The National Institute of General Medical Sciences Probes Cellular and Molecular Bases of Life

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences has as its mission the support of research and research training in the basic biomedical sciences. Grantees of the Institute have made major discoveries about cell structure and function, the synthesis and transport of body proteins, drug actions in the body, and the body's responses to severe trauma and burns. Advances in the field of genetics--including the development of recombinant DNA technology, in which Institute grantees have been leaders--are beginning to pay off in scientists' ability to understand the growth, differentiation, and development of cells, tissues, and organs; the regulation of gene activity; and the bases of certain genetic diseases. But while much has been learned, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of many illnesses are only beginning to be understood. For this reason, the Institute's support of studies of life processes at their most fundamental levels is expected to continue to produce findings of great importance to the understanding, prevention, and treatment of human disease.