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

National Institutes of HealthUp to $700,000Due Feb 11, 2027

Researchers Schools & universities Large award Narrow eligibility

Deadline: Feb 11, 2027
Posted: May 4, 2026
Award amount: Up to $700,000
Focus areas: Health

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In plain English

An NIH BRAIN Initiative R61 funding exploratory human neuroscience using invasive neural recording and stimulation during surgical procedures. Foreign organizations and foreign components are not eligible; the work requires multidisciplinary teams with access to neurosurgical settings. Awards reach up to about $700,000, and clinical trials are not allowed. This is a highly specialized research award for institutions with relevant clinical/research capacity, not for general nonprofits, small businesses, or individuals.

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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.

About this grant

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.

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