NIH Extramural Nexus (News)

In July 2025, NIH announced it will no longer develop new funding opportunities focused exclusively on animal models of human disease. Rather, going forward, new funding opportunities will be designed more broadly with language that also encourages various approaches be considered.

In the event an investigator’s first substantial independent research award is terminated within the first three years of the project period, and this was not due to scientific misconduct or other disqualifying events, the investigator can request the reinstatement of Early Stage Investigator (ESI) status in eRA commons. 

When you use the NIH RePORT tool Awards by Location and Organization, resulting data may be listed as either “current” or “frozen” depending on the time of year. This is because NIH updates current data for the ongoing fiscal year until September 30. Current data may change as new projects are funded or as funding levels and other information is updated for existing projects.  

NIH has recently revised the process by which NRSA childcare funds are distributed to institutional research training awards. 

The framework is a new way of reviewing the same research strategies you’ve always developed, which means neither the components nor the structure of your application are expected to change. 

Early Stage Investigator eligibility is calculated in the eRA Commons system, using information provided by the investigator in their eRA Commons Personal Profile. Learn more about how eligibility is determined on the ESI status page.  

The short answer: collaborations can offer significant benefits for scientific discovery.  However, there are a number of components to be considered prior to establishing a collaboration when research involves animal activity.