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BRAIN Initiative: Exploratory Research Opportunities Using Invasive Neural Recording and Stimulating Technologies in the Human Brain (R61 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

Federal funding opportunity RFA-DC-27-004 from National Institutes of Health (Department of Health and Human Services).

Apply on Grants.gov →Application closes February 11, 2027

Posted
May 4, 2026
Closes
February 11, 2027
Award ceiling
$700,000
Program funding
$6,000,000
Expected awards
5
Cost sharing
No
Instrument
Grant
Assistance listing
93.242, 93.173, 93.286, 93.866, 93.273, 93.279, 93.865, 93.853, 93.213, 93.867
Category
Health
Archives
April 12, 2027

Program funding history

Awards made under Assistance Listing 93.242 across FY2024–FY2026, from public federal spending records.

FY2024 obligated
$1.8B
FY2025 obligated
$1.8B
FY2026 (to date) obligated
$945.1M
Awards in window
7,145

Top recipients: Yale Univ, University of Pittsburgh - of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, University of California, Los Angeles, Washington University, the

Source: USAspending.gov · refreshed July 2026

Synopsis

Invasive surgical procedures in humans offer the unique opportunity to intracranially record and stimulate neuronal activity within precisely localized brain structures, enabling high-impact human neuroscience investigations. This NOFO seeks exploratory research projects, from newly formed or established multi-disciplinary teams, to understand how dynamic activity of single cells and ensembles of neurons in spatially organized networks gives rise to the internal states we experience as sensations, perceptions, emotions, thoughts, and memories, and to observable motor and social behaviors. The research should be proposed as exploratory research and planning activities to establish feasibility and early-stage development that, if successful, would support, enable, and/or lay the groundwork for a potential, subsequent research project grant applications using invasive neural recording and stimulation technologies in the human brain. Projects should maximize opportunities to conduct innovative in vivo human neuroscience research made available by direct access to the brain from invasive surgical procedures. Projects should employ approaches guided by specified theoretical constructs and by quantitative, mechanistic models where appropriate. Recipients will join a consortium working group, coordinated by the NIH, to identify consensus standards of practice, including neuroethical considerations, to collect and provide data for ancillary studies, and to aggregate and standardize data for dissemination among the wider scientific community.

Who can apply

Refer to Section III. Eligibility Information in the NOFO for additional information on eligibility.Foreign Organizations/International Collaborations:Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations) are not eligible to apply.Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply.Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed.

How to apply

Applications go through the official government listing. Grants Radar links you straight to the source.

View on Grants.gov

Agency contact: National Institutes of Health · BRAINeROH@ninds.nih.gov · 301-402-2541

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