BRAIN Initiative Update: NIH Releases New Funding Opportunities

December 17, 2013–In April, President Obama launched the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative to accelerate the development and application of innovative new technologies. These technologies will enable researchers to generate a detailed map of brain activity that integrates both spatial and temporal information about cells and circuits.

To develop the scientific and technological agenda for this bold effort at NIH, the NIH Director established a working group of the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD). This group has been asked to develop a plan by the summer of 2014. As a first step, the working group issued an interim report identifying high priority investments for FY 2014 on September 16. These findings were subsequently endorsed by both the ACD and the NIH Director.

In response to this report, NIH has developed six funding announcements for a total of $40 million in FY14. Collectively, these opportunities focus on advancing our technological capabilities for understanding how circuits of interacting neurons function to create behavior, with the ultimate goal of improving our scientific foundation for the diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders. NIH is excited to announce the release of these opportunities today and encourages you to circulate these announcements broadly.

To read more about the BRAIN Initiative and to access these announcements, please visithttp://www.nih.gov/science/brain/.