Bioengineering Research Grants

Guidelines for NINDS Participation in the Bioengineering Research Program Announcements
http://www.nibib.nih.gov/Funding/Bioengineering:

NINDS accepts applications for Exploratory/Developmental Bioengineering Research Grants (EBRG), Bioengineering Research Grants (BRG), and Bioengineering Research Partnerships (BRP) that address technology development specific to the NINDS mission of basic and translational research to reduce the burden of neurological diseases. These NIBIB-sponsored announcements are part of several programs at NINDS for neural engineering (see page below).

• Exploratory/Developmental Bioengineering Research Grants (EBRG) – R21
  http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-12-284.html
  
  
• Bioengineering Research Grants (BRG) – R01
  http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-10-009.html
  
  
• Bioengineering Research Partnerships (BRP) – R01
  http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-10-234.html
  

Areas of Interest:

NINDS will entertain bioengineering applications if they focus on technology development relevant to normal or disordered neural function and to the prevention, repair or replacement of compromised neural function. The EBRG, BRG and BRP represent a continuum of project scale, feasibility and applicability from small, exploratory proposals to large, translational partnerships. The EBRG mechanism should be used to explore pilot projects to address feasibility for a subsequent BRP application. The BRG mechanism is preferred for combining focused research groups to test investigative hypotheses about basic technology development and early-/mid-stage refinement of technology performance. Innovative combinations of disciplines, techniques, and newly collaborating research groups are encouraged. BRP applications should bring together more expansive partnerships among investigative, biomedical and bioengineering disciplines to achieve well-defined goals or deliverables. For example, partnerships might span academic entities (biological, bioengineering, biomedical groups), device industries, commercial distribution companies, medical instrument concerns, small business companies, etc. to accomplish translation of well-developed technology to applied feasibility or commercialization. Final stages of translation for FDA investigational device exemption (IDE) and early-stage clinical trials might be a candidate for one of the NINDS U01/U44 cooperative agreement programs (see below).

Budget Guidelines:

Applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss their research and application plans with an appropriate Program Director (see below) prior to submission. Applications with budgets exceeding $500,000 in any fiscal year must be pre-approved for acceptance by review of the NINDS Extramural Science Committee (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/funding/ninds_funding_strategy.htm#policy_5). Inquires should be made at least 6 weeks prior to application deadlines. Applications with budgets exceeding $1,000,000 in any fiscal year must be rigorously justified and pre-approved for acceptance by review of the NINDS Council (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/funding/ninds_funding_strategy.htm# policy). Inquires should be made at least 3 months prior to application deadlines.

Other NINDS Neural Technology Programs:

Other NINDS programs relevant to translational technology development (excluding drug development) include:

• Advanced Neural Prosthetics Research and Development Cooperative Agreements (U01/U44) (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-12-053.html, http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-12-054.html), which is part of the Neural Interfaces Program (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/research/npp/index.htm) that support translational and early clinical development of neural prosthetic devices. NINDS Contact: Kip Ludwig, Ph.D.
• Small Business Grant Programs (SBIR/STTR) (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/funding/small-business/index.htm) is a program to support research and development at small business entities, including neural engineering research and technology development. NINDS Contact: Stephanie Fertig, M.B.A.
• Translational Research Cooperative Agreement Programs (U01/U44) (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/research/translational/Coop_Tran_Res.htm) includes support for preclinical development of therapeutic devices ending with IDE submission. NINDS Contact: Linda McGavern, Ph.D.
• The Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats (CounterACT) Program (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/research/counterterrorism/
  counterACT_home.htm) supports research aimed at the discovery and/or identification of better therapeutic and diagnostic medical countermeasures against chemical threat agents. NINDS Contact: David Jett, Ph.D.
• Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS) (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-NS-11-006.html) is a joint initiative among four National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorates and seven participating National Institutes of Health (NIH) Institutes that focuses on integrating computational models and methods with experimental neuroscience. NINDS Contact: Yuan Liu, Ph.D.

NINDS Program Contact

Inquiries about the Bioengineering family of grants (EBRG, BRG, BRP) and other technology development or quantitatively focused grants at NINDS can be directed to the Program Directors listed to the right. Referrals will be made among the Division of Extramural Research clusters and offices of Program Directors as appropriate.

Program Contact for the Bioengineering Research Program Announcements

Kip Ludwig, Ph.D.
Program Director
Neural Engineering
NIH/NINDS
Neuroscience Center, Room  2209
6001 Executive Blvd MSC 9525
Bethesda, MD 20892
Kip.Ludwig@nih.gov