The NIH BRAIN Initiative’s “Scaled Reagent Resources for Brain Cell Type-Specific Access Across Vertebrate Species” funding opportunity seeks to advance the development of molecular and genetic tools for neuroscientific research. With a strong focus on creating scalable, validated, and catalogued resources, this grant supports the engineering of reagents that enable precise access to specific brain cell types across various vertebrate species, including potential applications in human ex vivo tissues. The initiative emphasizes collaboration among technologists, neuroscientists, and dissemination specialists to produce reagents compatible with various models, aiming to facilitate the study of brain function and dysfunction at the cellular and circuit levels. The project includes contributions from several NIH institutes, emphasizing its multidisciplinary impact and alignment with the BRAIN Initiative’s mission to enhance neurotechnology and understand complex brain circuits.

Funding supports Reagent Resources for Design and Development (RRDD) projects, which will engage in creating scalable pipelines for cell type-specific reagent engineering, testing for specificity and efficacy, organizing data into accessible catalogues, and adapting resources for easy dissemination. The Armamentarium Consortium, a collaborative network of funded research teams, will ensure cohesive technology sharing, advancement of reagent utility, and adherence to the initiative’s standards for inclusivity and diverse perspectives. Each project must present a Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP), demonstrating inclusivity in research team composition, methodologies, and project outcomes, which will be a key factor in the peer review and funding decision processes.

With an estimated $14 million annual budget, the grant aims to fund four to six awards over a maximum project period of five years. Budgets should accurately reflect project needs without specific funding limits. Project activities include developing a wide range of reagents, such as viral vectors, gene-editing tools, and RNA-based reagents, all of which must meet specific engineering, validation, cataloguing, and dissemination criteria. Reagents should be specific, reproducible, low-toxicity, and versatile for diverse payload delivery, providing significant benefits to neuroscience research and potential therapeutic development.

Eligible applicants include higher education institutions, nonprofit organizations, for-profit businesses, government entities, and foreign organizations. Applicants must comply with standard NIH application requirements, including active registrations with SAM, eRA Commons, and Grants.gov, as well as adherence to NIH’s data sharing policies and common data element standards where applicable. Additionally, projects must include a resource-sharing plan to ensure broad reagent accessibility post-award, aligning with the initiative’s goal of widespread dissemination and use across the neuroscience community.

Applications are due by 5:00 PM local time of the applicant’s organization, with the first due date on June 14, 2024, for the November 2024 review and an earliest start date of April 2025. A subsequent deadline on January 17, 2025, is set for the July 2025 review, with an earliest start date of December 2025. Applicants are advised to submit letters of intent 30 days prior to these deadlines and are encouraged to contact NIH for guidance on proposal alignment with program goals and objectives.

Evaluation will focus on the potential impact on neuroscience, the diversity and inclusivity of research perspectives, and the technical innovation of proposed methodologies. Milestones and timelines are mandatory, detailing engineering, validation, cataloguing, and dissemination stages. All applications will be reviewed by a peer group and must demonstrate adherence to the NIH’s high standards for scientific rigor and innovation in support of the BRAIN Initiative’s objectives to foster transformative advancements in neurotechnology and brain research.