Sponsor Deadline
Posted: 5/13/2024

BRAIN Initiative: Exploratory Team-Research BRAIN Circuit Programs - eTeamBCP (U01 Clinical Trials Optional)

This notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) is designed to support teams of three or more (up to six) PDs/PIs that seek to cross boundaries of interdisciplinary collaboration to elucidate the contributions of dynamic circuit activity to a specific behavioral or neural system. Applications are encouraged to propose adventurous and challenging goals that can only be tackled by a synergistic team-based approach and have the potential to be transformative and/or to enable significant advances. These studies at the exploratory stage are intended for the development of experimental capabilities and/or theoretical frameworks in preparation for a future competition for larger-scale or extended efforts, including the BRAIN TargetedBCP (R01) or the multi-component, Team-Research BRAIN Circuit Programs (U19).

The overall goal of this NOFO is to enable a large-scale analysis of neural systems and circuits within the context and during the simultaneous measurement of an ethologically relevant behavior. Toward this end, teams are expected to assemble and leverage multi-disciplinary expertise, and to integrate experimental with computational and theoretical approaches. Teams are expected to bridge fields by incorporating rich information on cell-types, on circuit functionality and connectivity, in conjunction with sophisticated analyses of an ethologically relevant behavior of an organism or a well-defined neural system. Teams are also expected to aim for a mechanistic understanding of the circuits of the central nervous system (CNS) by applying cutting-edge methods such as those for large-scale recording, manipulation, and analysis of neural circuits across multiple regions of the CNS.

Deadlines:

  • Letter of Intent Due Date(s): 30 days prior to the application due date
  • Application Due Date(s):  June 15, 2023; 

​RFA-NS-23-025 Expiration Date New Date May 7, 2024 (Original Date: June 15, 2024) per issuance of NOT-NS-24-087

Eligibility Requirements

The application is required to be submitted as a multiple PD/PI application, with 3-6 PDs/PIs. Visit the multiple PD/PI Policy and submission details in the Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Component of the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide, and the Grant Policy Statement on Multiple Principal Investigators. Minimum allowed efforts by the PDs/PIs are described in the R&R Budget instructions in Part 2. Section IV.2.

Amount Description

NIH BRAIN Initiative intends to commit up to $12M per fiscal year to fund around 5 awards.