NIH Extramural Nexus (News)

Subscribers will now receive weekly emails with the latest NIH Extramural Nexus blogs and articles. Previously, we emailed you articles once or twice monthly.

Today, NIH has implemented steps towards a unified strategy that will help guide clearer and consistent funding decisions across all Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs). Building on the August NIH Director’s statement, this framework (effective January 2026 Council round) will help ensure we continue to support the most scientifically meritorious research ideas possible, address health priorities, and support a robust biomedical workforce.

NIH announced the award of contracts for the Standardized Organoid Modeling (SOM) Center, a national resource that will be dedicated to using cutting-edge technologies to develop standardized organoid-based new approach methodologies that deliver robust, reproducible, and patient-centered research findings.

Jon R. Lorsch, Ph.D., has been named NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research (DDER). He has served in this role in an acting capacity since April 2025, advancing NIH’s efforts to support gold standard science. 

NIH announced a new application and award structure last week for applications that request funding for international component organizations. Effective for due dates on or after January 25, 2026, competing applications must be in response to a funding opportunity using a new grant type when requesting NIH funding for one or more foreign components.

Now is the time for signing officials to verify the accuracy of their grant assignments to departments or components within institutions of higher education in eRA Commons. Any corrections must be made by 8:00 PM EDT on Monday, October 6, 2025, to be reflected in NIH annual reports.

NIH has received OMB approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) to collect information through the NIH Certificate of Confidentiality (CoC) system. NIH is now accepting requests in the CoC System for Research Not Funded by NIH and Institutional Official verifications. 

NIH has re-enabled the No-Cost Extension functionality within eRA Commons.

We are excited to announce a new centralized and simplified web resource that informs the research community about particular areas of science of interest to NIH. Visiting this resource early and often when conceptualizing your research ideas will help ensure you are aware of some of NIH’s latest scientific interests.

We are pleased to announce that the application period to apply for FY 2026 NIH Extramural Loan Repayment Program (LRP) awards will open on September 1, 2025 and close on November 20, 2025.

When you prepare inclusion plans for your next applications or data for progress reports, review the updated NIH Policy and Guidelines on the Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical Research, effective August 16, 2025 for both new and ongoing clinical research projects.

NIH has released a request for information (RFI) regarding policy options to maximize research funds by limiting allowable publication costs (APCs).   

NIH has recently announced a new policy that will continue to support originality, creativity, and fairness in the research application process. 

NIH is indefinitely extending the period of delayed enforcement for registration and results reporting for basic experimental studies involving humans (BESH) responsive to designated BESH NOFOs, including those with application due dates on or after September 25, 2025.

To address concerns for participant safety risks for ongoing projects, NIH has established a short-term supplement model to support clinical research and clinical trials conducted under an active foreign subaward.

Updated funding opportunities for NIH fellowships are below and also available on the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts and Grants.gov. NIH fellowships are open to early career scientists, including at the predoctoral and postdoctoral level, and are designed to provide mentored research training to enable skills’ development and experiences needed to transition into careers in the biomedical research workforce. 

On April 29, NIH announced it is prioritizing human-focused research and reducing animal use in research. To further this initiative, all new Notices of Funding Opportunity that relate to animal model systems (NOFOs) must now also support human-focused approaches such as clinical trials, real world data, or new approach methods (NAMs).

We are transitioning our Extramural Nexus email distribution to the NIH Listserv system, where we will continue to provide updates on grants policies, processes, and resources for the research community. Please take a moment to manage your subscription preferences. 

NIH has simplified peer review for most research project grants for application due dates of January 25, 2025 or later to address the complexity of the peer review process and the potential for reputational bias to affect peer review outcomes. The initial applications are under review during summer study section meetings within the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR).

NIH recently updated its annual categorical information with actual spending data for fiscal year (FY) 2024. NIH has also moved from manual coding to automated coding for the Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) Women’s Health Research category, which further improves its accuracy and consistency in reporting and better distinguishes research focused on improving the health of women across the lifespan. 

NIH has issued a temporary policy exception to NIH GPS Section 12.3.7 to allow individuals whose mentored career development awards prematurely ended on or after January 1, 2025 to reapply for future awards. This exception is effective immediately and will remain in effect until July 31, 2026.

Today, NIH released a Research Opportunity Announcement for the Autism Data Science Initiative (ADSI). We are spotlighting this other transaction here as it is a high priority for leadership within NIH and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It also encompasses several efforts of general interest for NIH supported research including supporting data resources, participant privacy, and research replicability/validation.   

The simplified review framework went into effect earlier in 2025, and NIH has been busy preparing staff, peer reviewers, and study section chairs for its arrival at summer 2025 review meetings. To avoid confusion and reduce reviewer burden at review meetings, NIH has expired identified NOFOs that were not expired or reissued as indicated in the implementation plan shared in early 2024.

NIH issued a Guide notice (NOT-OD-25-081) clarifying how to protect human genomic data obtained from NIH controlled-access repositories when using and developing generative artificial intelligence models consistent with the Genomic Data Sharing Policy.

NIH has granted the automatic extension of Early Stage Investigator (ESI) eligibility. This extension addresses delays impacting grant application submissions, peer review, or award processing timelines between January 1, 2025, and May 31, 2025.

NIH continues to follow all laws (e.g., 42 USC 289a-2) and existing NIH policies that help NIH ensure clinical research includes the appropriate participant demographics to make certain the scientific question under study is addressed in a robust and generalizable manner. 

Effective with the next NIH award cycle, all NIH-funded research involving foreign subawards must be structured as subprojects directly linked to the prime award. Foreign subawards are prohibited from being nested under the parent grant.

NIH has announced that the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy will now go into effect on July 1, 2025. 

NIH would like to remind the extramural research community about long-standing application requirements for projects involving activities outside of the United States or partnerships with international collaborators.

Your source for NIH grants news has moved to the NIH Grants and Funding website, creating a one-stop shop for your journey through the grants process! The Extramural Nexus news content is now next to the policy and process resources you need.