Notices of Funding Opportunities

National Institutes of Health (NIH) BRAIN Initiative notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs), requests for applications (RFAs), program announcements (PAs), and other NIH Guide announcements are listed below. Search this page to find all notices of special interest (NOSI). Search the Closed Opportunities page to find expired opportunities.  

Learn more about NIH’s grant mechanisms.  

Learn about the Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP), a required component in most BRAIN applications.  

Learn about the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy, which all NIH applications must follow.  

To see more NIH-funded awards, please visit NIH Grants and Funding.

For more about NIH BRAIN Initiative research and associated funding opportunities, visit the Research Overview.

Title
Release Date
Expiration Date
Funding Opportunity #
BRAIN Initiative: Brain-Behavior Quantification and Synchronization Transformative and Integrative Models of Behavior at the Organismal Level (R34 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
February 15 , 2023

This R34 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks applications with limited scope proposing a set of planning activities that will lay the groundwork for a scientific project aimed at integrating complementary theories and methods to 1) develop, validate and apply cutting-edge tools and methods for minimally invasive, multi-dimensional, high-resolution measurement of behavior at the level of the organism, with synchronous capture of changes in the organisms social or physical environment; and/or 2) develop computational methods that allow for integration of multidimensional behavioral and environmental datarepresenting multiple timescales into a conceptual and/or computational model of behavior as a complex dynamic system, designed with the capacity to integrate synchronously recorded neural data and/or inform existing models of neurobehavioral function, such as those developed with the support of the NIH BRAIN Initiative. The purpose of this R34 funding opportunity is to support planning and development of the research framework, design, and approach, including activities that will establish feasibility, validity, and/or other technically qualifying results that, if successful, would support a competitive application for a U01, R01 or equivalent NIH research award.

BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN): Coordinating Unit for Biostatistics, Informatics, and Engagement (CUBIE) (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
February 02 , 2023

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) intends to support a Coordinating Unit for Biostatistics, Informatics, and Engagement (CUBIE) that will be composed of four components to establish respectively (1) a common sequencing data processing pipeline, (2) a common imaging data processing pipeline, (3) a comprehensive brain cell knowledge base, and (4) an engaging and outreach component to coordinate the research within and beyond BICAN. The overall goals of CUBIE are to (i) enable the exploration of large-scale brain cell atlas data and knowledge, and inspire research in brain function and disorders; and (ii) ensure research rigor and data reproducibility by making the data to be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable, and the process transparent. An application is expected to propose only one of the above four respective components.

BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN): Comprehensive Center on Human and Non-human Primate Brain Cell Atlases (UM1 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
February 02 , 2023

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) intends to support a group of large-scale Comprehensive Centers that will adopt scalable technology platforms and streamlined sampling strategies and assay cascade to create comprehensive and highly granular brain cell atlases of human and non-human primates with an emphasis on human. The Centers are expected to characterize all brain cell types (neurons, glia, and other non-neuronal cells) at high-resolution. The overarching goal of the BICAN is to build reference brain cell atlases that will be widely used throughout the research community, providing a molecular and anatomical foundational framework for the study of brain function and disorders.

BRAIN Initiative: Brain Behavior Quantification and Synchronization (R61/R33 Clinical Trial Optional)
December 23 , 2022

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) supports the development and validation of next-generation tools, methods, and analytic approaches to precisely quantify behaviors and combine them with simultaneous recordings of brain activity in humans. Tools used for measuring and analyzing behavior should be multi-modal, with the appropriate accuracy, specificity, temporal resolution, and flexibility necessary for integration with existing tools used to measure and modulate the brain circuits that give rise to those behaviors.

BRAIN Initiative: Transformative Brain Non-invasive Imaging Technology Development (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
January 06 , 2023

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits applications for team-centric development and validation of innovative non-invasive imaging technologies that could have a transformative impact on the study of brain function/connectivity. Applications are expected to turn a novel concept into a functional prototype using this phased grant mechanism. The feasibility should be established by the end of its first phase and serve as a foundation for the transition to its second phase. Fully developing the technology into a functional prototype and validating it by in-vivo animal or human function/connectivity imaging are anticipated in the second phase. The research plan should provide a realistic timeline and tangible milestones to support the proposed development effort. Awards will be integrated into the BRAIN Non-Invasive Imaging Consortium, as a coordinated network on brain function/connectivity imaging.

BRAIN Initiative: Research Resource Grants for Technology Integration and Dissemination (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
April 17 , 2023

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) supports efforts to disseminate resources and to integrate them into neuroscience research practice. Projects should be highly relevant to specific goals of the BRAIN Initiative, goals that are described in the planning document "BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision." They should engage in one or more of the following activities: distribution of tools and reagents; user training on the usage of new technologies or techniques; providing access to existing technology platforms and specialized facilities; minor improvements to increase the scale/efficiency of resource production and delivery; minor adaptations to meet the needs of a user community. Applications strictly focused on technology or software development, rather than dissemination of an existing resource, are not responsive to this FOA. Refinements to microscopes or tools necessary to customize them to the experimental needs of the end users is allowed. Projects should address compelling needs of neuroscience researchers working toward the goals of the BRAIN 2025 report that are otherwise unavailable or impractical in their current form.

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Administrative Supplements for Embedded Ethicists into BRAIN Initiative Supported Research
April 02 , 2022
The purpose of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to encourage applications to PA-20-272 to integrate neuroethics perspectives and approaches into existing BRAIN Initiative awards.
BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN): Specialized Collaboratory on Human, Non-human Primate, and Mouse Brain Cell Atlases (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
November 10 , 2021

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) intends to support a group of Specialized Collaboratories that will adopt scalable technology platforms and streamlined sampling strategies and assay cascade to create comprehensive and highly granular brain cell atlases in human, non-human primates, and mouse, in coordination and collaboration with other BICAN projects. In particular, the Specialized Collaboratories are expected to complement the Comprehensive Centers in BICAN with distinct capabilities, competencies, and research aims. The overarching goal of the BICAN is to build reference brain cell atlases that will be widely used throughout the research community, providing a molecular and anatomical foundational framework for the study of brain function and disorders.

BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN): Coordinating Unit for Biostatistics, Informatics, and Engagement (CUBIE) (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
November 10 , 2021

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) intends to support a Coordinating Unit for Biostatistics, Informatics, and Engagement (CUBIE) that will be composed of four components to establish respectively (1) a common sequencing data processing pipeline, (2) a common imaging data processing pipeline, (3) a comprehensive brain cell knowledge base, and (4) an engaging and outreach component to coordinate the research within and beyond BICAN. The overall goals of CUBIE are to (i) enable the exploration of large-scale brain cell atlas data and knowledge, and inspire research in brain function and disorders; and (ii) ensure research rigor and data reproducibility by making the data to be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable, and the process transparent. An application is expected to propose only one of the above four respective components.

BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN): Comprehensive Center on Human and Non-human Primate Brain Cell Atlases (UM1 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
November 10 , 2021

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) intends to support a group of large-scale Comprehensive Centers that will adopt scalable technology platforms and streamlined sampling strategies and assay cascade to create comprehensive and highly granular brain cell atlases of human and non-human primates with an emphasis on human. The Centers are expected to characterize all brain cell types (neurons, glia, and other non-neuronal cells) at high-resolution. The overarching goal of the BICAN is to build reference brain cell atlases that will be widely used throughout the research community, providing a molecular and anatomical foundational framework for the study of brain function and disorders.