NIH announces pilot grant programme for innovative neurological research

“NINDS created this pilot programme to improve the value of the research it funds by enabling proven investigators to pursue long-range, innovative research instead of continually writing and submitting grant applications,” said Walter Koroshetz, M.D., the NINDS director.

Traditionally, the R01 Research Project Grant has been the primary source of NIH funding for laboratories. However, R01 awards provide support for up to five years for a specific set of experiments, and multiple R01s are often necessary to fund a laboratory’s body of work. The RPA, which uses the R35 award mechanism differs in that it enhances funding stability by providing longer, consolidated support for a grantee’s overall research program, rather than for individual projects.

The RPA will support the entirety of an investigator’s program of NINDS mission-related research. The grantee’s current NINDS funding will be consolidated into the RPA and extended over a longer period. During the fifth year of the award, progress will be reviewed to ensure that the research program is staying on course. NINDS anticipates that most RPA awardees will be given the option to continue receiving funding for three additional years.

Applications for the R35 RPA were reviewed according to NIH peer review standards, which include an assessment of investigators’ track records and the significance and relevance of their proposed research programs. The 30 awardees include principal investigators at a variety of career stages and a range of topics that include the use of models such as fruit flies and yeast to better understand neurodegenerative disease; how the human brain forms and grows during development; the molecular and cellular changes that give rise to memory; whole-genome studies to determine how to promote neural repair; mechanisms of pain; and diseases of the brain.  

“Our goal with the R35 Research Program Award is to fund the research of both well-established investigators who already have multiple grants, as well as earlier stage researchers with single R01s and a track record of significant impact in their field of study,” said Dr. Robert Finkelstein, Ph.D., director of the Division of Extramural Activities, NINDS, “These grants are aimed at enabling them to focus their creativity and time on performing groundbreaking research.”

The first 30 recipients of the NINDS R35 Research Program Award are: Katerina Akassoglou, Ph.D., J. David Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, Neurovascular interactions: mechanisms, imaging, therapeutic potential; Allan I. Basbaum, Ph.D.. University of California, San Francisco, From the spinal cord to the brain: Neurology of the pain and itch neurons; Greg J. Bashaw, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Molecular mechanisms of axon guidance receptor regulation and signaling; Nancy M. Bonini, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Molecular genetic insight into neurodegenerative disease from drosophila; Manuel A. Castro-Alamancos, Ph.D., Drexel University, Philadelphia, Sensory pathways for stimulus detection during behavior; Edwin R. Chapman, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, Structure and dynamics of exocytotic fusion pores; Robert B. Darnell, M.D., Ph.D., Rockefeller University, New York City, Combining new molecular and informatic strategies to find hidden ways to treat brain disease; Graeme W. Davis, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, Homeostatic stabilization of neural function in health and disease; Ronald L. Davis, Ph.D., Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, Biology of memory; Donna M. Ferriero, M.D., University of California, San Francisco; Precision therapy for neonatal brain injury; David D. Ginty, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Elucidating cutaneous mechanosensory circuits, from development to disease; Aaron D. Gitler, Ph.D., Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, Innovating yeast and human genetics approaches to define mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease; David H. Gutmann, M.D., Ph.D., Washington University, St. Louis, Defining the mechanistic basis for Neurofibromatosis-1 nervous system disease heterogeneity; Yuh-Nung Jan, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, Dendrite morphogenesis, function and regeneration; David Kleinfeld, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, Resilient versus fragile aspects of blood flow in the mammalian brain; Arnold Kriegstein, M.D., Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, Development and expansion of the human cerebral cortex; Seok-Yong Lee, Ph.D., Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, Structure, function, and pharmacology of neuronal membrane transport proteins; Eve E. Marder, Ph.D., Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, Neuromodulation and robustness of neurons and networks; David A. McCormick, Ph.D.. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, Cortical dynamics and neural/behavioral performance; Guo-Li Ming, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Functional roles of genetic risk factors for brain disorders in neurogenesis and neurodevelopment.

Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, Expanding insights into FTD disease mechanisms; Rosa Rademakers, Ph.D.
Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, Genetic discovery and pathobiology of frontotemporal lobar degeneration and related TDP-43 proteinopathies; Wade G. Regehr, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mechanisms and Functions of Synapses and Circuits; Jose Rizo-Rey, Ph.D., UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Mechanisms of neurotransmitter release and its regulation; Stephen M. Strittmatter, M.D., Ph.D., Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, Genome-wide discovery and translational research for neural repair; J. Paul Taylor, M.D., Ph.D., St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, Dynamic RNA-protein assemblies and neurological disease; Sally Temple, Ph.D., Regenerative Research Foundation, Rensselaer, New York, Defining characteristics of cortical progenitor cells over time in mouse and human; Bruce D. Trapp, Ph.D., Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, Pathogenesis of neurological disability in primary diseases of myelin; Charles J. Wilson, Ph.D., University of Texas, San Antonio, Oscillations and resonance in basal ganglia circuits; and Paul F. Worley, M.D., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, De novo synthesis and memory; 

NINDS is the nation’s leading funder of research on the brain and nervous system. The mission of NINDS is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease.

 NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the US Department of Health and Human Services. 

Nih announces pilot, grant programme, innovative neurological research