Funding Opportunity Announcements

This Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) encourages the translation of the novel neurotechnologies, funded through the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative and overseen by the NIH Blueprint MedTech program. Academic and Small Business Concerns (SBCs) are encouraged to submit grant applications that propose non-clinical validation for subsequent clinical feasibility studies. Applications supporting the development and translation of groundbreaking neurotechnologies that fit within the mission of the BRAIN Initiative are encouraged.

This Notice informs interested applicants that funding opportunity announcement (FOA) RFA-EB-20-002, "BRAIN Initiative: Theories, Models and Methods for Analysis of Complex Data from the Brain (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" has been amended with an additional receipt date. The expiration date remains September 15, 2021.

This Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) encourages the translation of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies^® (BRAIN) Initiative-supported technologies from academic and other non-small business research sectors to the marketplace. Small Business Concerns (SBCs) are encouraged to submit Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant applications that propose to further develop, optimize, validate and scale such technologies for commercial dissemination. Additionally, SBIR and STTR applications supporting the development and commercialization of novel technologies that fit within the mission of the BRAIN Initiative are encouraged.

This Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) announces the availability of administrative supplements to support the dissemination of promising technologies and resources generated from active Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative awards, to foster collaborations between innovators and new end-user laboratories, and ultimately integrate such innovations into neuroscience research practice.

This Notice encourages eligible awardees in The BRAIN Initiative® community to apply for administrative supplements in response to PA-18-906, Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Admin Supp - Clinical Trial Not Allowed). The NIH has a strong interest in the diversity of the NIH-funded workforce (see NOT-OD-18-210) and encourages institutions to diversify their populations by enhancing the participation of individuals from groups identified as underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences.

The foundational BRAIN 2025 report states that "The BRAIN Initiative® should be a catalyst that will drive outstanding young people to enter this area at their most creative career stage." The NIH diversity supplement offers an opportunity for BRAIN awardees to request additional funds to train and mentor the next generation of researchers, including those from underrepresented groups, who will contribute to advancing the goals of The BRAIN Initiative®.

Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PDs/PIs) of active BRAIN Initiative research program grants are encouraged to identify eligible individuals across the career development pipeline (from high school students to the faculty level) for support and scientific mentorship under the auspices of this administrative supplement. The research activities proposed in the supplement application must fall within the scope of the parent grant. Proposed career development activities should be appropriate for the career stage of the supplement candidate and should demonstrate both a strong commitment by the mentor and a clear path forward for the candidate. BRAIN Initiative PD/PIs are strongly encouraged to incorporate training activities that will help prepare the supplement candidate to conduct research relevant to the goals of The BRAIN Initiative® 2025 Report.

Educational goals for the NIH component of The BRAIN Initiative® (see BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision) include acquisition of quantitative skills; the appropriate use and integration of newly developed tools, technologies and methods developed under The BRAIN Initiative®; and consideration of the ethical implications of neuroscience research. Special emphasis is placed on training in quantitative neuroscience (i.e., theory and statistics for biologists) and exposing physicists, engineers and statisticians to experimental neuroscience. The BRAIN 2025 Report strongly encourages scientists to cross traditional areas of expertise to conduct interdisciplinary research and emphasizes the need to leverage perspectives from quantitative disciplines (e.g., statistics, computer science, physics, mathematics, and engineering) to address neuroscience questions.

The purpose of this notice is to inform prospective applicants and current awardees of a new policy concerning data collected with support from awards that are funded by The BRAIN Initiative®. Specifically, this Notice clarifies the expectation that applicants to BRAIN Initiative funding opportunity announcements: 1) submit their data to one of the BRAIN data archives for sharing; 2) include specific required elements in the Resource Sharing Plan as further detailed below; and 3) include costs attributed to data preparation and submission to a data archive in grant applications.

BRAIN Initiative Overview

The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative is aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain. By accelerating the development and application of innovative technologies, researchers will be able to produce a new dynamic picture of the brain that, for the first time, will show how individual cells and complex neural circuits interact in both time and space. It is expected that the application of these new tools and technologies will ultimately lead to new ways to treat and prevent brain disorders.

