Training Grants

Applying for Grants and Fellowships

Nationally competitive grants and fellowships can provide support for you and your research, allowing you time to focus intensively on your work or providing the resources that you need to take your project to the next level. Winning these opportunities can help you maximize the effectiveness of your time in graduate school and they are also a great addition to any C.V. or resume.

Search for nationally competitive grant and fellowship opportunities.

Grant Writing Skills

Beyond the support that these resources provide, grant writing is also a vital skill for the academic, government, and non-profit sectors, and honing your ability to write successful funding applications and navigate the process of finding and applying for funding is a great addition to your professional toolbox.

Learn about strategies for writing strong applications and honing your grant writing skills.

What is a T32 Grant?

T32 training grants are federal NIH grants obtained by institutions, departments, or programs, aimed at specific disciplinary or disease-focused research areas. They provide a pool of financial resources for an educational program to fund predoctoral (PhD) and/or postdoctoral (postdoc) trainees for a period of time during their training. In this way, T32s strengthen our programs with external funds and enable them to invest more of our internal resources on innovation and strategic investment. Being a fellow on a T32 training grant provides a network of peers and mentors who are interested in your research questions, and built-in oversight of progress and outcomes. Not to mention a great additional line for your CV!

To see a matrix of all of the NIH institutes (including NHLBI) and the training grants they offer, click on the Learn More button.

Our T32 Grants

MARC at University of Iowa	Predocs	Lori Adams-Phillips, Tori Forbes	The Initiative for Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) program is to develop a diverse pool of undergraduates who complete their baccalaureate degree and transition into and complete biomedical research-focused higher degree programs (e.g., Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D.).
Medical Science Training Program	Mds, Predocs	Gordon Buchanan	The goal to recruit, nurture, and graduate a diverse pool of well-trained physician-scientists with the technical, operational, and professional skills necessary to transition into successful careers in the biomedical research workforce is achieved through an integrated curriculum that assimilates scientific and clinical training, constantly emphasizing the intersections between science and medicine.
Interdisciplinary Immunology Postdoctoral Training Program	MDs, Postdocs	Noah Butler, Li Wu	The core of the program is a 90% time commitment to an immunology research experience under the supervision of a preceptor who is an outstanding immunology mentor with current external research funding. The program preceptors represent a broad range of basic research areas in molecular and cellular immunology.
Predoctoral Training Program in Genetics	Predocs	Daniel Eberl	Students receive training in rigor and reproducibility and research conduct aligned with either the standard curriculum in foundational genetics or elect to pursue the Computational Genetics (CG) subtrack, which trains students in the biological aspects of Genetics and sophisticated computational approaches for the analysis of large sets of genomic and genetic data.
Research Training Program in Otolaryngology	Physicians	Marlan Hansen	Research training in neurosciences, molecular genetics, molecular biology, bioengineering, and epidemiology promotes the long-term goal of increasing the number and quality of Otolaryngology surgeons capable of being key members of research teams
Lung Imaging Training Program	Predocs/Postdocs	Eric Hoffman, Joseph Reinhardt	Explores questions related to the respiratory system and lung disease using medical imaging, image processing, and computational modeling. The program will encourage trainees to pursue careers related to lung disease research.
Predoctoral Training Program in Immunology	Predocs	Kevin Legge, Gail Bishop	The routine appearance of viral, bacterial, and parasitic outbreaks all point to the need for the development of new or better immune-based vaccines and a need for better understanding of how the immune system controls or contributes to disease.
Program in Hematology: Molecular & Cell Biology of Blood Cells	Postdocs	Steven Lentz	To prepare MD, MD/PhD, and PhD postdoctoral fellows for productive careers as academic scientists and physician- scientists, the focus of training the core scientific discipline of hematology.
Understanding Health and Disease at the Behavioral-Biomedical Interface	Predocs	Susan Lutgendorf, Daniel Tranel, Michelle Voss	To train the next generation of diverse behavioral science researchers to utilize rigorous biomedical methodologies and conceptual frameworks that stretch the boundaries of their thinking and research to position them to make transformative breakthroughs in addressing issues of health and disease.
Training in Molecular Virology, Viral Pathogenesis and Viral Vectors	Predocs	Stanley Perlman	The importance of virology has been highlighted by reports of the morbidity and mortality caused by viruses long known to infect humans as well as the emergence of zoonotic virus infections. Thus, there is an urgent need to continue producing young scientists who are expert in virology.

