ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS · GRANT
BRAIN Initiative: Exploratory Research Opportunities Using Invasive Neural Recording and Stimulating Technologies in the Human Brain (R61 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
- Deadline
- Feb 11, 2027 (110 days left)
- Who can apply
- Others
- Award range
- Up to $700,000
- Expected awards
- 5
- Total program funding
- $6.0 million
- Your own money required
- No cost sharing or matching required
- Opportunity number
- RFA-DC-27-004
- Posted
- May 4, 2026
- Assistance listing
- 93.867
More on 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.
What it funds
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.
Open the official notice on Grants.gov ↗What to do next
- Open the official notice on Grants.gov and download the full announcement (the NOFO) and any attachments.
- Check you can apply: the eligible applicants above, and any detail in the notice's eligibility section.
- Register your organization in SAM.gov (choose "all awards") and create a Grants.gov account; allow several weeks the first time.
- Apply through Grants.gov exactly as the notice says, before Feb 11, 2027. Late applications are usually not accepted.
New to this? Applying for a federal grant, step by step · Register to apply · How to read the notice · Write the narrative · Build the budget · Agency contact: BRAINeROH@ninds.nih.gov
From Grants.gov's official daily extract of Oct 25, 2026. The notice on Grants.gov and its attachments are what count. UX Contract is independent and not a government website.