BRAIN Initiative Research Grants

New Technologies and Novel Approaches for Recording and Modulation in the Nervous System

Funds research projects on new neurotechnology methods for neural recording and modulation.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

RFA-NS-25-018, issued under the NIH BRAIN Initiative with NINDS as lead Institute, funds R01 investigator-initiated research grants to develop new technologies and novel approaches for recording and modulating neural activity in the nervous system. This NOFO represents the core technology-development track of the BRAIN Initiative, targeting innovations such as new electrode materials, wireless neural interfaces, closed-loop stimulation systems, or photonic approaches to large-scale neural recording. The R01 mechanism supports hypothesis-driven projects that typically run three to five years and require demonstrated preliminary data establishing feasibility of the proposed approach.

Eligible applicants are U.S. universities and non-profit research organizations; for-profit entities and individual investigators may not apply as primary recipients. The grant deadline falls on June 16, 2026, and registration and operations must be within the United States. Specific award amounts are not listed in the structured record, but BRAIN Initiative R01 technology grants in this track commonly support budgets in the mid-six figures annually, with total project costs depending on the scope of the proposed engineering and validation work.

To be competitive, applicants should propose a technology that represents a step-change advance over current tools—not an incremental improvement—and must articulate a rigorous validation plan in a relevant experimental model. NINDS review panels will assess scientific innovation, the technical rigor of the proposed experiments, the feasibility of the timeline, and the qualifications of the research team. Applications that situate the proposed technology within the broader BRAIN Initiative roadmap and identify downstream neuroscience questions that the tool will enable are strongest.