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 #
Development Optimization, and Validation of Novel Tools and Technologies for Neuroscience Research (SBIR) (R43/R44 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
May 07 , 2021

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support the development of novel tools and technologies through the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program to advance the field of neuroscience research. This FOA specifically supports the development of novel neurotechnologies as well as the translation of technologies developed through The BRAIN initiative® or through other funding programs, towards commercialization. Funding can support the iterative refinement of these tools and technologies with the end-user community, with an end-goal of scaling manufacture towards reliable, broad, sustainable dissemination and incorporation into regular neuroscience practice

Development Optimization, and Validation of Novel Tools and Technologies for Neuroscience Research (STTR) (R41/R42 - Clinical Trials Not Allowed)
May 07 , 2021

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support the development of novel tools and technologies through the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program to advance the field of neuroscience research. This FOA specifically supports the development of novel neurotechnologies as well as the translation of technologies developed through The BRAIN initiative® or through other funding programs, towards commercialization. Funding can support the iterative refinement of these tools and technologies with the end-user community, with an end-goal of scaling manufacture towards reliable, broad, sustainable dissemination and incorporation into regular neuroscience practice.

Integration and Analysis of BRAIN Initiative Data (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
March 05 , 2021

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits applications to develop informatics tools for analyzing, visualizing, and integrating data related to The BRAIN Initiative® or to enhance our understanding of the brain.

Data Archives for The BRAIN Initiative® (R24 Clinical Trial Optional)
September 07 , 2019
RFA-MH-19-145

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits applications to develop web-accessible data archives to capture, store, and curate data related to BRAIN Initiative activities. The data archives will work with the research community to incorporate tools that allow users to analyze and visualize the data, but the creation of such tools is not part of this FOA. The data archives will use appropriate standards to describe the data, but the creation of such standards is not part of this FOA. A goal of this program is to advance research by creating a community resource data archive with appropriate standards and summary information that is broadly available and accessible to the research community for furthering research.

Standards to Define Experiments Related to the BRAIN Initiative (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
September 07 , 2019
RFA-MH-19-146

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits applications to develop standards that describe experimental protocols that are being conducted as part of The BRAIN Initiative®. It is expected that applications will solicit community input at all stages of the process. It is recommended that the first step of standard development will involve sharing data between different key groups in the experimental community in order to ensure that the developing standard will cover the way that all of those groups are collecting data. The developed standard is expected to be made widely available.

BRAIN Initiative Advanced Postdoctoral Career Transition Award to Promote Diversity (K99/R00 Clinical Trial Required)
November 14 , 2019

The purpose of the NIH BRAIN Initiative Advanced Postdoctoral Career Transition Award to Promote Diversity (K99/R00) program is to increase workforce diversity in the neuroscience workforce and maintain a strong cohort of new and talented, NIH-supported, independent investigators by enhancing the pool of individuals from nationally underrepresented groups in BRAIN Initiative research areas. This program is designed to facilitate a timely transition of outstanding postdoctoral researchers with a research and/or clinical doctorate degree from mentored, postdoctoral research positions to independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions. The program will provide independent NIH research support during this transition in order to help awardees to launch competitive, independent research careers. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is designed specifically for applicants proposing to serve as the lead investigator of an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or a separate ancillary study to an existing trial, as part of their research and career development. Applicants not planning an independent clinical trial, or proposing to gain research experience in a clinical trial led by another investigator, must apply to companion FOA (FOA #).

