Notice of Intent to Publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement for Trailblazer Award for New and Early-Stage Investigators (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, with the National Eye Institute, the National Institute on Aging, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health intend to publish a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to solicit applications for the Trailblazer Award. This is an opportunity for NIH-defined New and Early Stage Investigators (https://grants.nih.gov/policy/early-investigators/index.htm) to pursue research programs that integrate engineering and the physical sciences with the life and/or biomedical sciences. A Trailblazer project may be exploratory, developmental, proof of concept, or high-risk high-impact, and may be technology design-directed, discovery-driven, or hypothesis-driven. Applications are not being solicited at this time. Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop meaningful collaborations and responsive projects. This NOFO will utilize the R21 activity code. Investigators with expertise and insights into the application of principles and techniques from engineering and quantitative sciences, such as physics, mathematics, chemistry, and computer sciences are encouraged to begin to consider applying for this new NOFO. In addition, collaborative investigations combining expertise in trans-disciplinary research approaches with the potential to open new areas of biomedical investigation will be encouraged and these investigators should also begin considering applying for this application.