Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services provided Congress with fiscal 2012 budget details for the proposed National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). The NCATS would replace the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) as one of the 27 centers and institutes that comprise the NIH. NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins originally proposed the NCATS last winter (see IBO 12/15/10) and it is expected to begin operation in fiscal 2012. By law, the NIH can have a maximum of 27 institutes and centers, so the proposal for the NCATS suggested disbanding the NCRR.

The NCRR provides funding for 300,000 researchers for preventing, detecting, curing and treating disease. It awards research grants, R&D contracts and training awards as well as partners with other research organizations. The NCRR’s budget was $1.2 billion in FY10, plus $1.6 billion in Recovery Act funds (see IBO 2/28/09). For analytical instrument makers, the NCRR is particularly relevant as it houses the High-End Instrumentation (HEI) and Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG) grant programs.

According to the latest details submitted to Congress, certain NCRR programs would join the NCATS, while others would be distributed throughout four other NIH institutes and centers as well as the Office of the Director (OD). The NCATS would house the NCRR’s Clinical & Translational Science Awards (CTSAs) program. The NCRR’s Clinical Research Resources division would be split among the NCATS; the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI); and the OD. The NCRR’s Biotechnology Research Resources division would be divided among the NCATS, the NHLBI, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) and the OD.

The vision for NCATS is to combine several programs into a streamlined center to facilitate the transition of drugs from discovery to market. The center would incorporate other translational research programs within the NIH, including programs from the Director’s Common Fund and the National Human Genome Research Institute. The NCATS may also become the home for the Office of Rare Disease Research.

 Proposed NCRR Program Reorganization 

                                 NCATS NHLBI  NIGMS  NBIB  NIMHD  OD

 CTSAs                             x     

 Clinical Rsch. Resources          x     x                        x

 Biotechnology Rsch. Resources     x     x     x       x     x    x

 Rsch. Mgmt. and Support           x     x     x       x     x    x

 Institutional Devp. Awards                    x   

 Rsch. Infrastructure                          x             x    x

 Rsch. Centers in Minority Inst.                             x 

 Comparative Medicine                                             x

 Shared and High-End Instr.                                       x

 Science Ed. Partnership Award                                    x