NIH is one of several federal agencies involved in The BRAIN Initiative®. Planning for the NIH component of The BRAIN Initiative® is guided by the long-term scientific plan, "BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision," which details seven high-priority research areas and calls for a sustained federal commitment of $4.5 billion over 12 years. This Notice and related FOAs issued as part of The BRAIN initiative® are based on careful consideration by the NIH of the recommendations of the BRAIN 2025 Report, and input from the NIH BRAIN Multi-Council Working Group. Videocasts of the NIH BRAIN Multi-council Working Group are available at http://www.braininitiative.nih.gov/about/mcwg.htm.

To enable rapid progress in development of new technologies as well as in theory and data analysis, The BRAIN Initiative® encourages collaborations between neurobiologists and scientists from statistics, physics, mathematics, engineering, and computer and information sciences.

BRAIN Initiative Data Sharing

The BRAIN 2025 report calls for establishing platforms for sharing data related to The BRAIN Initiative®. In response, NIH has released RFAs related to data archives (RFA-MH-19-145 and RFA-MH-17-255), data standards (RFA-MH-19-146 and RFA-MH-17-256), and software to integrate and analyze data (RFA-MH-19-147 and RFA-MH-17-257). Each of those efforts is focused on data from a “sub-domain” which are usually defined by the data collection methodology.

Data archives that have been established include:

1) The Neuroscience Multi-omic Data Archive (https://nemoarchive.org/about.php, R24MH114788) to hold data from -omics experiments.

2) The Brain Image Library (http://www.brainimagelibrary.org/index.html, R24MH114793) to hold microscopy data.

3) Data Archive for The BRAIN Initiative® (https://dabi.loni.usc.edu, R24MH114796) to hold data related to human electrophysiology experiments.

4) OpenNeuro (https://openneuro.org/, R24MH117179) to hold magnetic resonance imaging data.

5) Block and Object Storage Service (https://bossdb.org/, R24MH114785) to hold electron microscopy data.

A few additional data archives in distinct sub-domains are expected to be funded. The complete list of BRAIN Initiative infrastructure awards can be found here. The awardees for the RFAs listed above are creating the informatics infrastructure necessary for BRAIN Initiative awardees and others to share the data they are collecting with the research community.

For BRAIN Initiative applications (both new and resubmissions) submitted after March 1, 2020, applicants are required to share the data they collect using The BRAIN Initiative® informatics infrastructure (both data archives and relevant data standards),consistent with authorities under the 21st Century Cures Act and these awards authorized under that Act. BRAIN Initiative fellowship applications (using any of the F activity codes) are not required to share the data they are collecting, but they are encouraged to use the informatics infrastructure as part of their training activities.

The general expectation is that data from BRAIN Initiative awards will be submitted to the archives every 6 months. Submitting data to an archive is distinct from sharing that data with the research community. Submitted data will generally be held in a private enclave until the data are shared with the research community. Frequent submission allows those measuring the data to perform quality control checks as the data are deposited. Submitting the data on an ongoing basis is often easier than trying to package the data at the end of an award period.

After the data have been submitted to the appropriate data archive, it will be shared with the research community when papers using the data have been published or at the end of the award period, whichever occurs sooner. The calendar for submitting data to the relevant archive and sharing data with the research community will depend on the exact details of the experiments that are being conducted.

All applications to BRAIN Initiative FOAs are required to include a Resource Sharing Plan as part of the application. Consistent with authorities under the 21st Century Cures Act and these awards authorized under that Act, t he portion of that plan dealing with data must include:

1) a summary of the data that will be shared

2) a description of the standard(s) that will be used to describe the data set

3) the data archive(s) that will house the data

4) the proposed timeline for submitting data to the archive and sharing data with the research community.

For applications that involve human subjects, the Resource Sharing Plan should have a description of whether and how the consents that will be used to obtain that data will affect the research that can be done with that data. Consents that would allow the data to be used for General Research Use are not appropriate for all experiments, but applicants should use consents that allow broad data sharing whenever possible. A resource sharing plan is required no matter what level of funding is requested.

Costs associated with preparing and submitting data to a data archive should be included in grant applications.

