Notice Number: NOT-MH-15-020

Key Dates
Release Date: August 6, 2015

Issued by
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
National Eye Institute (NEI)National Institute on Aging (NIA)
National Inistitute on Alcohol and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
Brain Canada Foundation (Brain Canada)

Purpose

The 10 NIH Institutes that are part of the NIH BRAIN Initiative announce a new partnership, formalized by a letter of agreement, with the Brain Canada Foundation (Brain Canada) to support the involvement of Canadian researchers in the NIH BRAIN Initiative. Both NIH and the Brain Canada Foundation believe that the ambitious goals of the BRAIN Initiative can best be attained by collaboration across disciplinary boundaries as well as geographic boundaries. Brain Canada will seek partners and provide grant support for Canadian researchers through the Canada Brain Research Fund that provides a 1:1 match of funds raised from other sources.

Supplemental Funding
NIH made a number of BRAIN Initiative awards in FY14 (http://braininitiative.nih.gov/nih-brain-awards.htm) and many more are expected to be made in FY15. Canadian researchers who are interested in participating in funded awards are advised to contact the Program Director/Principal Investigator of the NIH award to inquire if there is mutual interest in collaboration. If there is interest, the Canadian researcher can apply directly to the Brain Canada Foundation for funding for the work to be performed in Canada. For each approved project with an added Canadian collaboration, funding and administration of the work performed in Canada shall be managed by Brain Canada.

Matching Funding
In most of the NIH BRAIN Initiative Funding Opportunity Announcements, foreign institutions have been permitted to participate either by submitting applications directly or as subcontractors in an application from a domestic institution. Canadian researchers who submit applications in either role in BRAIN Initiative awards should contact Brain Canada who will seek partners and provide grant support through the Canada Brain Research Fund.

In addition to providing funds, representatives of the Brain Canada Foundation will join those of the National Science Foundation, the Food and Drug Administration, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency in meetings of the BRAIN Multi-Council Working Group (http://braininitiative.nih.gov/Brain_multi_council_working_group.htm).

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Gregory K. Farber, Ph.D.
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Telephone: 301-435-0778
Email: farberg@mail.nih.gov

Ned Talley, Ph.D.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Telephone: 301-496-1917
Email: talleye@mail.nih.gov

Inez Jabalpurwala
Brain Canada Foundation
Telephone: 514-989-2989
Email: programs@braincanada.ca