BRAIN Initiative: Secondary Analysis and Archiving of BRAIN Initiative Data (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA MH 20 120

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA MH 20 120

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity "BRAIN Initiative: Secondary Analysis and Archiving of BRAIN Initiative Data (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" (Funding Opportunity Number RFA-MH-20-120) is designed to help researchers get more scientific value out of the large and rapidly growing body of neuroscience datasets generated through the NIH BRAIN Initiative and related work. The core idea is straightforward: huge investments have already been made to generate complex, high-quality brain data across many technologies, and this FOA funds teams to re-use those existing datasets in innovative ways, rather than collecting entirely new data. It supports projects that can produce new insights about the brain by applying strong analytic approaches to data that already exist and are accessible to the broader research community.

A key feature of the opportunity is its emphasis on the diversity and scale of modern neuroscience data. The FOA explicitly points to data produced from high-throughput omics profiling, optical and electron microscopy, electrophysiological recordings, macroscale neuroimaging, neuromodulation, and other emerging modalities. Because these datasets span different spatial and temporal scales and may come from multiple species, they often require specialized computational methods to integrate, harmonize, and interpret. NIH highlights that it has also invested heavily in a supporting ecosystem of data archives, standards, and software resources that make integration, analysis, and machine learning more feasible, and this FOA is meant to capitalize on that infrastructure by pushing secondary analyses that are creative, technically rigorous, and broadly useful to the field.

The FOA supports two closely related kinds of work. First, it funds secondary analyses of relevant existing datasets using either established analytic strategies or newer computational approaches, including data science and machine learning methods. This could include reprocessing data with improved pipelines, cross-dataset comparisons, multimodal integration, development of predictive or generative models, or discovering new biological patterns that were not part of the original study aims. Second, applicants may request support to prepare and submit existing datasets into any of the BRAIN Initiative data archives. In practice, this means the FOA recognizes that the work needed to make data truly reusable, such as cleaning, curating, documenting metadata, and harmonizing formats, can be substantial and deserves dedicated effort and budget. NIH explicitly cautions applicants not to underestimate the time and labor involved in curation and harmonization, signaling that careful planning for these tasks is expected in a competitive application.

Data accessibility and sharing are central requirements. The datasets proposed for analysis do not have to already reside in a BRAIN Initiative-funded archive, but they must be housed in an archive that is readily accessible to the research community. In addition, the outputs created under the award are expected to be shared: analyzed datasets, models, and analytic tools produced through the project should be deposited into an appropriate archive. Because many BRAIN data archives use cloud-based storage and access patterns, NIH frames this as more than a compliance step; depositing derived data and tools is intended to build toward a "data sandbox" environment where different groups can compare results, reproduce analyses, and build on each other's methods with minimal friction.

Administratively, this is a discretionary NIH grant using the R01 mechanism, and clinical trials are not allowed under this announcement. It is listed under multiple CFDA numbers, reflecting NIH-wide participation across several institutes and centers (including 93.173, 93.213, 93.242, 93.273, 93.279, 93.286, 93.853, 93.865, 93.866, and 93.867). The agency is the National Institutes of Health. The posting shows an award ceiling of $300,000, and the original closing date provided is 2021-02-26 (which indicates the specific due date for that cycle as listed in the source text).

Eligibility is broad and includes many organizational types, which aligns with the BRAIN Initiative goal of maximizing participation and accelerating tool and knowledge development across the community. Eligible applicants include state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)); for-profit organizations (including those other than small businesses) and small businesses; and other entities. The FOA also explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISI institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations). This wide eligibility list reinforces that the FOA is centered on data reuse, computational analysis, and community resources, which can be carried out effectively by many different kinds of research and technical organizations.

Overall, the opportunity is aimed at advancing neuroscience by turning already-collected BRAIN-related data into new discoveries and reusable community assets. Competitive projects will not only propose compelling secondary analyses, but will also show a realistic plan for handling practical data challenges (like harmonization and documentation) and for sharing the resulting processed data, models, and tools in ways that make it easier for other researchers to reproduce, compare, and extend the work.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BRAIN Initiative: Secondary Analysis and Archiving of BRAIN Initiative Data (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.173, 93.213, 93.242, 93.273, 93.279, 93.286, 93.853, 93.865, 93.866, 93.867.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-04-10.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-02-26. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $300,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

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