Atom | BRAIN Initiative: Production and distribution facilities for brain cell type-specific access reagents (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

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.

Due Dates

Letter of Intent:
- October 1, 2025 (for October 31, 2025 application)
- June 1, 2026 (for July 1, 2026 application)
New Applications: October 31, 2025
Renewal/Resubmission/Revision Applications: July 1, 2026
Expiration Date: July 2, 2026

All applications are due by 5:00 PM local time of the applicant organization.

Funding Amount

Total Funds Available: ~$2,400,000 per year (across all awards)
Number of Awards: 2–4 anticipated
Award Budget: No specific budget cap; budgets must be justified and reflect actual project needs
Project Period: Up to 5 years

Applicants should budget for:

Product development, characterization, and testing to maintain a minimal inventory of reagents
Project management and website/catalogue development/maintenance
Attendance at annual consortium meetings

Note: Costs for large-scale reagent production and shipping are to be recovered from research users, not included in the application budget.

Eligibility

Eligible organizations include:

Public and private institutions of higher education (US-based)
Nonprofits (with or without 501(c)(3) status)
For-profit organizations (including small businesses)
State, county, city, township, and special district governments
Independent school districts
Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities
Native American tribal governments and organizations (federally recognized and other)
Faith-based and community-based organizations
Regional organizations
U.S. territories and possessions
Eligible federal agencies

Not eligible: Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations. However, foreign components (as defined by NIH) are allowed.

Individuals: Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as PD(s)/PI(s) may apply.

Application Process

Letter of Intent: Strongly encouraged, but not required. Should include project title, PI(s), key personnel, institutions, and the funding opportunity number/title. Email to nimhpeerreview@mail.nih.gov.
Submission: Applications must be submitted electronically via ASSIST, Grants.gov Workspace, or an institutional system-to-system solution.
Required Registrations: SAM, eRA Commons, Grants.gov (may take 6+ weeks).
Application Format: Follow the NIH SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the specific instructions in the funding announcement.
Key Application Elements:
- Address all four required facility functions:
  1. Interface with Armamentarium RRDD projects
  2. Scaled-up production of validated reagents
  3. Broad dissemination to neuroscience researchers
  4. Coordination of reagent data and metadata distribution
- Include annual milestones and a detailed timeline
- Provide a resource sharing plan and a data management and sharing plan
- Letters of support from potential users are encouraged (up to 5)
- Budget justification for all requested costs

Non-responsive applications (not reviewed): Those that do not address all four required functions or lack milestones/timeline.

Additional Information

Scope: Only facilities producing and distributing reagents designed/validated under BRAIN Initiative Armamentarium RRDD projects are eligible.
Consortium Participation: Awardees will join the Armamentarium Consortium, collaborating with other funded projects and NIH staff.
Data Sharing: Strong expectations for timely data and resource sharing, including deposition in BRAIN Initiative data archives and the NIMH Data Archive (NDA).
No Clinical Trials: Applications proposing clinical trials are not allowed.
Program Income: Applicants should describe plans for cost recovery from reagent users.

External Links

Contact Information

Contact Type	Name/Title	Email	Phone
Scientific/Research Contact	Douglas S. Kim, Ph.D.	douglas.kim@nih.gov	301-827-6463
Peer Review Contact	Nicholas Gaiano, Ph.D.	nick.gaiano@nih.gov	301-827-3420
Grants Management Contact	Heather Weiss	weissh@mail.nih.gov	301-443-4415
General Grants Info	NIH Grants Information	GrantsInfo@nih.gov	301-480-7075
Application Support	eRA Service Desk	Online Help	301-402-7469 or 866-504-9552

For additional details, see the full agency contacts section.