RFA-RM-25-001: NIH Directors Pioneer Award Program (DP1 Clinical Trial Optional)
Closed
This grant is closed. Who won this program's grants before is below, and similar open grants are at the end of the page. It is in our archive of National Institutes of Health notices from 2025.
National Institutes of Health offered grants of up to $700,000 to nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, small businesses and businesses. Applications closed on September 9, 2025.
From the official notice on Grants.gov, last changed June 13, 2025. Checked November 7, 2026.
- Award ceiling$700,000
- Cost sharingNot required
- Funding typeGrant
About this NIH notice
- Activity codeDP1
- Clinical trialsOptional
- Funded byNCI, NHLBI, NIEHS
- Median yearly award$1.1 million
- Typical project length5 years
- DP1, NIH Director's Pioneer Award. Support for an exceptionally creative scientist's high-risk, high-impact ideas. Other open DP1 notices.
Projects funded under RFA-RM-25-001 were run by National Cancer Institute (NCI, 2 projects), National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI, 1 project), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS, 1 project) and National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB, 1 project), and 2 more. Contact the program officer at the institute that fits your project before you apply; the notice lists them.
Application due dates, page limits and budget limits are set in the notice. Read RFA-RM-25-001 in the NIH Guide.
Other notices with this title
| Notice | Posted | Deadline | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| RFA-RM-24-002 | March 21, 2024 | Closed September 9, 2024 | Closed |
| RFA-RM-23-004 | March 16, 2023 | Closed September 8, 2023 | Closed |
| RFA-RM-22-018 | April 13, 2022 | Closed September 9, 2022 | Closed |
| RFA-RM-21-015 | April 6, 2021 | Closed September 10, 2021 | Closed |
Key dates
| Posted | June 12, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Deadline | September 9, 2025 |
| Archived by Grants.gov | October 15, 2025 |
Who can apply
This opportunity was open to nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, small businesses and businesses.
All 15 applicant types the notice lists
- 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 (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)
Other Eligible Applicants include the following: Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government; Faith-based or Community-based Organizations; Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized); Regional Organizations; U.S. Territory or Possession; Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations) are not eligible to apply. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply. Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed.
Is this a realistic fit?
- Projects NIH funded under this notice had a median yearly award of $1.1 million; it allows up to $700,000 per award.
- Most of the program's money (72% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
- No cost sharing or match is required.
What the grant funds
The NIH Directors Pioneer Award Program supports individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose bold and highly innovative research projects with the potential to produce a major impact on broad, important areas relevant to the mission of NIH. To support innovative and novel research across the vast NIH mission, individuals from diverse backgrounds (including those from underrepresented groups; see Notice of NIHs Interest in Diversity) and from the full spectrum of eligible institutions in all geographic locations are encouraged to apply to this Notice of Funding Opportunity. Applications in all topics relevant to the broad mission of NIH are welcome, including, but not limited to, topics in the behavioral, social, biomedical, applied, and formal sciences and topics that may involve basic, translational, or clinical research. The NIH Directors Pioneer Award is a component of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research (HRHR) Program of the NIH Common Fund.
Funded under RFA-RM-25-001 so far
NIH funded 7 projects under RFA-RM-25-001 in fiscal 2026, at 7 institutions. The median yearly award was $1.1 million.
| Project | Institution | Fiscal year | Award |
|---|---|---|---|
| Designer RNA-Protein Scaffolds for Next-Generation Therapeutics | Yale University | 2026 | $1.2 million |
| 3D printed Houses: Integrating Epidemiology into the Architecture | University of Pennsylvania | 2026 | $1.1 million |
| Direct, large-scale perturbation and mapping of protein function in human cells | Boston University (Charles River Campus) | 2026 | $1.1 million |
| Co-Adaptive Escape-Resistant Antineoplastics | University of Miami School of Medicine | 2026 | $1.1 million |
| Label-free glycan sequencing: new methods to reveal the 'sweet side' of host-pathogen interactions | Stanford University | 2026 | $1.1 million |
| AI-Human Discovery Engines for Mechanistic Cancer Biology | Weill Medical Coll of Cornell Univ | 2026 | $1.2 million |
| Neural control of complex human behaviors | California Institute of Technology | 2026 | $1.2 million |
Who has won Trans-NIH Research Support grants before
From fiscal 2021 to 2025, Trans-NIH Research Support (93.310) awarded $5.9 billion across 4,433 grant awards, an average of $1.3 million per award.
| Recipient | State | Awards | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duke University | North Carolina | 66 | $219 million |
| The Leland Stanford Junior University | California | 104 | $176 million |
| University of Pittsburgh - of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education | Pennsylvania | 82 | $154 million |
| The Johns Hopkins University | Maryland | 95 | $152 million |
| Yale Univ | Connecticut | 85 | $149 million |
Applying now
This notice no longer takes applications. Agencies often post the same opportunity again under a new number, so check the program's notices on Grants.gov and the similar open grants below.
The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.
Questions people ask
Is RFA-RM-25-001 still open?
No. It closed on September 9, 2025.
Who can apply for NIH Directors Pioneer Award Program (DP1 Clinical Trial Optional)?
National Institutes of Health accepted applications from nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, small businesses and businesses. The notice adds further conditions, so read its eligibility section.
What is the deadline for NIH Directors Pioneer Award Program (DP1 Clinical Trial Optional)?
Closed September 9, 2025. Applications are no longer accepted; the program's newer notices are on this page when there are any.
How much funding is available?
Awards of up to $700,000 each.
Who has been funded under RFA-RM-25-001?
NIH RePORTER lists 7 projects funded under RFA-RM-25-001 in fiscal 2026, at 7 institutions. The most were at Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Boston University (Charles River Campus).
Who has won Trans-NIH Research Support grants before?
The largest recipients over five fiscal years were Duke University, The Leland Stanford Junior University, University of Pittsburgh - of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education. The program made 4,433 awards worth $5.9 billion in that time.
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