Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2023-32

NIH C3i Validation and Execution Program

Learn how to commercialize YOUR biomedical technology!

The National Institutes of Health is providing an opportunity for academic and small business grantees to participate in an entrepreneurial training and mentorship course aimed at providing business frameworks and essential tools to successfully translate biomedical technology from the lab to the market through our commercialization assistance program, Concept to Clinic: Commercializing Innovation (C3i) - Validation and Execution. 

To be eligible to participate, you must have an NIBIB-funded grant award (R41, R42, R43, R44, R00, R01, U01, P41) that is active or in a No-Cost Extension through May 2024. Applications must be received no later than August 25, 2023. You can apply for this program on the NIBIB website. Please contact NIBIB-SBIR@mail.nih.gov if you are interested in participating or have any questions about the application process.

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NIH Blueprint MedTech Incubator Hubs

CIMIT’s CINTA and NeuroTech Harbor, through the NIH Blueprint MedTech program

Awards up to $500K will be made available to the most promising and innovative neurotechnologies to help accelerate their development toward commercialization.

Pre-proposals are due no later than: August 25th, 2023.

We are seeking pre-proposals from academic and industry applicants who have emerging preventative, therapeutic, or diagnostic medical devices focused on disorders of the nervous system. In addition to funding, awardees will also have access to mentors with deep expertise in commercializing medical devices to help address project related business, regulatory, clinical, and technical aspects of their projects. Finally, an important element of this program is to create opportunities for diverse innovators, including those who have been traditionally underrepresented in the neurotech space. We welcome your help in spreading the word about this transformative opportunity to ensure it reaches a wide range of innovators from every community. If you or any of your colleagues would like to learn more about this opportunity or to apply, please visit our website.­­­ If you have questions about the program, register for one of our informational webinars.

NSF: Division of Materials Research: Topical Materials Research Programs (DMR:TMRP); Division of Materials Research: Condensed Matter and Materials Theory (DMR:CMMT);  National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Institutes: Accelerating Research, Transforming Society, and Growing the American Workforce; Dynamics of Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems (DISES); Focused Research Hubs in Theoretical Physics (FRHTP); Mathematical Sciences Research Institutes; Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

NIH: National Centers for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NCBIB) (P41); NIH Blueprint and BRAIN Initiative Program for Enhancing Neuroscience Diversity through Undergraduate Research Education Experiences (BP BRAIN-ENDURE) (R25)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) for Extramural Biomedical Research and Development; FY23 Science & Technology for Advanced Manufacturing Projects (STAMP)

Department of Energy: Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Silicon Solar Manufacturing, and Dual-use Photovoltaics Incubator; Fiscal Year 2024 Distinguished Early Career Program

National Endowment of Humanities: Humanities Initiatives; Dangers and Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities; Spotlight on Humanities in Higher Education

IARPA grapples with threats posed by generative AI: The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to understand how the large language models that help fuel artificial intelligence and machine learning chatbots are vulnerable to threats and biases.  IARPA officials issued a sources sought notice Monday to gain more insight into what threats and vulnerabilities could be inherent in LLMs, how they are characterized and what strategies could be used to mitigate them.  LLMs are machine learning models that compile data on human languages and can mimic a neural network to help generate text-based responses, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. LLMs can receive inquiries from a user and pull data to help generate responses that seem like they were delivered by a human. 

But the challenge with LLMs is that, while their responses may appear authoritative and even conversational, their actual knowledge is limited to the amount of language text consumed in their training datasets, possibly generating misleading or inaccurate responses. According to the RFI, IARPA is examining the potential use of LLMs in working with intelligence analysts, but the agency is also exploring what frameworks could be established to offset the potential errors and vulnerabilities of the technology. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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New House bill calls for cloud interoperability: New, bipartisan legislation tasks the government with guidance to assure data interoperability between public, private and edge cloud environments in use by the federal agencies. The Multi-Cloud Innovation and Advancement Act — cosponsored by Reps. William Timmons, R-S.C.; Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.; Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y.; and David Trone, D-Md. — proposes that the General Services Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the U.S. Digital Service jointly craft guidance to help ensure that federal agencies can securely use multiple cloud networks.

The guidance would show how agencies can deploy “multi-cloud software technology to allow for applications, data and programs to be portable and interoperable between public, private and edge cloud environments,” and lay out an implementation roadmap to ensure multi-cloud usage by no later than Jan. 1, 2025. The bill also calls on the head of the Government Accountability Office to submit two reports to Congress: one to assess and offer recommendations on the federal workforce’s digital skills and expertise gap in technology areas like cloud computing and another to assess agencies’ implementation progress of the guidance. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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White House releases strategy to expand the U.S. cyber workforce: The plan includes measures for improving cybersecurity knowledge at all levels of education and improving how the federal government attracts, hires and pays cybersecurity workers. The Biden administration unveiled its National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy Monday that envisions introducing cybersecurity concepts in early childhood education while making advanced occupational training in cyber more accessible and affordable.   Released by the Office of the National Cyber Director, the education strategy’s primary goal is to bridge the gap between vital jobs in the cybersecurity field and the U.S. education system’s current curricula. As part of the Biden administration’s plan to fortify the nation’s overall cybersecurity posture, the plan aims to ensure the workforce is equipped with the necessary technological skills to maintain strong cyberdefenses. Acting National Cyber Director Camille Stewart Gloster discussed the strategy’s objectives in filling job vacancies through the lens of both national security and economic imperatives. More information is posted on the NextGov website.