NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award for Individual and Group Science (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of the Director, announces the NIH Director's Transformative Research Award (Funding Opportunity Number: RFA-RM-27-003). As part of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program funded through the NIH Common Fund, this initiative supports individual scientists or collaborative teams proposing exceptionally innovative, unconventional, and groundbreaking biomedical research. Eligible projects must demonstrate the potential to create new scientific paradigms, establish novel clinical approaches, or develop transformative technologies across basic, translational, or clinical research. Unlike conventional research grants, applications are evaluated primarily on the significance of the research, its transformative potential, and the logic of the approach rather than on preliminary data or detailed experimental plans. Applications may request budgets commensurate with the scope of the proposed work for a project period of up to five years. The NIH intends to commit approximately $8 million in FY 2027 to fund around seven awards. Eligible applicants include domestic higher education institutions, nonprofits, for-profit organizations, and government entities. Foreign organizations and domestic applications involving foreign subawards or subcontracts are ineligible. Applications must be submitted electronically, with a single due date of September 3, 2026. Reviewers will utilize a unique three-phase peer review process to assess the overall impact, focusing on the importance of the research, rigor and feasibility, and investigator expertise and resources. Successful recipients must comply with standard NIH policies, data management sharing plans, and updated federal cybersecurity requirements.