Cellular and Molecular Biology of Complex Brain Disorders (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Research grant for studying the biology of risk factors in complex brain disorders to elucidate molecular and cellular impacts on neural function and advance therapeutic targets.
Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates: June 16, 2025 (New) | July 16, 2025 (Renewal/Resubmission/Revision) | October 16, 2025 (New) | November 16, 2025 (Renewal/Resubmission/Revision) | February 16, 2026 (New) | March 16, 2026 (Renewal/Resubmission/Revision) | June 16, 2026 (New) | July 16, 2026 (Renewal/Resubmission/Revision)
Funding Amounts: Up to $275,000 direct costs over 2 years; no more than $200,000 in any single year; project period max 2 years.
Summary: Supports early-stage, high-risk research on the molecular and cellular biology of risk factors for complex brain disorders, excluding clinical trials.
Key Information: Clinical trials are not allowed; applications must focus on biological mechanisms, not disease modeling or drug discovery.
Description
This opportunity from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), led by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), funds exploratory and developmental research (R21 mechanism) on the biology of high-confidence risk factors associated with complex brain disorders. The focus is on understanding intracellular, transcellular, and circuit-level substrates of neural function, with the goal of elucidating how genetic and/or environmental risk factors impact molecular and cellular processes relevant to brain disorders.
Projects may be hypothesis-generating (unbiased discovery) or hypothesis-testing, and can use in vivo, in situ, or in vitro experimental paradigms, including model organisms or human cell-based assays. Behavioral paradigms may be included to facilitate mechanistic characterization but are not required. The intent is not to model entire disorders, but to dissect the neurobiological impact of specific risk factors and their relationships within defined biological processes.
Applicants are expected to disseminate resulting data and resources in sufficient detail to enrich common or federated data resources (e.g., Gene Ontology, Synaptic Gene Ontology, FAIR Data Informatics), thereby bridging the gap between disease risk factors, biological mechanisms, and therapeutic target identification.
This R21 is intended for early-stage, high-risk, or proof-of-concept projects where little or no preliminary data exist. Projects with established feasibility or proof-of-concept should apply to the companion R01 opportunity (PAR-25-038).
Clinical trials are not allowed under this opportunity.