Biotech-TP: Predoctoral Program in Biotechnology	Predocs	Maria Spies, Mark Arnold, John Schnieders	To train future leaders in biotechnology-related research and equip them to succeed in industrial, academic and governmental research enterprises. Our cohort of trainees will come from different scientific and cultural backgrounds and be trained in a way that fosters effective communication with one another, which is critical to our ability to make significant advances in biotechnology in the future.
Training Program in Free Radical and Radiation Biology	3 Predocs, 3 Postdocs/year	Douglas Spitz	Impart a fundamental understanding , provide opportunities to achieve excellence, provide trainees with skills in hypothesis driven research and clinical thinking, offer real-world experiences in collaborative basic and translational research, and encourage trainees to pursue innovative approaches to test basic mechanisms underlying radiobiology and redox cancer biology emphasizing the development of novel interventions to limit the health impact of cancer.
Research Training in Infectious Diseases	MDs, Postdocs	Jack Stapleton	Research emphasis is on the interface between human host and microbial (bacterial and viral) pathogens and their epidemiological spread and prevention, provides an intense mentored research experience for MD and PhD postdoctoral trainees in infectious diseases. This occurs in conjunction with an individualized curriculum of didactic courses, seminars and journal clubs designed to encourage substantive interactions between MDs and PhDs.
The Iowa Neuroscience Specialty Program in Research Education (INSPIRE)	MDs, Postdocs	Hanna Stevens, John Wemmie	Continuation of funding for a successful and long-standing training program (dating back to 1991), to integrate training in Translational Neuroscience relevant to psychiatry with an emphasis on a lifespan trajectory perspective, focusing on mechanisms of psychopathology within functional dimensions rather than diagnostic criteria.
Climate Change and Lung Health Training Program	Predocs, Postdoc fellows	David Stoltz, Peter Thorne	To understand the diverse pulmonary responses and injuries from climate change and to alter their course by training the next generation to tackle the lung health consequences of climate change.
Predoctoral Training in the Pharmacological Sciences	Predocs	Stefan Strack, David Roman	In addition to training PhDs well-positioned for career success, our outcomes include publication of first-author and collaborative papers, success in obtaining individual, nationally- competitive fellowships, at or below-average time to degree, and establishing an inclusive and supportive environment conducive to intellectual growth and scientific development.
Interdisciplinary Training Program in Pain Research	2 Predocs, 2 Postdocs	Yuriy Usachev, Kathleen Sluka	To provide basic training in the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie acute and chronic pain, as well as translational and clinical pain research.
Training in Mechanisms of Parasitism	Predocs, Postdocs	Mary Wilson, Noah Butler	Our underlying hypothesis is that protozoal, helminthic, bacterial, and viral pathogens face similar obstacles in overcoming mammalian antimicrobial defenses, establishing a niche in which they coexist asymptomatic in their host, or lead to pathologic conditions (i.e., disease). Our premise is that the mechanisms through which one pathogen evades killing within the host provides insights into means through which other pathogens survive in their unique host niche.
Neuroscience Training Program	Predocs	Daniel Tranel	Students participate in a carefully honed curriculum that offers broad and fundamental training in levels of analysis and diversity of approaches, with a special focus on the neuroscience of disease and disorders (including a very successful Neurobiology of Disease course).
Iowa-Diversifying Research And Mentorship (iDREAM)	Predocs	Rainbo Hultman, Daniel Tranel, Michelle Webb	Supports rigorous culturally aware faculty development and will provide crucial administrative support for the Iowa Diversifying Research And Mentorship (iDREAM) program. iDREAM scholars will be introduced to Neuroscience research via high-quality, hands-on research experiences in the laboratories.