San Francisco State University (SFSU) has positioned itself to become one of the most research-active minority undergraduate institutions in the United States through a well developed and thought-out plan for increasing biomedical research, and the hire of administrators and faculty who are dedicated to the plan to make research a key component in meeting SFSU's mission of excellence in education. The RIMI program provides a mechanism to broaden SFSU's goals and accelerate the implementation of the university's plan to provide an environment and the necessary resources to achieve its research goals. A major aim of the proposal is to increase the research activity of our faculty through strong collaborative relationships with three of the premier research intensive universities in our country --University of California at Berkeley, Davis and San Francisco (UCB, UCD and UCSF). These relationships will be facilitated by; i) our three proposed collaborative activities, one with each of the collaborating institutions; ii) a RIMI Advisory Committee composed of eight of the most active and influential biomedical researchers at these institutions, and iii) the continuation and expansion of successful programs with these institutions (e.g., NIH Bridges to the Future Doctoral program and U.S. Department of Education Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need program). A second major aim is to provide the necessary infrastructural support to enable the SFSU RIMI faculty to submit competitive RO1 type research proposals. Several activities are planned to achieve this aim including the organization of an office dedicated to the goals of the RIMI program, several professional development activities for SFSU's biomedical faculty, employment of research associates who will be a key resource for research activity and serve as models for the students involved in our research activities, and the availability of a substantial amount of modern research equipment. The aims of our RIMI program will be further facilitated by a major commitment of funds and personnel by SFSU to support the RIMI project and to institutionalize the entire RIMI program. Thus, our RIMI program provides an ideal opportunity for SFSU to provide its faculty and students with a new mechanism for achieving excellence in biomedical research.