This notice of funding opportunity supports the establishment of facilities at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and Institutional Development Award (IDeA)-eligible institutions for scaled production and distribution of neurotechnology resources.
RFA-MH-21-180 Reagent Resources for Brain Cell Type-Specific Access and Manipulation to Broaden Distribution of Enabling Technologies for Neuroscience (U24; Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
The NIH Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative recently announced a funding opportunity (NOFO) to support the development of technologies, production efforts, and dissemination resources for a cell type-specific armamentarium to study brain function across species. Building on that effort, this NOFO is intended to support the establishment of facilities at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and Institutional Development Award (IDeA)-eligible institutions for scaled production and distribution of brain cell type-specific access and manipulation reagents. Importantly, it will support the development of reagent production and dissemination capacity at historically under-resourced institutions.
These NOFOs are the first in a series comprising the BRAIN 2.0 transformative projects, which were motivated and inspired by the recommendations in “The BRAIN Initiative 2.0: From Cells to Circuits, Toward Cures” and “The BRAIN Initiative and Neuroethics: Enabling and Enhancing Neuroscience Advances for Society.” These large-scale projects, built on the early successes from the first half of the Initiative, will support the development and dissemination of critical resources and data to propel neuroscience far into the future. Awardees under RFA-MH-21-180 will work with the other Armamentarium awardees ((i.e., those funded under RFA-MH-20-556) to manufacture and distribute the resources for use throughout the neuroscience community, both within the Armamentarium community as well as with the broader neuroscience research community to optimize these new reagents.
To fulfill its charge of revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain through the advancement of groundbreaking neurotechnologies, the NIH BRAIN Initiative upholds that diverse teams working together and capitalizing on innovative ideas and distinct perspectives outperform homogeneous teams. Therefore, RFA-MH-21-180 is the first BRAIN NOFO that will also require a Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP) as part of the application. Applicants must include a summary of strategies to advance the scientific and technical merit of the proposed project through expanded inclusivity.
For more information, please view the RFA. The next application deadline is November 23, 2021.