BRAIN Data Repository Requirements

The BRAIN Initiative® supports a network of domain-specific data archives that serve as the canonical destinations for data generated by BRAIN-funded research. Applicants and recipients should plan to submit data to the BRAIN data archive that aligns with their data domain. They should identify the archive in their NIH Data Management and Sharing Plan and follow the archive’s submission instructions, standards, and timelines.

BRAIN Data Archives

Applicants should select the BRAIN data archive that aligns with the data domain of their research. Currently funded BRAIN data archives are:

• Brain Image Library (BIL) — high-resolution brain microscopy data including light-sheet, fMOST, and confocal modalities. https://www.brainimagelibrary.org
• BossDB — Brain Observatory Storage Service and Database for large-scale neuroimaging including electron microscopy and X-ray microtomography. https://bossdb.org
• DANDI (Distributed Archives for Neurophysiology Data Integration) — cellular neurophysiology data including Neurodata Without Borders (NWB) datasets. https://www.dandiarchive.org
• DABI (Data Archive for the BRAIN Initiative) — human invasive electrophysiology data. New BRAIN recipients should coordinate with BRAIN program staff on data destination. https://dabi.loni.usc.edu
• EMBER (Ethology, Multimodal Behavioral Experiments Repository) — the BRAIN Behavior Quantification and Synchronization (BBQS) program data archive for behavioral video and multimodal brain-behavior data. https://www.ember-archive.org
• NeMO (Neuroscience Multi-Omic Archive) — omics data including single-cell genomics, epigenomics, and transcriptomics. https://nemoarchive.org
• NEMAR (Neuroelectromagnetic Data Archive and Tools Resource) — human EEG, MEG, and intracranial EEG data, accessed through the OpenNeuro portal. https://nemar.org
• OpenNeuro — magnetic resonance imaging and related neuroimaging data, with companion portals for human electromagnetic (NEMAR) and PET (OpenNeuroPET) data. https://openneuro.org

Applicants should consult with BRAIN program staff during application development to confirm the appropriate archive for the proposed data. To find a current list of BRAIN-funded informatics awards (including archives, data standards, and analysis tools) search NIH RePORTER (https://reporter.nih.gov) using BRAIN data archive notice of funding opportunity numbers.

Data Standards

BRAIN data archives implement community data standards aligned with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. Three data standards are widely adopted and compatible across the BRAIN data archives:

• Neurodata Without Borders (NWB) — standard for cellular-scale neurophysiology and related metadata. https://www.nwb.org
• Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) — standard for organizing neuroimaging data including MRI, MEG, EEG, iEEG, and PET. https://bids.neuroimaging.io
• Open Microscopy Environment (OME) and OME-Zarr — distributed, cloud-compatible data standards and formats for large-scale microscopy and bioimaging modalities, used in BRAIN CONNECTS and other large-scale imaging workflows. https://ngff.openmicroscopy.org

Specific data standards, metadata schema, and ontology requirements vary by archive and data type. Applicants and recipients should consult the documentation provided by their target archive for archive-specific submission and formatting requirements.

Sharing Expectations

Recipients of BRAIN Initiative awards should plan to submit data to the appropriate BRAIN data archive at the time of an associated publication or by the end of the performance period.

Costs and Resource Planning

Applicants should budget costs for data preparation, formatting, and transfer to a BRAIN data archive under the DMS Costs line item. This should be consistent with the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy and allowable DMS cost categories (https://grants.nih.gov/policy-and-compliance/policy-topics/sharing-policies/dms/budgeting-for-data-management-sharing). The BRAIN Initiative supports budget requests for data preparation, formatting and transfer to data archives. BRAIN data archives are funded directly through BRAIN Initiative awards; depositing data generated by a BRAIN-funded award incurs no archive submission fee.

Human-Subjects Data and Controlled Access

For data derived from human subjects, applicants should select an archive that provides appropriate access controls, governance, and consent management for the data type. Each BRAIN archive offering controlled-access distribution provides documented procedures for data submission agreements, data access agreements, and the operation of a data access committee where applicable. Applicants should consider consent language carefully early in the project to enable broad data sharing consistent with participant protections.