BRAIN Initiative awardees who have received awards prior to the effective date of this Notice are encouraged to share their data. For awards made prior to the effective date of this Notice, administrative supplements may be necessary to prepare such data sets for submission to an appropriate repository. Investigators should discuss such supplements with their assigned program officer. Some existing BRAIN Initiative awardees already have data sharing expectations as part of their awards. This Notice does not alter existing data sharing expectations or milestones.

The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative is aimed at revolutionizing neuroscience through development and application of innovative technologies to map neural circuits, monitor and modulate their activity, and understand how they contribute to thoughts, sensations, emotions and behavior.  NIH has issued a variety of Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) that will support projects that apply technologies to understand neural circuit function in the context of specific circuits, resulting in a diverse portfolio of research into the fundamental biology of nervous system function.  

This announcement is to inform the research community that NIH welcomes applications that leverage tools and technology emerging from The BRAIN Initiative® towards elucidating the mechanisms by which endogenous opioid systems regulate sensory processing, affect and cognition as appropriate to the goals and requirements of specific BRAIN Initiative FOAs.  The overuse of opioids has created a public health crisis, and the NIH is responding to this crisis through conventional Institute and Center appropriations and special programs such as the HEAL Initiative .  However, because The BRAIN Initiative® specifically aims to understand how neural circuit activity translates to sensory, emotional and cognitive functions and opioids produce their effects by engaging the endogenous opioid circuits that normally regulate these same functions, BRAIN is uniquely positioned to advance knowledge in this area. Examples of research that could be supported include the use of the innovative tools and technology to profile transcriptome and methylome of opioid-related neurons , live imaging of intracellular signaling cascades to identify spatiotemporal aspects of cellular signaling engaged by opioid receptor activation, brain-wide optical imaging of cellular activity and cell-types engaged by opioids under different conditions, changes in connectivity and network activity across the trajectory of opioid use assessed by optical imaging or multiplexed high density electrophysiological recording. Because chronic opioid use disrupts cognitive functions and emotional regulation to the extent of being a risk to survival, the study of the opioid-dependent brain presents an unique opportunity to discover how  reprogramming of neural substrates and circuits translates to reprogramming of motivation, mood and decision-making processes.

Interested parties should check information on goals and requirements of specific BRAIN FOAs that may be appropriate, and contact Scientific/Program staff listed in the text of the respective announcements.  For a list of active and upcoming FOAs, see https://braininitiative.nih.gov/funding/.

The purpose of this Notice is to inform potential applicants to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Bioengineering Research Grants (BRG), Bioengineering Research Partnerships (BRP), Translational Neural Devices, and BRAIN Initiative: Next Generation Invasive Devices Recording and Modulation in the Human Central Nervous System, and Smart and Connected Health Funding Opportunity Announcements about an area of special interest.  NINDS would like to accelerate the development of devices for the treatment of pain. Investigators are strongly encouraged to contact the appropriate Program Director prior to submitting an application. Applications may be submitted to: PAR-18-206 (BRG), PAR-18-208 (BRP), RFA-NS-18-011 (Translational Neural Devices), RFA-NS-18-012 (Translational Neural Devices - SBIR), RFA-NS-18-021 (BRAIN Initiative), RFA-NS-18-022 (BRAIN Initiative), RFA-NS-18-023 (BRAIN Initiative - SBIR), and NSF-18-541 (Smart and Connected Health).   
 
Within the BRG and BRP programs, NINDS is particularly interested in bioengineering research that advances technologies with the potential to decrease the burden of neurological disorders and stroke, including pain. Examples of areas of interest include the development and validation of invasive and non-invasive devices, diagnostic/monitoring tools, advanced imaging techniques, computational models, tissue engineering, and other innovative methods.
 
The Translational Neural Devices program is interested in receiving applications for translational studies on devices to treat pain. Translational Neural Devices supports translational activities and small clinical studies to advance the development of invasive and non-invasive therapeutic, and diagnostic devices for disorders that affect the nervous or neuromuscular systems. Program activities, including translational bench and animal studies, are expected to lead to submission of an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or Institutional Review Board (IRB) application for a Non-Significant Risk (NSR) study. This program will also support the subsequent small clinical trial to collect safety and effectiveness data required to support a marketing application or to inform final device design.
 
