ZI Friday Funding Monthly Digest: Dr. Ashok Litwin-Kumar renews his BRAIN initiative TMM R01, and three postdocs win a BBRF Young Investigator Award!

By
V. Zhuravleva and A. Uhimov
October 18, 2024
ZI Friday Funding Monthly Digest: Dr. Ashok Litwin-Kumar renews his BRAIN initiative TMM R01, and three postdocs win a BBRF Young Investigator Award!
October 18, 2024 ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­  


Pre-Award and Research Development

October 18, 2024

News and Updates

Congratulations, Dr. Ashok Litwin-Kumar!


Dr. Litwin-Kumar received a renewal NIH/NIDA/BRAIN Initiative Theories, Models and Methods R01 to support "Relating structure and function in synapse-level wiring diagrams."

Congratulations, BBRF Young Investigators!


Drs. Rajyashree (Rai) Sen (Axel Lab), Soroosh Sanatkhani (Ferrera Lab), and Satoshi Terada (Losonczy lab) each won a BBRF Young Investigator grant to support their work to drive forward research on psychiatric illnesses. See the awards section below for more details!

Congratulations, SfN Trainee Professional Development Awardees!


Several of our students and postbaccs won SfN's Trainee Professional Development Award, for demonstrating scientific merit and excellence in research. They received complimentary registration to SfN's annual meeting, as well as a travel stipend.

NIH Loan Repayment Program

If your student loans are 20% or more of your institutional salary, NIH may repay up to $50,000 of qualified educational debt in return for a commitment to engage in NIH mission-relevant research. Must have obtained your doctoral degree.

Deadline: November 21.

See more information here, and reach out to us if you plan to apply!

Graduate Students: The HHMI Gilliam Fellows Program application is now an open!

Deadline: December 5, 2024.

Important eligibility information: U.S. citizen/permanent resident, or undocumented childhood arrival/DACA; second or third year Ph.D.; adviser-student pairs must be committed to advancing equity and inclusion in science.

Please email us if you are planning to apply.

Advanced Postdocs: The Simons Foundation Fellows-to-Faculty applications are now open!

Deadline: January 14, 2024.

Important eligibility information: Must be actively seeking and applying to tenure-track faculty positions between September 2025–May 2026; must be from diverse and/or under-represented groups (race, ethnicity, disadvantaged social and/or economic status, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability status)

Two field-specific tracks: SFARI, SCPAB

Webinar recording here.

Please email us if you are planning to apply.

Our Team

Weekly Office Hours

Every Thursday, 2:00-3:00 pm:

Meet the team and ask any questions during office hours on Thursdays from 2:00 - 3:00 pm.

Click here to join the Zoom meeting. 

Schedule time to meet with the team

Congratulations to our recent award recipients!

September 21 - October 18, 2024

Postdoc Awards

Hayley Bounds: Schmidt Science Fellows Award to "build biologically-grounded, testable models to understand the contributions of different types of neurons to the population representation of information in the brain" (Losonczy Lab)


Soroosh Sanatkhani: BBRF Young Investigator grant to "use low-intensity focused ultrasound to modulate the anterior cingulate cortex" (Ferrera Lab)


Rajyashree (Rai) Sen: BBRF Young Investigator grant to "determine how the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) encodes individual identities and processes social memory" (Axel Lab)


Satoshi Terada: BBRF Young Investigator grant for "a novel framework for analytical models of neural oscillations" (Losonczy Lab)

Early Career Awards

Ashok Litwin-Kumar: NIH/NIDA/BRAIN Initiative renewal 9RF1DA060772-02 "Relating structure and function in synapse-level wiring diagrams"

Established Investigator Awards

Stavros Lomvardas: NIH/NIDA/BRAIN Initiative 1R21DA061481-01 "Three-dimensional mapping and modeling of combinatorial interactions underlying biomolecular condensates in olfactory neurons" (with Dr. Guttman at Caltech and Dr. Ma at Carnegie-Mellon)

Upcoming funding opportunities

Team Grants


Want to write a large, multi-investigator grant? Come talk to us about planning and executing team grant applications. Schedule a meeting with our team here!


New/Highlighted Team Grant Opportunities

  1. BRAIN Initiative U01: Brain-Behavior Quantification and Synchronization – Transformative and Integrative Models of Behavior at the Organismal Level. Projects are expected to be designed with the capacity to integrate synchronously recorded neural data and/or inform existing models of neurobehavioral function, such as those developed with the support of the NIH BRAIN Initiative. For applications using non-human animal models. October 9

Established Investigators (view full list on our website)


New/Highlighted Funding Opportunities

  1. NSF/NIH Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS) Program. Innovative Approaches to Science and Engineering Research on Brain Function. NSF deadline: November 13. 

