Utilizing Invasive Recording and Stimulating Opportunities in Humans to Advance Neural Circuitry Understanding of Mental Health Disorders (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA MH 20 350

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA MH 20 350

This National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity (RFA-MH-20-350) supports R01 grant applications that use invasive neural recording in humans to answer questions that are directly relevant to mental health. The core idea is to take advantage of clinical situations where electrodes are already being implanted (for example, in certain neurosurgical contexts) to measure brain activity with very high spatial and temporal resolution. Compared with noninvasive tools, invasive recordings can capture fast neural dynamics and localized circuit activity that are often essential for understanding how moods, emotions, cognition, and behavior are generated and disrupted in psychiatric conditions.

A central emphasis of the announcement is the study of neural circuitry and network dynamics that underlie mental health disorders. Applicants are expected to focus on specific, well-justified scientific questions that are uniquely suited to invasive recording approaches, rather than broad exploratory data collection. The FOA frames this as addressing a major knowledge gap: despite progress in psychology, imaging, and genetics, there is still limited direct evidence in humans about how particular circuits and patterns of activity produce symptoms or maintain maladaptive states. By recording directly from the brain, studies can map how clinically meaningful processes like affective reactivity, reward processing, threat response, cognitive control, learning, and social decision-making unfold in real time and across interconnected regions.

The opportunity also highlights an important advantage of implanted electrodes: many can both record and stimulate. This creates a path to causal testing, not just correlation. In practical terms, investigators can examine whether changing neural activity in a defined circuit alters behavior, emotional experience, or task performance, and they can test hypotheses about how specific network states contribute to symptoms. The FOA’s rationale is that stimulation, when used appropriately, can help validate mechanistic models of psychiatric dysfunction by perturbing the system and observing measurable changes in neural dynamics and mental health-relevant outcomes.

At the same time, the scope is deliberately bounded. The FOA is not intended to fund the development of new devices, new invasive technologies, or the creation of therapies. The priority is basic and translational neuroscience knowledge about human neural circuit function as it pertains to mental health, with strong potential to inform future clinical advances. In other words, projects should be framed around understanding mechanisms and circuit-level principles in humans, rather than building a new tool or running a therapy-development pipeline.

The funding mechanism is an NIH R01, and clinical trials are optional, meaning a project may include a clinical trial component if it fits the scientific aims, but it is not required. The activity area is health (CFDA 93.242), and the sponsoring agency is NIH. The FOA was created on 2019-11-21, and the original closing date listed is 2021-06-10. The award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided listing, implying applicants would need to consult the full FOA text for budget expectations and any institute-specific guidance.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of organizations: state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (outside of higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); small businesses; and other entities. The FOA also explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), Hispanic-serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and even non-U.S. (foreign) organizations. Taken together, that eligibility language signals an intent to encourage diverse institutional participation and multi-site or cross-sector collaborations where appropriate.

Overall, the opportunity is designed for teams that can responsibly and rigorously conduct human invasive electrophysiology in ethically appropriate clinical contexts, and who can connect those recordings (and potentially stimulation) to precise hypotheses about psychiatric-relevant circuits and computations. The strongest-fit applications would typically combine careful experimental design, clinically meaningful phenotyping or behavioral measures, and analysis strategies aimed at interpreting circuit dynamics in a way that can translate into clearer mechanistic understanding of mental health disorders.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Utilizing Invasive Recording and Stimulating Opportunities in Humans to Advance Neural Circuitry Understanding of Mental Health Disorders (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.242.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-11-21.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-06-10. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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.

Apply for RFA MH 20 350

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