The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is offering a funding opportunity titled "New Approaches for Measuring Brain Changes Across Longer Timespans (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)" aimed at supporting exploratory research into brain activity and changes throughout the lifespan. This grant encourages multidisciplinary teams to develop innovative methodologies for studying neurodevelopmental and aging processes, with a focus on enhancing our understanding of brain health and disease prediction through longitudinal measures. Eligible applicants include a wide range of institutions, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges, and various community-based organizations, with applications due by May 7, 2027. For further inquiries, interested parties can contact NIH Grants Information at grantsinfo@nih.gov or visit the opportunity's webpage at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-24-161.html.

PAR-24-161-Full-Announcement.html

PAR-24-161.html

The Department of Health and Human Services, specifically through NIH's National Institute on Aging, NICHD, and NCI, is offering a funding opportunity titled "New Approaches for Measuring Brain Changes Across Longer Timespans" to support exploratory research. The aim is to foster multidisciplinary teams in developing innovative methods for studying brain activity and changes throughout the lifespan, focusing on neurodevelopmental and aging processes. The R21 Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant will provide substantial funding, encouraging high-risk, high-reward projects that may not yet have extensive preliminary data. 

Applicants must include at least two timepoints in their research, ensuring the inclusion of diverse perspectives in their methodology as mandated by the Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP). Key eligibility criteria include various institution types, and submissions are made through Grants.gov. Applications can propose clinical trials, and funding is contingent on the appropriateness of submissions and available funding. The overall goals involve enhancing our understanding of brain health, disease prediction, and the integration of new tools and technologies to enhance longitudinal brain measures.

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-24-161.html

The purpose of this funding opportunity is to encourage multidisciplinary investigators to submit applications developing exploratory, highly novel new approaches, or innovative applications of existing approaches to measure brain activity, connectivity, genomics, or other aspects across the age spectrum of neurodevelopment. The overarching goal is to extend our understanding of brain development and aging, including studies of the neurodevelopmental origins of later health and disease, by improving repeated measures across longer epochs of the lifespan to better predict outcomes at later ages. . Research can include healthy human participants of any age, specific clinical groups such those with cognitive, motor, or affective regulation challenges, and/or animal research on these domains of function. The studies can focus on longitudinal neuroanatomical or functional changes at any level, including genetics/genomics, single cells, connectomics, neural population activity patterns, and others. This funding opportunity is intended to encourage technological and conceptual innovation through this high risk, high reward funding mechanism to develop highly innovative ideas that either lack preliminary data or need additional preliminary data

See Section VII. Agency Contacts within the full opportunity announcement for all other inquires.

NIH Grants Information&lt;br/&gt;grantsinfo@nih.gov

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