Upcoming Funding Opportunities

  1. NIH Parent R01: New: February 5, June 5, October 5; Renewal/Resubmission: November 5, March 5, July 5
  2. NIMH Basic Neurodevelopmental Biology of Circuits and Behavior  -  R01/R21: R01: February 5 (anticipated). R21: February 16 (anticipated)
  3. NIMH Temporal Dynamics of Coordinated Neural Activity - R01/R21: R01: February 5 (anticipated). R21: February 16 (anticipated)
  4. NIH Parent R21: New: February 16, June 16, October 16; Renewal/Resubmission: November 16, March 16, July 16
  5. NIH Diversity Supplement: Salary/stipend support for trainees at all career stages. Deadline varies by funding agency. (Quarterly, monthly, rolling)

Early Career Investigators (view full list and timeline on our website)

  1. Edward Mallinckrodt Scholar Program: must be within 4 years of faculty appointment; high risk/high reward proposal. Limited submission - call for submissions expected: Mid-October. Internal application due: November
  2. McKnight Scholar Award: Must have an appointment as an assistant professor, and must have served at that rank for less than four years at the application deadline. Cannot apply more than twice for this award. January 13
  3. Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Awards in Neuroscience: Maximum of four years between the completion of last postdoc and the application deadline.  February 1

Post-Docs (view full list and timeline on our website)

  1. NIH F32 NRSA Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship
    • NIH Parent F32 NRSA: U.S. citizen/permanent resident; 1st - 3rd year postdocs. , December 8, April 8, August 8,

    • NIH/NINDS F32 NRSA: U.S. citizen/permanent resident; 1st year postdocs. Early February (anticipated)
  2. NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence (1-2 years of postdoc + 3 years of faculty funding)
    • NIH Parent K99/R00: Transition to faculty. International applicants eligible. 3rd - 4th year postdocs. New: February 12, June 12, October 12. Resubmission: November 12, March 12, July 12

    • NIH MOSAIC K99/R00 : Transition to faculty. 3rd - 4th year postdocs under-represented in sciences (all women included). New: February 12, June 12, October 12. Resubmission: November 12, March 12, July 12

    • NIH BRAIN Initiative K99/R00: Transition to faculty. 3rd - 4th year postdocs under-represented in sciences (all women included). New: February 13, June 13, October 15; Resubmission: November 13, March 13, July 15
    • NIH HEAL Initiative K99/R00 or HEAL Initiative K99/R00 to Promote Diversity: Transition to faculty. International applicants eligible. Pain and substance use disorder research. 3rd - 4th year postdocs. For diversity track application, must be from a group under-represented in sciences (all women included), and U.S. citizen/permanent resident. New: February 11

  3. NIH K01 Career Development Award
    • NIH/NINDS K01: 2nd - 4th year postdocs. New: February 12, June 12, October 12. Resubmission: November 12, March 12, July 12

    • NIH Parent K01: 2nd - 5+ year postdocs. New: February 12, June 12, October 12. Resubmission: November 12, March 12, July 12

  4. NIH Diversity Supplement: Salary/stipend support. For all career stages. Deadline varies by funding agency. (Quarterly, monthly, rolling)

   *Check with us regarding eligibility window extensions for NIH grants

Graduate Students (view full list and timeline on our website)

  1. Hertz Foundation Fellowship: Pre-grad or first year; U.S. citizen/permanent resident. Expected deadline: November 1
  2. Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans: First or second year Ph.D.; Less than 31 years old; Must be an immigrant or child of immigrants; U.S. citizen/permanent resident, DACA, asylee, refugee. October 31
  3. NIH F31 or F31 Diversity NRSA: For U.S. citizens/permanent residents. December 8, April 8, August 8
  4. Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship: For U.S. citizens/permanent residents; first year graduate students. January 16
  5. NIH Dissertation Grants
    • NIMH R36: Mental health research. Must be: U.S. Citizen/Permanent resident; from a background under-represented in the health sciences (race/ethnicity, disability, disadvantaged background); at the dissertation stage of training (must have an approved dissertation proposal at the time of award). December 10, April 10
    • NIDA R36: For substance-use disorder related dissertation research. Must be at the dissertation stage of training (must have an approved dissertation proposal at the time of award). February 16, June 16, October 16
    • NIA R36: For aging-related dissertation research. Must be: U.S. Citizen/Permanent resident; from a background under-represented in the health sciences (race/ethnicity, disability, disadvantaged background); at the dissertation stage of training (must have an approved dissertation proposal at the time of award). February 16, June 16, October 16
  6. NIH F99/K00 Pre-doc to post-doc transition award
  • NIH F99/K00 D-SPAN: Blueprint and BRAIN Initiative Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience; must be a U.S. citizen/permanent resident; for grad students from an under-represented backgrounds, with 1.5-2 years left of PhD (typically 3rd or 4th year students). March 20, October 7
  • NIH/NIA F99/K00: Transition to Aging Research for Predoctoral Students. must be a U.S. citizen/permanent resident OR non-U.S. citizen with a valid U.S. visa; for grad students with 1.5-2 years left of PhD (typically 3rd or 4th year students). Mid-October (anticipated)
  • NIH ARC F99/K00: Advancing Research Careers (ARC) Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Transition Award to Promote Diversity; must be a U.S. citizen/permanent resident; for grad students from an under-represented backgrounds, with 1.5-2 years left of PhD (typically 3rd or 4th year students). February 13, June 13, October 10

NIH Diversity Supplement: Salary/stipend support. For all career stages. Deadline varies by funding agency. (Quarterly, monthly, rolling)