BRAIN Initiative: Production and distribution facilities for brain cell type-specific access reagents (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Support for production and distribution of brain cell type-specific access reagents to enable broad neuroscience research.
Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates: October 1, 2025 (Letter of Intent) | October 31, 2025 (New Applications) | June 1, 2026 (Letter of Intent) | July 1, 2026 (Renewal/Resubmission/Revision)
Funding Amounts: ~$2.4M/year total for 2–4 awards; budgets not limited but must reflect actual needs; up to 5 years/project.
Summary: Supports facilities to scale up production and distribution of brain cell type-specific access reagents for broad neuroscience research use.
Key Information: Clinical trials are not allowed; applicants must address all four required facility functions and include milestones/timeline.
Description
This opportunity, part of the NIH BRAIN Initiative Armamentarium project, funds the establishment and operation of facilities for the large-scale production and distribution of brain cell type-specific access reagents. These reagents—such as viral vectors, nucleic acid constructs, and nanoparticles—are designed to enable precise access to and manipulation of specific brain cell types in various vertebrate species, including humans (ex vivo tissue/cells). The goal is to make these tools broadly available to the neuroscience community, supporting research into neural circuit function and advancing translational neuroscience.
Funded facilities will interface with BRAIN Initiative Reagent Resource for Design and Development (RRDD) projects, scale up production of validated reagents, disseminate them to researchers, and coordinate associated data sharing. This program is intended to foster collaboration among technologists, disseminators, and neurobiologists, and to ensure that transformative tools are accessible for a wide range of experimental systems.
