Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates (Anticipated): June 2027 (Application deadline, projected) | June 2026 (Prior application deadline, anticipated)
Funding Amounts: R21 grant; no cost sharing or matching required
Summary: Supports NIH-defined New and Early Stage Investigators integrating engineering and physical sciences with life or biomedical sciences.
Key Information: Proposed research approaches must have minimal or no preliminary data.
Description
The NIH Trailblazer Award supports NIH-defined New and Early Stage Investigators pursuing research programs that integrate engineering and the physical sciences with the life and/or biomedical sciences. The opportunity uses the R21 grant mechanism and is designated Clinical Trial Optional.
Projects may be exploratory, developmental, proof of concept, or high risk–high impact. Research may be technology design-directed, discovery-driven, or hypothesis-driven. A central requirement is that applicants propose research approaches for which there are minimal or no preliminary data, making the opportunity relevant to investigators developing approaches at an early stage rather than those supported by substantial preliminary evidence.
