participate in Center-facilitated, large, multidisciplinary grant proposals and training grant applications.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

To apply, interested applicants should submit a brief letter expressing your interest in joining CIBC including:

  • A brief description of research interests relevant to CIBC’s thematic focus;
  • Your reasons for seeking center membership and any record of mentorship (for senior faculty);
  • A commitment to participate in Center activities and designating center membership in NUGrant;
  • NIH-style (five-page-max) Biographical Sketch.

Center membership will be reviewed by the CIBC Internal Mentoring and Advisory Committee with final approval by CIBC Director Jiantao Guo.

Please submit application materials to: Kacey Nelkin Pedersen at knelkinpedersen2@unl.edu

NIH IDeA and COBRE programs

NCIBC is funded by a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant. The COBRE program supports the establishment and development of innovative biomedical research centers through awards for three sequential five-year phases. COBRE grants are one of five funding mechanisms from the NIH under the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program. The IDeA program broadens the geographic distribution of NIH funding for biomedical research. The program fosters health-related research and enhances the competitiveness of investigators at institutions located in states in which the aggregate success rate for applications to NIH has historically been low. The program also serves unique populations—such as rural and medically underserved communities—in these states. The IDeA program increases the competitiveness of investigators by supporting faculty development and research infrastructure enhancement at institutions in 23 states and Puerto Rico. Click on the link below for additional information about these programs.

https://www.nigms.nih.gov/Research/DRCB/IDeA/Pages/default.aspx

Expert Development and Review of Grant Proposals

The Office of Research and Innovation at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln provides expert grant proposal preparation and review services through its Office of Proposal Development (OPD). This team offers a wide variety of additional support services in partnership with faculty, staff and administrators to develop competitive external grant proposals. This type of peer review is valuable. Your proposal will benefit from critical feedback similar to that provided by a panel review and you will have the opportunity to address potential criticisms prior to proposal submission.

OPD collaborates with individual proposers, small teams and large teams on any externally sponsored UNL-led proposal. We encourage interested proposers to contact them as early as possible so they can tailor their services to best serve your needs. Draft documents that may be included in the package sent for external expert review typically include:

  • Abstract or Project Summary
  • Project Narrative
  • Budget
  • Biographical Sketches
  • Introduction (if the proposal is a resubmission)

Other services include an annual Grant Writing Seminar, the Research Development Fellows Program, and the Early Career Workshop which is focused on the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program and the NIH Career Development (K) Award. Please visit OPD’s website for a full list of resources available: https://research.unl.edu/proposaldevelopment/proposal-development-resources/).

Holland Computing Center (HCC)

The HCC boasts the fastest resources in the state of Nebraska at two locations: the Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) at Omaha and the Schorr Center at UNL. Personnel based in each location assist users, engage students and researchers, and maintain systems. Crane checks in at 121 TeraFLOPS and is a Top500 Supercomputer. Red, serving the CMS project, stores over 4 petabytes of data. Tusker provides 256 GB of RAM per node for shared memory computing. HCC provides such services to researchers associated with any campus of the University of Nebraska system. Many are available in a shared manner for free, but dedicated (reserved) arrangements are also available for a modest price.

Molecular Mechanisms of Disease (MMOD)

The goal of our program is to develop outstanding new scientists who work in collaborative multi-disciplinary teams to research disease mechanisms using quantitative approaches that ultimately yield tangible strategies for prevention and therapy. Our program provides a framework for students to assemble a broad knowledge base, actively seek research collaborations, produce an outstanding record of original published research, and develop presentation, proposal-writing, and leadership skills that will position them for future excellence as independent researchers focused on mechanisms of disease progression.