The BRAIN Initiative®: Next Generation Invasive Devices Recording and Modulation in the Human Central Nervous System program supports translational and/or clinical studies for invasive recording and/or stimulating devices to treat nervous system disorders, including support for the submission of an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) for a Significant Risk (SR) study or obtain Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for a Non-Significant Risk (NSR) study, and/or a small clinical trial (e.g., Early Feasibility Study). The small clinical trial should provide data to answer key questions about the function or final design of a device. This final device design may require most, if not all, of the non-clinical testing on the path to more advanced clinical trials and market approval. The BRAIN Initiative® includes both the brain and spinal cord and this program would like to encourage translational and clinical projects for invasive recording and/or stimulating devices to treat pain. 
 
The Smart and Connected Health program (https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504739) is an interagency program between the Institutes and Centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) supporting the development of technologies, analytics and models supporting next generation health and medical research through high-risk, high-reward advances in computer and information science, engineering and technology, behavior, cognition, robotics and imaging. NINDS is interested in applications for next-generation multidisciplinary science that encourages research in pain in a variety of areas of value to health, such as networking, pervasive computing, advanced analytics, sensor integration, privacy and security, modeling of socio-behavioral and cognitive processes and system and process modeling.

This revised Notice replaces NOT-MH-17-004 to include the four institutes participating in the administrative supplement notice. This Notice  encourages eligible awardees in The BRAIN Initiative® community to apply for administrative supplements in response to PA-16-288, "Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research."  The NIH has a strong interest in the diversity of the NIH-funded workforce (see NOT-OD-15-053 for details) and encourages institutions to diversify their student populations by enhancing the participation of individuals from groups identified as nationally underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences (see NOT-OD-15-089 for categories and definitions). 

The BRAIN Initiative® 2025 report stated that "The BRAIN Initiative® should be a catalyst that will drive outstanding young people to enter this area at their most creative career stage."  The NIH diversity supplement program offers an opportunity for existing BRAIN awardees to request additional funds to train and mentor the next generation of researchers from underrepresented groups who will contribute to advancing the goals of The BRAIN Initiative®. Principal Investigators (PIs) of active BRAIN Initiative research program grants are thus encouraged to identify individuals from groups nationally underrepresented to support and mentor under the auspices of the administrative supplement program to promote diversity. Individuals from the identified groups are eligible throughout the continuum from high school to the faculty level. The activities proposed in the supplement application must fall within the scope of the parent grant, and both advance the objectives of the parent grant and support the research training and professional development of the supplement candidate. BRAIN Initiative PIs are strongly encouraged to incorporate training activities that will help prepare the supplement candidate to conduct rigorous research relevant to the goals of The BRAIN Initiative® 2025 Report. 

Educational goals for the NIH component of The BRAIN Initiative® (see BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision) include acquisition of quantitative skills, the appropriate use and integration of newly developed tools, technologies and methods developed under The BRAIN Initiative®, and consideration of the ethical implications of neuroscience research. The BRAIN 2025 Report notes that individuals should obtain robust grounding in quantitative reasoning, principles, and techniques during their training.  A special focus is training in quantitative neuroscience, i.e. theory and statistics for biologists, and exposing physicists, engineers and statisticians to experimental neuroscience. The BRAIN 2025 Report strongly encourages scientists to cross traditional areas of expertise to conduct interdisciplinary research, and acknowledges the need to attract investigators and faculty recruits to neuroscience from quantitative disciplines, e.g., statistics, computer science, physics, mathematics, and engineering.   

To facilitate identification of applications, the first sentence of the application's Project Summary should state the following: The parent grant is a BRAIN Initiative award. The PI is submitting an administrative supplement to enhance diversity in response to NOT-MH-17-004.

Awarding Institutes may have specific practices for diversity research supplement requests that augment the requirements described in PA-16-288.  Therefore, consultation with the Program Official for the qualifying BRAIN award or the individual named under Inquiries below is strongly encouraged.  

