Research Priorities

Advancing health for everyone by supporting research.

The priorities articulated below elaborate on topics that are ripe for growth that could be considered when implementing the above goals. Priorities and examples are included to provide additional granularity and may address certain conditions or tissue types, but NIAMS encourages readers to think creatively about needs that the institute could address related to the institute’s four goals to improve the lives of people who have diseases and conditions covered by the institute’s mission. The text boxes within this section are included to describe resources that the research community can leverage or programs that investigators could model their own efforts after in other disease- or tissue-specific mission areas. The priorities, examples, and resources are intended to serve as a reference for many audiences, including:

Scientists who are interested in identifying research areas of particular interest to NIAMS.
NIAMS staff who are identifying high-priority research topics or achievements to feature in public reports such as the annual Congressional Budget Justification.
Other NIH institutes, centers, and offices that are looking to collaborate with NIAMS.

For brevity, the focus on “arthritis, musculoskeletal, and skin diseases” is implied rather than listed repeatedly; the term “joint” or “joint tissue” includes tendons, ligaments, entheses, cartilage, menisci, intervertebral disc components, and synovium; and the institute’s interest in “arthritis” refers to a variety of rheumatic diseases and autoinflammatory diseases and conditions and may or may not address arthritic joint tissue pathology. In addition to encompassing a wide range of research related to reducing the impact of bone, joint, muscle, rheumatic, systemic autoimmune, and skin diseases, priorities can be relevant to healthy tissues of interest to NIAMS or to orthopaedic injuries that are not associated with a disease.

Involvement of Patients and Communities in All Aspects of Research

Patient and community engagement can enhance the quality of research questions being asked and the ability of investigators to get answers. Therefore, NIAMS strongly encourages scientists at all levels to collaborate with the people who will participate in and benefit from their studies. This applies not only to patient-oriented research but also to studies relying on clinical or observational datasets or other resources.

Mechanisms in Human Health and Disease

Research detailing basic biological functioning has led to effective approaches to health maintenance and to disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Additional comprehensive research into molecular and cellular mechanisms is needed to further develop the knowledge base necessary for more targeted interventions.

Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative medicine as a field focuses on new approaches for treating injuries and diseases using stem cells and other technologies, such as engineered biomaterials and gene editing. Researchers work to repair or replace damaged or aged cells, tissues, or organs and aim to restore tissue or organ structure and function using tissue engineering and biologics.

Data Science, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, and Computational Biology

The vast amounts of data generated through NIH-funded biomedical research together with exponential advances in computing technology and power provide a unique moment of opportunity to use data science, AI/ML, and computational biology to cultivate knowledge and improve treatments.

Behaviors and Environmental Exposures

Determining how behaviors and environmental exposures affect the onset, severity, and responses to treatment of diseases within the NIAMS mission is crucial for improving the lives of all Americans.

Interventions

NIAMS will emphasize studies with notable potential to advance clinical management and the development of guidelines related to diseases within the NIAMS mission that are not likely to be funded by industry.

Health Disparities

NIAMS is dedicated to supporting research that will ultimately reduce or eliminate the disparity gaps in diseases and conditions within its mission, including development of approaches to enable access to health care that can contribute to every person’s ability to live long, healthy lives. Many of these diseases and conditions exhibit sex, racial, ethnic, and other disparities.

Other Priorities

Capacity-Building Priorities

While collecting input from the community, the institute identified several needs that may not be amenable to being pursued through discrete research projects but are nonetheless relevant to advancing knowledge of and treatments for people who have arthritis or who have musculoskeletal or skin diseases.

Operational Priority

Consistent with the institute’s mission to support the dissemination of information on research progress, one of NIAMS’ four goals is to communicate timely and relevant advances to patients, communities, and scientists.