NIA accepts applications in its four program areas three times per year (April 1, August 1, December 1). Applicants are encouraged to contact the appropriate program administrator to gauge the level of interest NIA might have in receiving a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)-Small Business Technology Transfer application on a particular subject. If the program administrator encourages the potential applicant to submit an application, the potential applicant is invited to contact NIA's SBIR Program Coordinator for guidance on completing the application and/or interpreting the application guidelines and rules.
BSR supports research on basic and translational social and behavioral aging-related phenomena and older people's place in society. The program focuses on how people change with age, the interrelationships between older people and social institutions (e.g., the family, health-care systems), and the societal impact of the changing age composition of the population. Emphasis is placed on the dynamic interplay between individuals' aging and their changing social and physical environments. Special emphasis areas are:
- Aging Minds (see The Aging Mind: Opportunities in Cognitive Research at: http://books.nap.edu/catalog/ 9783.html)
- Genetics, Behavior, and the Social Environment
- Health Disparities
- Health, Work, and Retirement
- Increasing Health Expectancy
- Interventions and Behavior Change
BAP supports research on the physiology, molecular, and cellular basis of aging processes. NIA also has responsibility for maintaining existing resources and developing new resources for aging research (e.g., populations of well-characterized animals and specific cell lines, such as human fetal lung fibroblasts).
GCG supports research on health and disease in the aged and research on aging during the human lifespan and its relationships to health outcomes.
Research on Geriatrics
Research on Geriatrics focuses primarily on health issues regarding the aged and addresses research on disease and disability in older persons, including both specific conditions and issues related to multiple morbidity.
Clinical Gerontology Research
Clinical Gerontology Research focuses primarily on clinically related issues regarding aging and addresses research on aging changes during the lifespan. A major focus is on the determinants of progression rates of age-related changes that affect disease risk, particularly those affecting risk for multiple age-related conditions.
NNA supports research on age-related changes in the brain or nervous system in the context of other age-related physiological or homeostatic regulator changes (e.g., endocrine, dietary, immune, disease states); degenerative processes or pathological changes in the aging brain in the context of understanding normal age-related changes; and the sensory, perceptual and cognitive processes and changes that occur with aging as related to their underlying biological mechanisms. An important component of this program are studies on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias of aging.
