NIH issues new funding opportunity to establish Data Coordination and Artificial Intelligence Center for the BRAIN Initiative

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will support a single award to a multidisciplinary team to create the Data Coordination and Artificial Intelligence Center (DCAIC). DCAIC will act as a data management and sharing hub for Brain Behavior Quantification and Synchronization (BBQS) supported projects.  

One of the NIH BRAIN Initiative's goals is to understand “the brain in action” by developing tools to analyze different behavior types. Currently, instruments for measuring behavior in humans and other species lack the necessary precision and resolution to fully capture behavioral dynamics synchronously with data from the environment with which the organism interacts and which shapes the behavior under study. The BRAIN Initiative Brain Behavior Quantification and Synchronization (BBQS) has created various funding opportunities (e.g., RFA-MH-22-240 and RFA-DA-23-030) to address this gap and help accelerate the discovery of brain-behavior relationships in health and disease.

However, the BBQS research program is characterized by certain features and challenges that need to be addressed by creating a multi-component, cross-discipline Data Coordination and Artificial Intelligence Center (DCAIC). This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) RFA-MH-23-130 will support a multidisciplinary team with a single or multiple Principal Investigators (PIs), tasked to create the DCAIC. DCAIC will oversee activities in five interrelated categories: 

1. Data Management 

2. Data Standards 

3. Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) Resources 

4. Data Ecosystem 

5. Dissemination, Training, and Coordination 

The DCAIC is expected to support, communicate, coordinate, and collaborate with the other BBQS projects on each category of research activities. The Program Director(s) and PI(s) of the DCAIC must be experienced in coordinating and managing multiple projects. 

This funding opportunity requires a Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP) as part of the application. Therefore, applicants must read the funding opportunity instructions carefully and view the available PEDP guidance material. 

Participants can submit their applications starting on June 14, 2023. The next application deadline is July 14, 2023. For more information, please view the full funding opportunity (RFA-MH-23-130).