Supplement applications will be evaluated by The BRAIN Initiative® research training committee, a committee of Program staff from the Institutes and Centers participating in the NIH BRAIN Initiative.  Applications will be considered according to the following schedule:

Application Due Date                                    Funding Decision
December 1, 2016 to February 15, 2017          March 31, 2017
February 16, 2017 to March 30, 2017              May 15, 2017
April 1, 2017 to May 31, 2017                          July 15, 2017 

For tracking purposes, applicants are encouraged to inform Dr. Nancy Desmond via email (Nancy.Desmond@nih.gov) when a diversity supplement application is submitted. Please include the PI name and grant number in this email.

This Notice is to encourage eligible awardees in The BRAIN Initiative® community to apply for administrative supplements in response to PA-16-288, "Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research."  The NIH has a strong interest in the diversity of the NIH-funded workforce (see NOT-OD-15-053 for details) and encourages institutions to diversify their student populations by enhancing the participation of individuals from groups identified as nationally underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences (see NOT-OD-15-089 for categories and definitions). 

The BRAIN Initiative® 2025 report stated that "The BRAIN Initiative® should be a catalyst that will drive outstanding young people to enter this area at their most creative career stage."  The NIH diversity supplement program offers an opportunity for existing BRAIN awardees to request additional funds to train and mentor the next generation of researchers from underrepresented groups who will contribute to advancing the goals of The BRAIN Initiative®. Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PDs/PIs) of active BRAIN Initiative research program grants are thus encouraged to identify individuals from groups nationally underrepresented to support and mentor under the auspices of the administrative supplement program to promote diversity. Individuals from the identified groups are eligible throughout the continuum from high school to the faculty level. The activities proposed in the supplement application must fall within the scope of the parent grant, and both advance the objectives of the parent grant and support the research training and professional development of the supplement candidate. BRAIN Initiative PDs/PIs are strongly encouraged to incorporate research education activities that will help prepare the supplement candidate to conduct rigorous research relevant to the goals of The BRAIN Initiative® 2025 Report. 

Educational goals for the NIH component of The BRAIN Initiative® (see BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision) include acquisition of quantitative skills, the appropriate use and integration of newly developed tools, technologies and methods developed under The BRAIN Initiative®, and consideration of the ethical implications of neuroscience research. The BRAIN 2025 Report notes that individuals should obtain robust grounding in quantitative reasoning, principles, and techniques during their training.  A special focus is training in quantitative neuroscience, i.e. theory and statistics for biologists, and exposing physicists, engineers and statisticians to experimental neuroscience. The BRAIN 2025 Report strongly encourages scientists to cross traditional areas of expertise to conduct interdisciplinary research, and acknowledges the need to attract investigators and faculty recruits to neuroscience from quantitative disciplines, e.g., statistics, computer science, physics, mathematics, and engineering.   

To facilitate identification of applications, the first sentence of the application's Project Summary should state the following: The parent grant is a BRAIN Initiative award. The PD/PI is submitting an administrative supplement to enhance diversity in response to NOT-MH-17-004.

Awarding Institutes may have specific practices for diversity research supplement requests that augment the requirements described in PA-16-288.  Therefore, consultation with the Program Official for the qualifying BRAIN award or the individual named under Inquiries below is strongly encouraged.  

Supplement applications will be evaluated by The BRAIN Initiative® research training committee, a committee of Program staff from the Institutes and Centers participating in the NIH BRAIN Initiative.  Applications will be considered according to the following schedule:

Application Due Date                                    Funding Decision
December 1, 2016 to February 15, 2017          March 31, 2017
February 16, 2017 to March 30, 2017              May 15, 2017
April 1, 2017 to May 31, 2017                          July 15, 2017 

For tracking purposes, applicants are encouraged to inform Dr. Nancy Desmond via email (Nancy.Desmond@nih.gov) when a diversity supplement application is submitted. Please include the PD/PI name and grant number in this email.

