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Intramural AIDS Research Fellowship

A funding opportunity for NIH Intramural graduate students and postdocs to support work related to HIV and AIDS.

About this fellowship

The Intramural AIDS Research Fellowship (IARF) program is a collaborative effort of the Office of AIDS Research (OAR), the Office of Intramural Training & Education (OITE), and the Office of Intramural Research (OIR), designed to further cross disciplinary research into HIV and AIDS at the NIH. The aim of the program is to recruit graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from all scientific disciplines to the broad field of AIDS research and to provide a funding opportunity for intramural fellows whose work can be directly related to HIV and AIDS.

The program seeks to promote research within the comprehensive portfolio of basic and clinical AIDS research at the NIH. This includes work in the following fields: epidemiology; etiology and pathogenesis; therapeutics research; vaccines; microbicides; health disparities; implementation sciences, and behavioral and social science research to address HIV infection and its associated coinfections, opportunistic infections, malignancies, and other complications.

2024 IARF Awards

Trainee Principal Investigator I/C Project Title

Andrea Barabino

Kapil Bharti

NEI

Discovering Mechanism of HIV Infection Induced Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Anna Grosskopf

Laurie Krug

NCI/CCR

The role of Eph receptors in gammaherpesvirus infection – from molecular mechanism to in vivo relevance

Akhil ChameeIachal

Wei-Shau Hu

NCI/CCR

Understanding the mechanism that regulates HIV-1 RNA Packaging

Hsu Hnin (Sandra) Mon

Steven Reynolds

NIAID

Uncovering HIV Transmission Dynamics among Couples for U=U in Uganda: a Bayesian Phylodynamics Approach

Kenneth Ssebambulidde

Peter Williamson

NIAID

Using RNA sequencing to characterize differential gene expression during cryptococcal disease progression

Mahesh Agarwal

Alex Compton

NCI/CCR

The impact of membrane protein IFITM3 on HIV-1 Env function and its counteraction by Nef

Mamta Singh

Paolo Lusso

NIAID

Evaluation of different mucosal boosting strategies for optimization of mRNA vaccines against HIV-1

Maria Angelica Medina Farias

Marc Ferrer, Emily Lee

NCATS

Development of an HIV-infection human neural spheroid platform for the understanding of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and the identification of neuroprotective therapeutics

Sushila Kumari

Vinay Pathak

NCI/CCR

HIV-1 Capsid -Nucleoporins Interactions That Facilitate Viral Core Nuclear Import

Thuy Nguyen

Frank Maldarelli

NCI/CCR

Investigate the role of HIV-1 promoter on the transcriptional activity of proviral species

Eligibility criteria

Graduate (predoctoral level) students in the NIH Graduate Partnerships Program and postdoctoral trainees in the NIH Intramural Research Program, both U.S. citizens and individuals from abroad, are eligible to apply. Individual from underrepresented populations are particularly encouraged to apply.

Note that Research and Clinical Fellows and others appointed as FTEs are not eligible.

The IARF is designed to provide funding to the next generation of AIDS researchers as well as recruiting the attention of established investigators in the intramural program. Awardees will be individuals who show outstanding scientific potential through both an imaginative and thoughtful research plan and a well thought out career development plan.

Application dates

The IARF application is currently closed.

Application components

Read all of the information provided below for guidance on addressing each component. Equal emphasis is placed on all the materials submitted.

Cover page

Provide the following information:

  • Project title
  • Applicant’s full name and title
  • Mentor’s name and title
  • Sponsoring IC
  • Proposed start date
  • The signatures of the proposed mentor and the IC Scientific Director (or designee), indicating their approval of the submission and that the proposal was indeed written by the applicant.

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Limit your CV to three pages. Do not submit a document in NIH biosketch format. You should:

  • Demonstrate productivity (e.g. posters, publications, travel awards, oral presentations, patents, etc.)
  • Show a proactive approach in developing skills towards advancing your career goals
  • Demonstrate a commitment to promoting science through mentoring and outreach

Use these resources to craft your CV and follow appropriate formatting guidelines:

Research plan

Limit the research plan to four pages, single-spaced, including references. Make sure that the font size is easy to read (minimum = font size 10). Your plan should:

  • Include clear and realistic aims
  • Propose an innovative or novel scientific approach
  • Demonstrate relevance and significant impact to advance HIV and HIV-related research
  • Describe how it can feasibly be accomplished during the one-year fellowship period

Relationship to the NIH Strategic Plan for HIV and HIV-Related Research

May be included as part of the 'Research plan' or as a separate document (no longer than half a page). This section should:

Career development plan

Limit the career development plan to two pages, double-spaced. Your plan should:

  • Clearly state your career goals and your current stage of career exploration
  • Discuss in detail your training goals and what will be done during the year of support to move towards those goals. Be specific about the types of activities/workshops/training that will be taken as well as the relationship of these activities to your long-range career plans. Include the skills that you will learn, both at and away from the bench.
  • Address gaps in knowledge or scientific/technical skills
  • Describes how you will use resources offered by the OITE, your IC, or other groups
  • Describe how it is feasible to complete your plan during the one-year fellowship period
  • Demonstrates that you are taking necessary steps to develop a productive scientific career

Letter of support

The letter of support must be from the proposed mentor. The letter of support should:

  • Discuss the applicant’s career goals and support/encourage participation in appropriate IC and OITE-sponsored training activities
  • Show a strong scientific research history to provide expertise on the proposed research project.
  • Describe research environment, facilities, and resources available to the applicant to successfully complete the project
  • Express a commitment to helping you, the applicant, meet your career goals
  • Describe a strong mentorship history of postdocs and/or graduate students
  • Demonstrate support to a variety of career paths as evidenced by former mentees career outcomes

Submit your materials

Submit a single electronic package containing all documents in one pdf via email to Dr. Gail Seabold at IARF@mail.nih.gov. Use “IARF 2024_Last Name, First Name, IC” as the SUBJECT line.

Selection process

When reviewing applications, reviewers place equal emphasis on all materials submitted. Applications that are successful are those where applicants have a well thought-out, innovative, and feasible research plan that shows outstanding scientific potential. You, as an applicant, must demonstrate through the materials submitted commitment to science and careful consideration of the steps needed to advance your career. Equal emphasis is place on mentor’s history of mentorship and how he/she will contribute to the career and professional development of the applicant.

The number of fellowships awarded varies by year depending on the funding available. However, the program usually awards 11-15 fellowships per year.

Contact us

If you have any further questions, please contact Dr. Gail Seabold at seaboldg@nih.gov.