Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA MH 10 020
Apply for RFA MH 10 020
- The National Institutes of Health in the education environment health income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "The Human Connectome Project (U54)" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.113 Environmental Health 93.121 Oral Diseases and Disorders Research 93.173 Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders 93.213 Research and Training in Complementary and Integrative Health 93.242 Mental Health Research Grants 93.273 Alcohol Research Programs 93.279 Drug Abuse and Addiction Research Programs 93.286 Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health 93.389 National Center for Research Resources 93.853 Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders 93.859 Biomedical Research and Research Training 93.865 Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research 93.866 Aging Research 93.867 Vision Research.
- This funding opportunity was created on Jul 15, 2009 and posted on Jul 15, 2009.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 24, 2009. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- The funding agency has allocated a total of $6,000,000.00 to eligible and selected applicants.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education State governments Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification) For profit organizations other than small businesses Private institutions of higher education Special district governments Public and State controlled institutions of higher education County governments Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education Small businesses City or township governments.
- Other Eligible Applicants include the following Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government Regional Organizations U.S. Territory or Possession.
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Opportunity Summary:
The Human Connectome Project (HCP) (U54) funding opportunity, issued by the National Institutes of Health as part of the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research, was designed as a five-year, large-scale effort to map and better understand how the human brain is wired and how it functions as an interconnected network. The NIH Blueprint represents a coordinated collaboration across 16 NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices, intended to speed up neuroscience discovery and ultimately reduce the burden of neurological and mental health disorders. Within that broader mission, this FOA focuses specifically on producing a clearer, data-driven picture of structural connectivity (the brain's physical wiring, such as axonal pathways) and functional connectivity (how regions communicate and co-activate over time) in living humans.
A central goal of the program is to refine and integrate advanced, non-invasive imaging technologies that already exist but require optimization to reach the scale and precision needed for connectomics in people. The project is expected to combine these imaging approaches to generate in vivo measurements of neural connections and axonal projections across hundreds of healthy adult participants. In parallel with imaging, the project calls for the collection of rich participant-level information, including demographic variables and standardized measures spanning sensory, motor, cognitive, emotional, and social functioning. Biological sampling is also part of the plan: DNA samples and blood are to be collected, with blood used to establish cell lines, creating a resource that can link observed brain connectivity patterns with genetic variation and other biological factors.
Beyond data collection, the FOA emphasizes developing models that make the connectivity data easier to interpret and more useful to the broader community. This includes computational and analytic models to help explain observed patterns, support inference, and improve how researchers can use and compare connectivity measures. Another explicit expectation is that newly generated connectivity patterns will be connected back to existing architectonic data, meaning established knowledge about brain structure and organization (for example, known cortical areas and tissue characteristics), so that the resulting connectome resources can be grounded in and interoperable with prior anatomical frameworks.
A major feature of this opportunity is rapid and open dissemination. Rather than holding data until the end of the project, the HCP is structured to make data and derived models available to the research community immediately through a user-friendly informatics system. That platform is expected to do more than host downloads; it should provide practical tools that allow users to query, organize, visualize, and analyze the datasets. The FOA also requires outreach activities meant to actively engage and educate the neuroscience community, with the intent of lowering barriers to adoption of the imaging methods, data resources, models, and informatics tools. In other words, success is defined not only by what gets produced, but also by how quickly and broadly the outputs become usable by scientists beyond the awardee institution(s).
By the end of the five-year period, the announcement anticipates three main deliverables. First, an integrated set of optimized, non-invasive imaging tools capable of acquiring high-quality human connectivity data in vivo. Second, a well-characterized, quantitative dataset describing human brain connectivity in up to hundreds of healthy adult women and men, linked to behavioral measures, genetic information, and broadly applicable existing architectonic references, along with associated models. Third, a fast and accessible dissemination pipeline, combining an informatics platform with outreach and training-like efforts, so that connectivity data, tools, and models are widely available and easy to work with across the research ecosystem.