This Notice encourages eligible awardees in The BRAIN Initiative® community to apply for administrative supplements in response to PA-18-906 Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Admin Supp - Clinical Trial Not Allowed). The NIH has a strong interest in the diversity of the NIH-funded workforce (see NOT-OD-18-210 for details) and encourages institutions to diversify their student populations by enhancing the participation of individuals from groups identified as underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences. The BRAIN Initiative® 2025 report stated that "The BRAIN Initiative® should be a catalyst that will drive outstanding young people to enter this area at their most creative career stage." The NIH diversity supplement offers an opportunity for existing BRAIN awardees to request additional funds to train and mentor the next generation of researchers, including those from underrepresented groups, who will contribute to advancing the goals of The BRAIN Initiative®. Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD/PI) of active BRAIN Initiative research program grants are thus encouraged to identify eligible individuals throughout the continuum from high school to the faculty level for support and scientific mentorship under the auspices of this administrative supplement. The activities proposed in the supplement application must fall within the scope of the parent grant, and both advance the objectives of the parent grant and support the research training and professional development of the supplement candidate. BRAIN Initiative PIs are strongly encouraged to incorporate training activities that will help prepare the supplement candidate to conduct rigorous research relevant to the goals of The BRAIN Initiative® 2025 Report. Educational goals for the NIH component of The BRAIN Initiative® (see BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision) include acquisition of quantitative skills; the appropriate use and integration of newly developed tools, technologies and methods developed under The BRAIN Initiative®; and consideration of the ethical implications of neuroscience research. A special focus is training in quantitative neuroscience, i.e., theory and statistics for biologists, and exposing physicists, engineers and statisticians to experimental neuroscience. The BRAIN 2025 Report strongly encourages scientists to cross traditional areas of expertise to conduct interdisciplinary research, and acknowledges the need to attract investigators and faculty recruits to neuroscience from quantitative disciplines, e.g., statistics, computer science, physics, mathematics, and engineering. Applicants are requested to state, as the first sentence of the Research Strategy, that the parent grant was awarded as a BRAIN Initiative award, and to state the specific FOA of the parent grant (e.g., RFA-NS-18-030) to facilitate processing of the supplement application. In some cases, a diversity supplement may be submitted to a multiple-PD/PI (MPI) BRAIN Initiative award that is awarded to a foreign institution. Specifically, a diversity supplement may be submitted if the supplement candidate meets the eligibility criteria specified in PA-18-906 and will work with a subaward MPI at a domestic institution. Potential applicants are encouraged to confirm eligibility with the Program contact listed below. BRAIN diversity supplement awardees, as appropriate for the duration of their support and career stage, are strongly encouraged to participate in annual PD/PI meetings and in other activities. Applicants may request funds, in addition to the research costs specified in PA-18-906, to enable the supplement candidate to attend the annual BRAIN Initiative PD/PI meeting in the Washington, DC area. This request for additional funds should be reasonable and well justified in the application. Before submitting an application, applicants are encouraged to review the supplemental guidance for BRAIN Initiative diversity supplement applications on the NIH BRAIN Initiative web site. Consultation with the Program Official for the qualifying BRAIN award or the individual named under Inquiries below is also strongly encouraged. Supplement applications will be evaluated by The BRAIN Initiative® research training committee, a committee of Program staff from the Institutes and Centers participating in the NIH BRAIN Initiative. For tracking purposes, applicants are encouraged to inform Dr. James Churchill via email (BRAIN.Initiative.Training@nih.gov) when a diversity supplement application is submitted. Please include the PD/PI name and grant number in the subject line of this email.

The NIMH, with other NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) that are part of The BRAIN Initiative®, intends to promote a new initiative by publishing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to solicit applications for research on the foundations of non-invasive human brain imaging and neuro-recording techniques. The goal of this FOA will be to support integrative, multidisciplinary efforts that will revolutionize our understanding of the meaning of the data collected from non-invasive human brain imaging and functional evaluation techniques. The NIH Institutes and Centers that are part of the NIH BRAIN Initiative announce a new partnership, formalized by a letter of agreement, with the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to support the involvement of Australian researchers in specific NIH BRAIN Initiative programs. Both the NIH and the NHMRC believe that the ambitious goals of The BRAIN Initiative® can best be attained by collaborating across disciplinary boundaries as well as geographic boundaries. Details about NHMRC application procedures, funding rules, and eligibility requirements will be available on the NHMRC website.

