FY 2008 NIBIB Budget Would Remain Constant

“The mission of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) is to improve human health by leading the development of and accelerating the application of biomedical technologies. The NIBIB FY 2008 budget justification reflects a blend of continuing and new activities designed to highlight recent accomplishments and convey a strategic approach toward reaching future goals. NIBIB continues to allocate resources and link initiatives to program priorities outlined in our Strategic Plan.

“A major focus of NIBIB since its inception is bridging and integrating the life, engineering, and physical sciences in order to improve human health.” - Director’s Overview, FY 2008 Congressional Budget Justification

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering has requested a 0.7 percent or $2.2 million increase in its FY 2008 budget over the recently-passed House funding legislation. The current budget is $298.1 million; the amount provided under the House-passed FY 2007 funding legislation is $298.3 million. Under this request, the FY 2008 budget would increase to $300.5 million.

Under this request, 72 percent of the new budget would be allocated to research project grants and 9 percent to research centers.

The following is a selection from the 23-page NIBIB “FY 2008 Congressional Budget Justification” outlining “Major Change Changes in the Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Request.” The entire document may be accessed at http://www.nibib.nih.gov/publicPage.cfm?pageID=263

“Major changes by budget mechanism and/or budget activity detail are briefly described below. Note that there may be overlap between budget mechanism and activity detail and these highlights will not sum to the total change for the FY 2008 budget request for NIBIB, which is $2.1 million more than the FY 2007 Continuing Resolution level, for a total of $300.5 million.

“Research Project Grants (+$1.8 million, total $207.0 million): NIBIB will support a total of 233 Research Project Grant (RPG) awards in FY 2008. Noncompeting RPGs will increase by 8 awards and increase by $0.3 million. Competing RPGs will increase by 5 awards and increase by $1.5 million.

“Research Careers (+$0.1 million; total $4.9 million): NIBIB will support the Pathway to Independence program, by funding an additional 5 awards in FY 2008. Total support for the Pathway program in FY 2008 is 10 awards and $0.9 million. The funding increase for the Pathway program will be offset by decreasing other research career programs.

“NIH Roadmap for Biomedical Research (+$0.4 million; total $3.9 million): NIBIB will continue its support of the NIH Roadmap, an incubator for new ideas and initiatives that will accelerate the pace of discovery, in FY 2008.”