National Institute on Aging (NIA)

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Mission Statement

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) conducts and supports research to understand the nature of aging and extend healthy, active years of life. NIA supports genetic, biological, clinical, behavioral, social, and economic research on aging and geroscience, with significant investment in Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementias (AD/ADRD).

Interest Areas

General Topics

Mission Focus

  • Advance scientific knowledge of aging mechanisms to promote healthy longevity.
  • Expand understanding of aging across the life course at the biological, clinical, behavioral, and societal levels.
  • Advance Alzheimer's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) research on disease mechanisms, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care.
  • Translate discoveries into strategies to prevent, treat, and reduce the burden of age-related diseases and conditions.

Strategic Goals

  • Support innovation through interdisciplinary and translational science.  
  • Promote generalizable and verifiable research and open science principles.
  • Strengthen the aging and AD/ADRD research workforce.
  • Support research to inform evidence-based policies and practices to improve public health.

Core Research Priorities

  • Investigate cellular, molecular, and genetic mechanisms underlying aging and longevity.  
  • Clarify how aging biology influences the prevention, progression, and outcomes of disease and decline of function.
  • Deepen knowledge of social, behavioral, environmental, and economic processes influencing aging and resilience.
  • Support translational and clinical studies to advance prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of AD/ADRD.
  • Advance knowledge of the aging brain, age-related cognitive change, and neurodegenerative diseases including AD/ADRD.  
  • Develop interventions that improve the health, well-being, and independence of adults as they age.
  • Develop strategies to improve healthcare delivery in aging populations.
  • Foster career development, training and mentoring across career stages.
  • Develop small business innovations and commercialization of therapeutics, diagnostics, devices, and digital health solutions that enhance the health, care, and well-being of older adults.  

Assistance Listing

Assistance listings are detailed public descriptions of federal programs used across government agencies that provide grants, loans, scholarships, insurance, and other types of assistance awards. They are maintained in the System for Award Management (SAM) and can be used to search for opportunities in Grants.gov.

View NIA Assistance Listing Numbers

Highlighted Topics

Title Lead ICO Participating ICOs Posted Date Expiration Date

Funding Opportunities and Notices

Search for NIA’s funding opportunities and notices

Additional Information by Funding Category

Administrative Supplements
In addition to our Administrative Supplements overview, consider the following NIA-specific information.
Administrative Supplement Interest Areas:

NIA will accept for consideration supplement applications that include: 

 Aging, AD/ADRD, and HIV research: 

  • Ethical and responsible research practices 
  • Bridge awards to maintain continuity of core activities and research team during a gap in funding 
  • Closeout funds 

Training: 

  • Career re-entry 
  • Research continuity of mentored K awardees or first-time recipients of research project grants due to critical life events 
  • Childcare costs for NRSA Individual Fellowships, Institutional Training grants (T32 only) and F99 recipients 

Collectively, supplements preserve momentum, maximize prior investment, and support a resilient aging research enterprise.  Supplements are not appropriate when there is a large (>50%) Unobligated Balance. 

Administrative Supplement Due Dates:

Requests for non-training awards should be submitted by July 1st to be considered for funding in the current fiscal year. 

Training Supplements requests seeking consideration before September 30 should be received by May 1. Requests received after May 1 generally will be considered for funding after October 1, pending approval of the NIH budget. 

Administrative Supplement Contact:

To discuss unforeseen circumstances and whether an administrative supplement is appropriate contact the grants management and program officials listed on the parent grant Notice of Award.  

When contacting NIA for guidance on training-related supplements, please include [email protected] on all correspondence. 

Small Business
In addition to our Small Business overview, consider the following NIA-specific information.
Small Business Interest Areas:

The NIA is interested in proposals to develop and validate technologies that enhance the health and wellbeing of older adults. Areas of high interest include technologies intended to address unmet needs and have clear competitive advantages, development of commercialized solutions that are cost-effective and widely available, and small businesses that are new to SBIR/STTR funding.

Scientific areas of interest include but are not limited to:

Alzheimer's Disease (AD), AD-Related Dementias (ADRD), and Age-Related Cognitive Decline:

Development of innovative tools, technologies, and interventions to prevent, diagnose, treat, monitor, or slow progression of AD/ADRD, cognitive decline, age-related sleep disorders, and delirium, including:

  • Biomarkers, research tools, diagnostics, imaging technologies, and AI/ML methods for early detection and monitoring.
  • Treatments, including cell and gene therapies, exosome-based therapeutics, behavioral and digital interventions as well as other novel approaches.

Aging Biology and Age-Related Diseases:

Development of technologies, therapeutics, biomarkers, and tools to measure, prevent, treat, or slow progression of age-related biobehavioral decline and conditions, including:

  • Therapeutics targeting aging biology mechanisms and personalized medicine approaches.
  • Research tools and data science technologies to understand aging and predict health outcomes.

Aging in Place of Choice and Care Delivery:

Development of technologies and interventions that promote healthy aging, support aging in place of choice, improve care delivery, or reduce caregiving burden, including: 

  • Assistive devices, robotics, sensors, digital health products, and technologies to enhance care.
Phase IIB & Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP):
NIA accepts Phase IIB SBIR projects
NIA accepts Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP) projects
Clinical Trials:
NIA accepts clinical trials through the SBIR programs
NIA accepts clinical trials through the STTR programs
NIA accepts clinical trials through the Phase IIB SBIR program
NIA accepts clinical trials through the Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP)
Small Business Contact:

NIA Scientific/Research Contact: NIA Small Business Programs: [email protected] 

 

Financial/Grants Management Contact: NIA Grants Management: [email protected] 

Please include the NOFO number, formatted with hyphens, in the email subject line to ensure the message is routed to the appropriate contact. 

See Also

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

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