The State of Oklahoma has been identified as an NSF-EPCSoR state in that it has a total funding of less than $30 million from the NIH in FY 1992. A state EPSCoR committee has selected the major research institutions in the state to participate in the present NIH-IDeA program, including the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and the University of Tulsa. The main thrust of this proposal will be to provide a program for the development of junior faculty into the regular research programs of the NIH. Individual research projects submitted from young faculty from the three institutions will be the emphasis of this proposal, allowing them to compete for small grant funding for a period of one Year. It is expected that these investigators will apply for regular research programs of the NIH within one year of completion of their studies. Such a program will not only provide initial funding for innovative research, but will allow a pre-review of research proposals by senior faculty and begin a grant-mentoring process intended to insure the success of these young investigators. Thus, a comprehensive plan will be instituted which will be open. to all young faculty from the major research institutions and which is designed to enhance competitiveness for NIH sponsored research funding.