The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency — making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.
The grant program aims to support research efforts in identifying in vivo neurophysiological and behavioral measures for use in the early screening phase of treatment development, specifically within animal studies. It focuses on optimizing and evaluating measures related to neurophysiological and behavioral processes that could act as surrogate markers for neural processes of clinical interest, especially in the context of mental illnesses. The ultimate goal is to enhance the scientific value of preclinical animal data in the therapeutic development pipeline by assessing the impact of therapeutic targets and treatment candidates on neurobiological mechanisms relevant to mental health.