Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates: February 8, 2027 (Applications) | February 8, 2028 (Applications) | February 8, 2029 (Final applications)
Funding Amounts: $8 million estimated program funding; most awards anticipated not to exceed $1 million direct costs; up to 5 years
Summary: Supports transformative, mechanistic research on human brain function using intracranial recording, with or without stimulation.
Key Information: Clinical trials are not allowed; every PD/PI must commit at least 2.4 person-months throughout the award.
Description
The NIH BRAIN Initiative supports transformative investigations of how individual neurons and neuronal ensembles within brain networks produce sensations, perceptions, emotions, thoughts, memories, and motor or social behaviors. Research must leverage direct access to the human brain during invasive surgical procedures and use specified theoretical frameworks and/or quantitative, mechanistic models. Complementary experimental systems and animal studies are encouraged when they strengthen understanding of fundamental human brain function.
Projects should deliver transformative outcomes by the end of funding, such as challenging established paradigms or generating innovative principles and models. Supported approaches include intracranial recordings combined with behavioral assays, non-invasive measurements, or other modalities, and investigations of sensory processing, cognition, memory, emotion, and distributed circuits. The program emphasizes interdisciplinary teams and fundamental neuroscience rather than disease mechanisms, therapeutic development, or regulatory approval.