BRAIN Initiative Advanced Postdoctoral Career Transition Award to Promote Diversity (K99/R00 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
November 14 , 2019

The NINDS, with other NIH Institutes and Centers participating in the BRAIN Initiative, intends to publish "BRAIN Initiative Advanced Postdoctoral Career Transition Award to Promote Diversity (K99/R00)." The program is designed to increase biomedical research workforce diversity and foster a strong cohort of new, highly skilled and well trained, NIH-supported, independent investigators from underrepresented groups working in research areas supported by the BRAIN Initiative, as highlighted in BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision. It is designed to facilitate a timely transition of outstanding postdoctoral researchers with a research and/or clinical doctorate degree from mentored, postdoctoral research positions to independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions. This Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop meaningful mentoring teams and responsive projects. The FOA is expected to be published in April 2018 with an expected application due date in June 2018. This FOA will utilize the K99/R00 funding activity. Details of the planned FOA are provided below. Research Initiative Details The BRAIN Initiative K99/R00 award is intended for women and members of underrepresented groups who are working in research areas supported by the BRAIN Initiative, who have no more than five years of postdoctoral research experience, and who require at least 12 months of mentored research training and career development (K99 phase) before transitioning to the independent research (R00) phase of the program. All research areas within the BRAIN Initiative are encouraged (including but not limited to engineering, computer science, statistics, mathematics, physics, chemistry and neuroethics). Eligible individuals for this program will be U.S. citizens or permanent residents who fall in at least one of three defined categories: 1) women, 2) individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as defined in the Notice of NIH's Inter

BRAIN Initiative: Exploratory Team-Research BRAIN Circuit Programs - eTeamBCP (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
June 11 , 2019
The purpose of this FOA is to promote the integration of experimental, analytic, and theoretical capabilities for large-scale analysis of neural systems and circuits. This FOA seeks applications for exploratory research studies that use new and emerging methods for large scale recording and manipulation of neural circuits across multiple brain regions. Applications should propose to elucidate the contributions of dynamic circuit activity to a specific behavioral or neural system. Applications should seek to understand circuits of the central nervous system by systematically controlling stimuli and/or behavior while actively recording and/or manipulating relevant dynamic patterns of neural activity and by measuring the resulting behaviors and/or perceptions. Studies should incorporate rich information on cell-types, on circuit functionality and connectivity, and should be performed in conjunction with sophisticated analysis of complex, ethologically relevant behaviors. Applications should propose teams of investigators that seek to cross boundaries of interdisciplinary collaboration by bridging fields and linking theory and data analysis to experimental design. Exploratory studies supported by this FOA are intended to develop experimental capabilities and quantitative, theoretical frameworks in preparation for a future competition for larger-scale, multi-component, Team-Research BRAIN Circuit Programs (U19).
Development and Validation of Novel Tools to Analyze Cell-Specific and Circuit-Specific Processes in the Brain (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
September 10 , 2020

The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function. The new tools and technologies should inform and/or exploit cell-type and/or circuit-level specificity. Plans for validating the utility of the tool/technology will be an essential feature of a successful application. The development of new genetic and non-genetic tools for delivering genes, proteins and chemicals to cells of interest or approaches that are expected to target specific cell types and/or circuits in the nervous system with greater precision and sensitivity than currently established methods are encouraged. Tools that can be used in a number of species/model organisms rather than those restricted to a single species are highly desired. Applications that provide approaches that break through existing technical barriers to substantially improve current capabilities are highly encouraged.

BRAIN Initiative: Targeted BRAIN Circuits Projects- TargetedBCP (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
November 11 , 2020
This FOA solicits applications for research projects that use innovative, methodologically-integrated approaches to understand how circuit activity gives rise to mental experience and behavior. The goal is to support projects that can realize a meaningful outcome within 5 years. Applications should address circuit function in the context of specific neural systems such as sensation, perception, attention, reasoning, intention, decision-making, emotion, navigation, communication or homeostasis. Projects should link theory and data analysis to experimental design and should produce predictive models as deliverables. Projects should aim to improve the understanding of circuits of the central nervous system by systematically controlling stimuli and/or behavior while actively recording and/or manipulating dynamic patterns of neural activity. Projects can use non-human and human species, and applications should explain how the selected species offers ideal conditions for revealing general principles about the circuit basis of a specific behavior.
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