Administratively, this FOA is identified as RFA-MH-10-020 and uses the U54 cooperative agreement mechanism, which typically means substantial NIH involvement in coordination, oversight, and milestone-driven management compared with standard research grants. The opportunity was posted July 15, 2009, with an original and final closing date of November 24, 2009, and an archive date of December 25, 2009. The estimated total funding listed is $6,000,000, and the expected number of awards is 1, signaling a single large, centralized award intended to build a widely shared national resource rather than multiple smaller independent projects.
Eligibility is broad and includes many organization types: public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (including 501(c)(3) and other nonprofit categories), for-profit organizations (including small businesses and other for-profits), and various units of government (state, county, city/township, and special districts). The FOA also notes additional eligible applicants such as eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions. There is no cost sharing or matching requirement listed. The activity spans multiple NIH-related program areas as reflected in the CFDA numbers provided, which include neuroscience and neurological disorders, mental health, aging, child health and development, vision research, substance use research, and technology innovation related to human health, reflecting the cross-cutting nature of brain connectivity science and its relevance to many disease and research domains.
Overall, this grant opportunity is best understood as a resource-building and infrastructure-heavy initiative: it aims to standardize and scale advanced neuroimaging for connectome mapping, pair those maps with behavioral and genetic context, create robust modeling approaches, and deliver everything to the public quickly through well-designed data systems and sustained outreach, so the wider community can use the outputs to accelerate neuroscience research.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Human Connectome Project (HCP) (U54) - RFA-MH-10-020
1) What is this funding opportunity about?
This NIH funding opportunity supports the Human Connectome Project (HCP), a five-year, large-scale effort to map and better understand how the human brain is wired and how it functions as an interconnected network. The focus is on producing a data-driven picture of human brain structural connectivity (physical wiring) and functional connectivity (how regions communicate and co-activate over time) in living humans.
2) What does "connectivity" mean in this program?
The program emphasizes two kinds of connectivity in vivo (in living humans):
- Structural connectivity: the brain's physical wiring, including axonal pathways and projections.
- Functional connectivity: how brain regions interact, communicate, and show coordinated activity patterns over time.
3) How does this opportunity fit within NIH priorities?
The HCP opportunity was issued by the National Institutes of Health as part of the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research, a coordinated collaboration across 16 NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices. The Blueprint aims to speed neuroscience discovery and ultimately reduce the burden of neurological and mental health disorders.
4) What is the overall goal of the Human Connectome Project under this FOA?
The overall goal is to optimize and integrate advanced non-invasive imaging technologies and use them at scale to produce high-quality measurements of human brain connectivity across hundreds of healthy adult participants, paired with behavioral, demographic, and biological information and supported by interpretable computational models.
5) What kinds of participants are expected to be studied?
The FOA anticipates data collection in up to hundreds of healthy adult women and men.
6) Is the project focused on patients or clinical populations?
Based on the information provided, the dataset emphasized in this announcement is built from healthy adult participants. The broader NIH Blueprint mission relates to reducing the burden of neurological and mental health disorders, but the core resource described here is a normative connectome-style dataset in healthy adults.
7) What kinds of data are expected to be collected besides brain imaging?
In addition to imaging-derived connectivity measurements, the FOA calls for rich participant-level information, including:
- Demographic variables
- Standardized measures spanning sensory, motor, cognitive, emotional, and social functioning
- Biological samples, including DNA samples and blood
8) What biological samples are included, and why?
The program includes collection of DNA samples and blood. The blood is intended to be used to establish cell lines. This creates a resource that can link observed brain connectivity patterns with genetic variation and other biological factors.
9) Are the imaging methods expected to be invasive?
No. A central goal is to refine and integrate advanced, non-invasive imaging technologies to support connectomics in living humans.
10) Are new imaging technologies required, or optimization of existing methods?
