NIBIB Trailblazer Award for New and Early Stage Investigators (R21) | PAR 16 390

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 16 390

The NIBIB Trailblazer Award for New and Early Stage Investigators (R21) is a discretionary NIH grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number PAR-16-390; CFDA 93.286) designed to help launch bold, unconventional research programs that sit at the intersection of engineering and the physical sciences with the life and behavioral sciences. The focus is on projects that are strongly aligned with the mission and priorities of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), especially work that could open new technical or conceptual directions in biomedical imaging, bioengineering, and related areas. The award uses the R21 mechanism, which is commonly used by NIH to support early, exploratory, or high-impact concepts rather than fully mature programs.

A defining feature of this opportunity is that it targets investigators who are new to independence or who have not previously had substantial NIH funding. In practical terms, it is intended to create space for researchers who are building an independent track record and want to pursue an ambitious idea that might be difficult to fund through more traditional mechanisms. The program explicitly welcomes high risk-high impact proposals, including exploratory, developmental, and proof-of-concept studies. Projects can be framed in different scientific styles: they may be technology design-directed (for example, developing a new instrument, device, algorithm, or platform), discovery-driven (generating new knowledge or capabilities without a narrow hypothesis), or hypothesis-driven (testing a specific mechanistic or translational idea). The key is that the work should integrate disciplines in a meaningful way and push beyond incremental advances.

Another important emphasis is that applicants are expected to propose approaches with minimal or no preliminary data. This is a major signal about the program’s intent: it is not built for well-established lines of work that already have extensive supporting results. Instead, it is meant to encourage investigators to propose innovative directions that have strong rationale and promise, even if the early data are limited. As a result, successful applications typically rely on the strength of the underlying concept, the novelty of the approach, the feasibility of a well-reasoned plan, and the investigator’s ability to execute, rather than on large amounts of prior experimental evidence.

In terms of who can apply, eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizational types. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; and a wide range of nonprofit organizations (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3), as long as they are not higher education institutions). For-profit organizations (other than small businesses) and small businesses are also eligible, along with other applicant types as allowed by NIH policy. The announcement also highlights additional eligible applicant categories, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions; Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs); Hispanic-serving Institutions; Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs); faith-based or community-based organizations; eligible federal agencies; regional organizations; and U.S. territories or possessions.

Foreign participation is restricted in a specific way. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply as the applicant organization. However, foreign components are allowed when they meet the NIH definition in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, meaning the project can include certain foreign collaborations or elements when justified and structured according to NIH rules, even though the main applicant organization must be domestic.

Funding details in the source information list an award ceiling of $200,000, and the original closing date shown is 2018-01-24, indicating this particular published opportunity had a defined submission window at that time. Overall, the Trailblazer Award is best understood as a runway for early independent investigators to test daring, interdisciplinary bioengineering or biomedical imaging ideas that may be too new, too preliminary, or too technically unconventional to compete well in programs that expect extensive preliminary results.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIBIB Trailblazer Award for New and Early Stage Investigators (R21)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.286.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-08-05.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-01-24. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for PAR 16 390

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