The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative is aimed at revolutionizing neuroscience through development and application of innovative technologies to map neural circuits, monitor and modulate their activity, and understand how they contribute to thoughts, sensations, emotions and behavior. NIH has issued a variety of Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) that will support projects that apply technologies to understand neural circuit function in the context of specific circuits, resulting in a diverse portfolio of research into the fundamental biology of nervous system function. The purpose of this announcement is to notify the research community that NIH is encouraging applications to PA-18-591 to integrate neuroethics perspectives and approaches into existing BRAIN Initiative awards. Supplement applications are encouraged from ongoing BRAIN Initiative projects that can readily incorporate core ethical issues associated with research focused on the human brain and resulting from emerging technologies and advancements in research and development supported by The BRAIN Initiative®. The intent is that efforts supported through this administrative supplement would be both complimentary and integrative with the transformative, breakthrough neuroscience discoveries supported through The BRAIN Initiative®. As an administrative supplement, the work proposed needs to be within the scope of the research that is already supported. Research proposed in supplement applications should have clear relevance to The BRAIN Initiative®. The proposed work may cover pilot projects, resource development, or personnel costs for embedding neuroethics into the research project. In each case, the work proposed should be feasible to complete within a one-year timeframe and with the limited funds permitted. It should also show promise of becoming a more substantial project that might attract additional funding. Investigators should submit applications as responses to the parent active administrative supplement announcement (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-18-591.html) using electronic submission. Electronic applications are strongly encouraged.. Individual requests can be no more than $100,000 in direct costs exclusive of Facilities and Administrative costs on sub-contracts and may be for one year only. Requests must be received by June 15 for funding in FY 2018.

The 10 NIH Institutes that are part of the NIH BRAIN Initiative announce a new partnership, formalized by a letter of agreement, with the Brain Canada Foundation (Brain Canada) to support the involvement of Canadian researchers in the NIH BRAIN Initiative. Both NIH and the Brain Canada Foundation believe that the ambitious goals of the BRAIN Initiative can best be attained by collaboration across disciplinary boundaries as well as geographic boundaries. Brain Canada will seek partners and provide grant support for Canadian researchers through the Canada Brain Research Fund that provides a 1:1 match of funds raised from other sources.

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 diverse backgrounds (including nationally 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.

The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative is an ambitious multi-agency effort announced by President Obama in April 2013. Specific goals for NIH contributions to the Initiative were formulated over a year-long planning process that culminated in the release of BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision, a seminal planning document produced by a working committee of the Advisory Council to the NIH Director. NIH continues to be guided by this document and by input from the BRAIN Multi-Council Working Group (MCWG), a committee that includes Advisory Council members from each of the ten NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) contributing to The BRAIN Initiative®.

The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative is aimed at revolutionizing neuroscience through development and application of innovative technologies to map neural circuits, monitor and modulate their activity, and understand how they contribute to thoughts, sensations, emotions and behavior. NIH has issued a variety of Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) that will support projects that apply technologies to understand neural circuit function in the context of specific circuits, resulting in a diverse portfolio of research into the fundamental biology of nervous system function. The purpose of this announcement is to notify the research community that NIH welcomes BRAIN Initiative applications targeting central nervous system nociceptive and pain circuits, as appropriate to the goals and requirements of specific BRAIN Initiative FOAs. Pain conditions represent an important public health problem and NIH continues to support research into pain pathologies through normal Institute and Center appropriations. However, pain and nociception are also components of normal nervous system function, and The BRAIN Initiative® is committed to understanding pain circuits along with brain circuits underlying other sensory, motor, cognitive and emotional functions. It is expected that the unique opportunities of The BRAIN Initiative® will enable production of detailed maps of pain circuits, and the adoption of powerful new tools for monitoring and modulating pain circuit activity, leading to significant advances in the understanding of pain and nociception. For a list of past and open BRAIN Initiative FOAs, see https://braininitiative.nih.gov/funding/. For information on goals and requirements of specific BRAIN FOAs, contact Scientific/Program staff listed in the text of the respective announcements.

