The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is calling for applications for 2008 NIH Director’s Pioneer and New Innovator Awards.

Both programs support exceptionally creative scientists who take highly innovative — and often unconventional — approaches to major challenges in biomedical or behavioral research. The programs, part of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, complement other NIH efforts to fund innovative research and support scientists in the early stages of their independent research careers.

Pioneer Award applications will be accepted from Dec. 16, 2007, to Jan. 16, 2008. Application instructions are at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-08-013.html.The New Innovator Award application period is from March 3 to 31, 2008. See https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-08-014.html for application instructions.

More information on the programs is available at https://nihroadmap.nih.gov/pioneer and https://grants.nih.gov/grants/new_investigators/innovator_award.