From Genomic Association to Causation: A Convergent Neuroscience Approach for Integrating Levels of Analysis to Delineate Brain Function in Neuropsychiatry (R01) | PAR 17 253

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 17 253

This NIH R01 funding opportunity (PAR-17-253, CFDA 93.242) is aimed at pushing neuropsychiatric research beyond genomic correlations and toward explanations that can support causation or at least well-grounded probabilistic links between biology and behavior. The central idea is Convergent Neuroscience (CN): building integrated, testable models that connect "contiguous" levels of analysis, such as genes to molecules, molecules to cells, cells to circuits, circuits to systems, and ultimately to behavior and clinically relevant psychopathology. The FOA is essentially asking teams to show, in a rigorous and quantifiable way, how processes at one biological level help produce measurable properties at the next level up, whether through direct mechanisms or through emergent effects that only become visible when components interact in larger networks.

A key preference in this announcement is for applications that connect at least three levels of analysis and that include a clear genetics component. That preference reflects the program's focus on moving "from genomic association to causation," meaning that projects should not stop at identifying risk variants or genomic signals, but should trace how genetic differences propagate through intermediate biological layers to shape brain function and, eventually, cognitive, affective, or other behavioral outcomes relevant to mental illness. The emphasis is on constructing explanatory models of psychopathology rather than collecting isolated datasets: the project should aim to explain why and how a biological change at one level leads to a functional change at another level, and how that chain of effects relates to symptoms, traits, or measurable behavioral phenotypes.

The FOA also puts heavy weight on team science and cross-disciplinary integration. Competitive applications are expected to be built around highly synergistic inter- and transdisciplinary teams that include neuroscience expertise alongside "orthogonal" physical science fields such as computational and data science, physics, engineering, and mathematics. The intent is to encourage projects that do more than apply standard analyses; teams are expected to combine, expand, or invent conceptual frameworks and theory-driven approaches that can unify data across levels. A major expected output is the development of computational explanatory models that explicitly connect those contiguous levels of analysis, rather than treating computational work as an add-on. In practice, this means applicants should propose a coherent modeling strategy (for example, multi-scale or mechanistic models) that can generate predictions about how interventions or perturbations at one level should change outcomes at other levels.

Importantly, the computational and theoretical work is not meant to stand alone. The FOA expects validation through experimental approaches, meaning the models and frameworks should be tested against real biological data and, ideally, through experiments designed to probe causal relationships. The experimental work should be aligned with elucidating biological underpinnings of complex behavioral outcomes, including cognitive and affective dimensions of psychopathology. In other words, projects should use experiments to confirm that the proposed multi-level links are not just plausible narratives, but are supported by evidence that the modeled relationships hold under measurement and perturbation.

Another explicit program goal is community impact through sharing. Awardees are expected to contribute to a broader CN research ecosystem by creating resources that others can reuse, and the FOA states that a successful team should have a robust plan for sharing data and other resources. This signals that reviewers will likely look for concrete, credible sharing plans rather than vague intentions, including how datasets, code, models, and possibly workflows or tools will be made accessible in ways that help the wider field build on the funded work.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary NIH grant using the R01 mechanism. The original closing date listed is 2019-05-07, and the award ceiling shown in the source information is $500,000. The opportunity lists an expected awards field but does not provide a number in the provided text. Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S. applicants such as state and local governments, public and private institutions of higher education, independent school districts, special district governments, federally recognized tribal governments, tribal organizations (including those other than federally recognized governments), nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), and small businesses. The announcement also explicitly highlights additional eligible applicants such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISISs, Hispanic-serving Institutions, HBCUs, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and even non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities/foreign organizations, underscoring an interest in wide participation.

Overall, this FOA is designed for ambitious, integrated projects that can link genetic and neurobiological mechanisms to brain function and behavior through multi-level, theory-driven, computationally explicit models that are experimentally validated and broadly shared. The strongest fit is a proposal that treats the chain from genome to behavior as a connected system, uses a convergent team structure to address that system end-to-end, and produces reusable models and resources that help the rest of the research community move from association findings toward causal understanding in neuropsychiatry.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "From Genomic Association to Causation: A Convergent Neuroscience Approach for Integrating Levels of Analysis to Delineate Brain Function in Neuropsychiatry (R01)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.242.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-04-11.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-05-07. (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 $500,000.00 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.

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