BRAIN Initiative: Research Opportunities Using Invasive Neural Recording and Stimulating Technologies in the Human Brain (U01 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)
This grant will fund collaborative research using invasive neural recording and stimulation in humans to investigate fundamental questions about brain function and behavior.
Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates: February 8, 2029 (Application closing date)
Funding Amounts: $8,000,000 estimated total program funding; 5 expected awards; no cost sharing or matching required
Summary: Supports transformative, mechanistic research using invasive recording or stimulation to understand how human brain activity produces experiences and behaviors.
Key Information: Clinical trials are not allowed; funded investigators must join an NIH-coordinated consortium working group.
Description
The NIH BRAIN Initiative supports transformative, mechanistic research into how the human brain functions. Studies should reveal how dynamic activity in individual neurons and neuronal ensembles within spatially organized networks produces sensations, perceptions, emotions, thoughts, memories, and observable motor and social behaviors. Proposed research is expected to leverage direct access to the human brain through invasive surgical procedures, such as intracranial recording or stimulation.
Projects should use rigorous, innovative approaches guided by specified theoretical constructs or quantitative, mechanistic models, with transformative outcomes expected by the end of funding. Complementary experimental models or systems are encouraged when they provide knowledge, techniques, or resources unavailable in human neuroscience research, strengthening mechanistic understanding across species and biological scales.