This Notice is to change the application due date, and to correct the information on eligible organizations for RFA-NS-16-008 “BRAIN Initiative: Research Opportunities Using Invasive Neural Recording and Stimulating Technologies in the Human Brain (U01).” The new due date will be January 13, 2016. Also the changed Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will allow applications that include foreign components, such as sub-contracts to foreign organizations and/or activities performed at foreign organizations.

This Notice encourages eligible awardees in The BRAIN Initiative® community to apply for administrative supplements in response to PA-16-288, "Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research." The NIH has a strong interest in the diversity of the NIH-funded workforce (see NOT-OD-15-053 and NOT-OD-15-089 for details) and encourages institutions to diversify their student populations by enhancing the participation of individuals from groups identified as nationally underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences.

Human studies using invasive technology to record or modulate neural circuits require extensive planning and expense. As a result, these studies are often constrained by a limited number of patients and resources available to implement complex experimental protocols and are rarely aggregated in a matter sufficient to address high-impact neuroscience questions with appropriate power. Furthermore, these small scale projects rarely identify or retain additional sources of data beyond their primary endpoints, which could be of high value to the wider scientific community. With this FOA, the NIH seeks to address these fundamental barriers by supporting planning efforts and exploratory research studies investigating high-impact questions in human neuroscience and disorders of the human nervous system. Projects should develop multidisciplinary teams to maximize opportunities to conduct neuroscience research arising from invasive surgical procedures that provide the unique ability to record and stimulate neurons within precisely localized brain structures in humans. Integrated teams should consist of clinicians, scientists, device engineers, mathematicians, statisticians, data scientists, regulatory specialists and/or ethics specialists. These teams may be assembled within a single institution, or may be integrated across multiple institutions to answer essential neuroscience questions with appropriate statistical power. Awardees will also join a consortium, coordinated by the NIH, to identify consensus standards of practice as well as supplemental opportunities to collect data for ancillary studies, and to aggregate and standardize data for dissemination among the wider scientific community. - See more at: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-NS-15-002.html#sthash.SX4VY2Vc.dpuf

The purpose of this Notice is to extend RFA-MH-17-220 “BRAIN Initiative: Development and Validation of Novel Tools to Analyze Cell-Specific and Circuit-Specific Processes in the Brain (R01)" that invites application to develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function.

This Notice is to inform potential applicants to Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative FOAs for Next-Generation Invasive Devices for Recording and Modulation in the Human Central Nervous System (RFA-NS-16-009, RFA-NS-16-010, RFA-NS-16-011 and RFA-NS-16-018) of a webinar with both FDA and NIH staff to provide assistance for the Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) process for neuromodulation devices. The webinar is optional and is not required for submission to RFA-NS-16-009, RFA-NS-16-010, RFA-NS-16-011 or RFA-NS-16-018. To register for the webinar, and to submit questions, please email BRAIN-FOAs@nih.gov by Tuesday, February 23, 2016.

The purpose of this Notice is to extend RFA-MH-17-235 “BRAIN Initiative: Foundations of Non-Invasive Functional Human Brain Imaging and Recording - Bridging Scales and Modalities (R01)" that invites application to support effort that will revolutionize our understanding of the biological activity underlying, and bioinformatic content of data collected using contemporary non-invasive functional brain imaging techniques.

The purpose of this Notice is to extend RFA-MH-17-240 “BRAIN Initiative: Non-Invasive Neuromodulation - New Tools and Techniques for Spatiotemporal Precision (R01)" that invites application to develop and test novel tools and methods of neuromodulation that go beyond the existing variations.

The purpose of this Notice is to extend RFA-MH-17-245 “BRAIN Initiative: Non-Invasive Neuromodulation - New Tools and Techniques for Spatiotemporal Precision (R01)" that invites application to encourage the optimization of existing electrical and magnetic stimulation methods.

As part of the NIH BRAIN Initiative, NIH announces a new partnership, formalized by a letter of agreement, with Lundbeckfonden (the Lundbeck Foundation) to support the involvement of researchers at Danish institutions in The BRAIN Initiative®. Both NIH and Lundbeckfonden believe that the ambitious goals of The BRAIN Initiative® can best be attained by collaboration across disciplinary boundaries as well as geographic boundaries.