National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research. The NIH mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce the burdens of illness and disability. In pursuit of its mission, the NIH supports advances in materials and in particular biomaterials that have the potential to make valuable contributions to biology and medicine. NIH-supported R&D efforts in biomaterials are enabling new classes of therapeutics, diagnostic assays, and devices resulting in paradigm shifts in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of common and rare diseases.

The NIH supports the Materials Genome Initiative by stimulating R&D in biomaterials development through both its intramural research program and extramural funding. For more information on specific topics funded by NIH, please visit the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool.