Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates: November 16, 2026 (Resubmission) | February 16, 2027 (New) | March 16, 2027 (Resubmission) | June 16, 2027 (New) | July 16, 2027 (Resubmission) | October 16, 2027 (New) | November 16, 2027 (Resubmission) | January 7, 2028 (Closing date)
Funding Amounts: $200,000 award ceiling listed on Grants.gov; NIH specifies up to $275,000 direct costs over two years, capped at $200,000 annually
Summary: Supports exploratory research developing animal models, related biological materials, technologies, and complementary methodologies for human health research.
Key Information: Projects must include animal models, address multiple NIH Institutes or Centers, and explore multiple body systems or disease categories.
Description
The NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) offers this R21 exploratory/developmental research opportunity to develop, improve, characterize, and preserve animal models and related biological materials, technologies, and new approach methodologies (NAMs). It also supports diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of animal diseases that interfere with biomedical research. The aim is to improve the predictability, rigor, reproducibility, and translatability of preclinical studies.
Suitable work includes mammalian and non-mammalian models, animal cell and tissue systems, preservation methods, deep-phenotyping tools, and integrative informatics. NAMs may use laboratory or computational approaches to complement animal research. Projects should introduce new ideas, techniques, or experimental systems with potential impact across multiple NIH research fields. Long-term projects and incremental work in well-established areas are not appropriate for this mechanism. Clinical trials are not allowed.
