BRAIN Initiative: Integration and Analysis of BRAIN Initiative Data (R24) | RFA MH 17 257

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA MH 17 257

The BRAIN Initiative: Integration and Analysis of BRAIN Initiative Data (R24) grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number RFA-MH-17-257) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) discretionary grant that supports the development of informatics resources aimed at making neuroscience data more useful, connected, and understandable. The core purpose of the announcement is to fund projects that create or improve tools and platforms for analyzing, visualizing, and integrating large, complex datasets generated through the BRAIN Initiative or other research efforts that advance understanding of the brain. In practice, this means NIH is looking for proposals that help researchers combine disparate data types, work across multiple studies, and extract insights from data at scale, especially when the data are difficult to interpret without advanced computational approaches.

A central focus of the FOA is informatics tool-building, rather than generating new biological data. Competitive projects would typically concentrate on software, workflows, databases, standards, or web-based platforms that allow scientists to explore and analyze brain-related datasets more effectively. This can include tools that support data harmonization and interoperability (so datasets collected in different labs or using different technologies can be compared), visualization approaches that make high-dimensional brain data interpretable, and analytic pipelines that help researchers perform reproducible analyses. The emphasis on integration reflects a broader need in modern neuroscience: valuable insights often emerge when molecular, cellular, circuit, imaging, physiological, and behavioral data can be linked and jointly analyzed rather than remaining siloed.

The mechanism listed is an R24, which NIH commonly uses for resource-related projects and infrastructure that serve a broader scientific community. While the specific award ceiling and number of expected awards are not provided in the posted summary, the intent is to support community-facing tools that can be adopted by many researchers and that measurably improve the ability to use BRAIN-related data. Applicants generally need to frame their work as enabling infrastructure: something that will persist, be maintained, and provide clear utility beyond a single lab or one-off research project.

Eligibility is broad and includes many organization types across government, academia, nonprofit, and private sectors. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; and Native American tribal organizations that are not federally recognized tribal governments. The FOA also allows applications from public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education), for-profit organizations other than small businesses, and small businesses. In addition to those categories, the announcement explicitly highlights other eligible applicants such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions; Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI); Hispanic-serving Institutions; Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs); faith-based or community-based organizations; eligible federal agencies; regional organizations; U.S. territories or possessions; and even non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations). This wide eligibility signals an interest in attracting strong informatics and data-science capabilities wherever they exist, including organizations that may bring specialized computational expertise, unique community engagement models, or access to particular user populations.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity was created on 2016-09-21, with an original closing date of 2017-10-26. It is associated with multiple CFDA numbers (93.173, 93.213, 93.242, 93.273, 93.279, 93.286, 93.853, 93.865, 93.866, 93.867), which reflects the NIH’s multi-institute participation and the cross-cutting nature of BRAIN data infrastructure needs. Overall, the grant is best understood as support for building and improving the computational and informatics backbone that helps the neuroscience community turn rapidly growing brain datasets into integrated knowledge, by delivering tools that make those data easier to find, combine, visualize, analyze, and reuse.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BRAIN Initiative: Integration and Analysis of BRAIN Initiative Data (R24)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.173, 93.213, 93.242, 93.273, 93.279, 93.286, 93.853, 93.865, 93.866, 93.867.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-09-21.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-10-26. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA MH 17 257

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: