The two components of the IDeA Program are:

• Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) augment and strengthen institutional biomedical research capabilities by expanding and developing biomedical faculty research capability through support of a multidisciplinary center, led by a peer-reviewed, NIH-funded investigator with expertise central to theme of the grant proposal.
• IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) enhance biomedical research capacity; expand and strengthen the research capabilities of biomedical faculty; and provide access to biomedical resources for promising, undergraduate students throughout the eligible states. INBRE implements the IDeA approach at the state level by enhancing research infrastructure through support of a network of institutions with a multi-disciplinary, thematic scientific focus. INBRE is the second generation of the Biomedical Research Infrastructure Networks (BRIN) Program, which began by providing planning grants in 2001 but changed its name to INBRE in 2004.

Application Co-funding: NCRR will co-fund awards to support research project grant applications from investigators within IDeA eligible states. NCRR will provide support to applicants whose proposals received excellent ratings through the peer review process but fell short of another NIH Institute's or Center's pay line.

Eligibility Criteria: For the purposes of the IDeA program, investigator-initiated applications—limited to the R01 mechanism (either new or competing continuation), submitted by investigators from institutions within IDeA eligible states, and assigned to any NIH Institute or Center—will be considered.

Special populations within IDeA-eligible states are disproportionately affected by numerous diseases. Support for studies of these groups (Native Americans, Aleuts, Native Alaskans, Hispanics, and Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders)—and the impact on them of health disparities—is also provided by the IDeA Program.