The FOA emphasizes refining and integrating advanced non-invasive imaging technologies that already exist but require optimization to achieve the scale and precision needed for human connectomics.
11) What does the FOA mean by "architectonic data" and why does it matter?
The announcement expects newly generated connectivity patterns to be connected back to existing architectonic data, meaning established knowledge about brain structure and organization (for example, known cortical areas and tissue characteristics). This helps ground connectome outputs in prior anatomical frameworks and makes resources more interoperable with existing references.
12) What kinds of models are expected to be developed?
The FOA emphasizes developing computational and analytic models that make connectivity data easier to interpret and more useful. These models are meant to help explain observed patterns, support inference, and improve researchers' ability to use and compare connectivity measures.
13) What are the expectations for data sharing and dissemination?
Rapid and open dissemination is a major feature of this opportunity. Rather than holding data until the end of the project, the HCP is structured to make data and derived models available to the research community immediately through a user-friendly informatics system.
14) What should the informatics system provide?
The informatics platform is expected to go beyond hosting downloads. It should provide practical tools that allow users to:
- Query datasets
- Organize data
- Visualize data
- Analyze datasets and outputs
15) Is outreach required as part of the award?
Yes. The FOA requires outreach activities to actively engage and educate the neuroscience community. The intent is to lower barriers to adoption of the imaging methods, data resources, models, and informatics tools produced under the project.
16) How is success defined for this program?
Success is defined not only by what gets produced (tools, datasets, and models) but also by how quickly and broadly outputs become usable by scientists beyond the awardee institution(s), supported through rapid dissemination and outreach.
17) What are the main deliverables expected by the end of five years?
The announcement anticipates three main deliverables by the end of the five-year period:
- An integrated set of optimized, non-invasive imaging tools capable of acquiring high-quality human connectivity data in vivo.
- A well-characterized, quantitative dataset describing human brain connectivity in up to hundreds of healthy adult women and men, linked to behavioral measures, genetic information, and existing architectonic references, along with associated models.
- A fast and accessible dissemination pipeline combining an informatics platform with outreach efforts so data, tools, and models are widely available and easy to use.
18) What is the FOA number and what funding mechanism is used?
The FOA is identified as RFA-MH-10-020 and uses the U54 cooperative agreement mechanism.
19) What does a U54 cooperative agreement imply?
A U54 cooperative agreement typically involves substantial NIH involvement in coordination, oversight, and milestone-driven management compared with standard research grants.
20) What is the project period?
The program is designed as a five-year effort.
21) How much funding is available and how many awards are expected?
The estimated total funding listed is $6,000,000, and the expected number of awards is 1. This signals a single large, centralized award intended to build a widely shared national resource.
22) When was the opportunity posted and when did it close?
The opportunity was posted July 15, 2009. The original and final closing date was November 24, 2009, and the archive date was December 25, 2009.
23) Who is eligible to apply?
Eligibility is broad and includes:
- Public and private institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits (including 501(c)(3) and other nonprofit categories)
- For-profit organizations (including small businesses and other for-profits)
- Units of government (state, county, city/township, and special districts)
- Eligible federal agencies
- Regional organizations
- U.S. territories or possessions
24) Is cost sharing or matching required?
No. The FOA indicates there is no cost sharing or matching requirement.
25) What research areas does this FOA touch?
The announcement spans multiple NIH-related program areas as reflected in the CFDA numbers provided. These include neuroscience and neurological disorders, mental health, aging, child health and development, vision research, substance use research, and technology innovation related to human health, reflecting the cross-cutting relevance of brain connectivity science.
26) What kind of project is this, overall?
This opportunity is best understood as a resource-building and infrastructure-heavy initiative. It aims to standardize and scale advanced neuroimaging for connectome mapping, pair connectivity maps with behavioral and genetic context, develop robust modeling approaches, and deliver outputs quickly to the public through strong data systems and outreach.
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