NIMH Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists (BRAINS)

Grants to USA early-career researchers affiliated with nonprofits, for-profits, IHEs, government agencies, Tribal governments, and school districts to support research related to mental illness. Applicants are advised that required registrations may take six weeks or more.
The NIMH Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists (BRAINS) award is intended to support the research and research career advancement of outstanding, exceptionally productive scientists who are in the early, formative stages of their careers and who plan to make a long-term career commitment to research in specific mission areas of the NIMH. This award seeks to assist these individuals in launching an innovative clinical, translational, basic, or services research program that holds the potential to profoundly transform the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of mental disorders. The NIMH BRAINS program will focus on the research priorities and gap areas identified in the NIMH Strategic Plan.Research ObjectivesThe mission of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for recovery, prevention, and cure. An essential element of this mission is the support and career promotion of the future generation of exceptionally talented and creative new scientists who will transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses and enable the NIMH to fulfill its vision of a world in which mental illnesses are prevented and cured. The NIMH supports a number of training and fellowship programs for pre- and postdoctoral training, as well as mentored career development awards for faculty in the early stages of their career. However, even with these career development mechanisms in place, to fulfill its mission of assuring a cadre of productive, highly innovative mental health investigators for the future, the NIMH needs to support additional programs to identify and inspire the best new investigators and facilitate their establishing high impact, independent research programs in areas relevant to the mission of the NIMH. This award is intended to provide support for highly promising early stage investigators who may lack the preliminary data required for a traditional R01 and allow them to pursue their most innovative, creative, and potentially most impactful ideas at an earlier stage in their career.For Research Scope and Goals, see the URL for Full Text below.