Accessibility to experts. Availability of resources. These are the words used by postdoctoral fellows at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to describe the best aspects of their experiences. As one postdoc put it, "If you could possibly want it, it is here."

"Here" is the main research campus of the NIH's intramural research program in Bethesda, Maryland. I will give you a sense of the NIH postdoctoral experience, based upon my own perspectives and those of a few of my fellow postdocs. However, bear in mind that with over 2,500 postdocs in the intramural program, there are almost as many different experiences.

Most of you are probably familiar with the NIH's extramural program - the grants program that funds research by nongovernment scientists at a variety of universities, medical schools, and other research institutions. In contrast to the extramural program, the intramural research program is conducted by government scientists in government facilities - a fact that profoundly shapes the atmosphere and attitudes at the NIH. Postdoctoral fellows will, inevitably, have some initial culture shock as they make the transition from their extramural training experiences to the intramural program.

The intramural funding mechanism is much different from the extramural grants program. Of the entire NIH budget, 10 percent goes to the intramural program, divided among the NIH's 18 insitutes. The amount each institute will spend on its individual intramural program will vary. The intramural funds are then distributed to each senior (principal) investigator within the given institute's program. There is no grants competition and, as a result, NIH investigators do not fear the loss of funding as do extramural scientists. The resulting environment gives postdocs the freedom to pursue risky or lengthy lines of investigation with the knowledge that another grant cycle is not looming.

The funding impacts many aspects of a postdoc's NIH experience. Besides not being distracted by grant-writing pressures, the nature of the research is shaped by available resources. For example, a definitive experiment that you would not be able to consider at a typical academic institution because of its expense can now be considered. You can pursue emerging technologies that are often initially costly and chancy. And while you may not be able to buy a piece of sophisticated equipment you need for your experiments, it is very likely that someone in your institute, or another one on campus, has the equipment and will let you use it.

The funding influences day-to-day experimentation as well. Heavy usage of commercially available kits is commonplace. While in graduate school, my fellow researchers and I spent part of our time making buffers. Now, as postdocs, we buy them.

The availability of reagents and equipment is matched by the access to experts. If you need help with a new technique or an authority on a disease or biological system, chances are there is an intramural scientist who can help you. When looking for help and advice beyond your own institute, the most valuable resources are the NIH scientific interest groups. These interest groups include a handful of major groups, ranging from clinical research to structural biology, and over 40 smaller interest groups. The organizations are given some structural support from the NIH Office of the Director, but are essentially run by intramural scientists who organize seminars, symposia, discussion groups, and listservs around their topics of interest.

The intramural program's riches make the NIH a seemingly ideal place to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship. However, some of the benefits, such as the funding structure, have their drawbacks. As one postdoc pointed out, being at the NIH gives you an almost surreal impression of life on the outside - life in academic research. Becoming dependent on vast resources - equipment, reagents, and kits - can be detrimental, as your ability to do science creatively on a limited budget becomes dulled. Very few young tenure-track scientists in academics will have the immense resources of an NIH postdoc.

As future independent investigators, postdocs usually want to establish a track record of fundability, often by applying for fellowships to support their salaries. Again, the intramural funding has its drawbacks. While intramural NIH postdocs need not secure competitive fellowships for their salaries, they cannot use such a fellowship as a means of defining a funding record or gaining experience in grant writing.

There are a few mechanisms at the NIH that allow postdocs to gain some grants experience. For example, some postdocs may be able to apply for internal supplementary funding. However, these internal grants are limited to certain areas of research, like AIDS and transitional medicine. Additionally, seven institutes have K22 grants, which are transition grants designed to give postdoctoral fellows independent funding to help them make the transition to academic positions. Recognizing that postdocs need help as they make the leap from fellow to independent investigator, the Fellows Committee (FELCOM), consisting of postdoctoral representatives from each institute, and the NIH Office of Education (OE) have organized programs ranging from grants-writing seminars to workshops on how to compose an effective resume and curriculum vitae.

The funding structure for the intramural program is a result of the NIH's position as a government research institution. The culture at the NIH, as a result, is very different from what you find in a typical academic research institution. There are no graduate students, except a few who are doing research at the NIH while enrolled at neighboring universities' graduate programs. While postdoctoral fellows are not government employees, the senior investigators, staff scientists, technicians, and support staff are. These government jobs are very secure, with great benefits. Thus, while there are many bright and driven scientists at the NIH, the government employment system does not allow for an effective way to eliminate deadwood.

The result seems to be a dampening of a potentially vigorous scientific environment. For example, one postdoctoral fellow with whom I spoke is doing his second postdoc at the NIH, and finds that the scientific staff at his previous postdoctoral institution were more highly motivated and worked more extensive hours than the scientists at the NIH. As a result, he notes that his current postdoc position feels more like a job than a training experience. Another postdoc echoed these comments when he spoke of a lack of intellectual rigor within his branch (a branch is the NIH equivalent of a department). In this case, he has been able to find the intellectual stimulation he needs by going outside of his branch, and even outside the NIH.

This postdoc, by being proactive, was able to meet his needs by interacting with scientists both on the Bethesda campus and within the D.C.-Metro area. This resource of scientists is not limited solely to research pursuits. The NIH and D.C.-Metro area is a fertile ground for exploring career options. In the past year, the OE and FELCOM have sponsored panel presentations on scientific careers outside of academic research, using many local speakers to discuss areas such as regulatory work at the Food and Drug Administration, patent law at U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and science policy at the NIH. For those of us considering a move away from the bench, these seminars and the proximity to a variety of scientists have been extremely helpful.

The excellent funding situation and incredible resources have, perhaps, inspired you to consider a postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH. Your next question would be, How do I apply for a position? You have two options. First, there is a Web site maintained by the OE that lists many of the available postdoctoral positions. You can then contact the senior investigators via email to inquire about the position posted.

The second way, and this is how I and my immediate peers obtained our positions, is to find a scientist whose work interests you and write to him or her directly, asking if any positions are available in the lab. And this second way emphasizes perhaps the most important influence on the postdoctoral experience at the NIH, or elsewhere for that matter - the senior investigator in whose lab you will work. Just as in graduate school, this scientist's personality and science will shape the research that you do, the environment of the lab in which you work, and your strength as a candidate for a future position. In the end, an unlimited plethora of experts and resources cannot outweigh a poor mentor.