Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates: October 15, 2026 (All application types) | May 25, 2027 (All application types) | May 25, 2028 (All application types)
Funding Amounts: Up to $2 million in direct costs per year for up to 5 years
Summary: Supports multidisciplinary neuroscience centers addressing high-risk, high-impact questions about brain function, mental illness, and developmental psychopathology.
Key Information: Projects must require the Center mechanism and could not be achieved through standard grant mechanisms.
Description
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) supports Silvio O. Conte Centers through the P50 Specialized Center mechanism. Centers bring together integrative, multidisciplinary teams to address a unified scientific question using novel experimental approaches and multiple levels of analysis. Goals include uncovering basic brain and behavioral mechanisms, translating neuroscience findings to severe mental illnesses, and understanding developmental trajectories of psychopathology.
Research may span genes, cells, synapses, circuits, and behavior in model systems or humans across the lifespan. Applications need not combine basic and translational research. Discovery-focused work and technology development supporting the central question are welcome, but technology development cannot be the Center’s primary focus. Centers are expected to provide interdisciplinary student and postdoctoral research experiences and share data, methods, and resources broadly.
