The Johns Hopkins NIMH Center offers Developmental Core Pilot Awards for innovative neuroHIV projects. The center, which opened in 2006, is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), aims to fund new investigators (including cross-disciplinary faculty) interested in collaborating with the center faculty to generate preliminary data that will lead to future NIH funding. The pilot awards are particularly designed to stimulate new projects and encourage new investigators to generate data that would be used for future grant applications to the NIMH. Postdoctoral fellows and faculty members of any rank are encouraged to apply - collaborations with other academic institutions are allowed.

Four (4) pilot grants of $25,000 in direct costs for a one-year period will be awarded. 

How to Apply 

Grant Application

Individuals selected by the review committee to move to the 2nd stage will be notified and invited to submit a 6-page grant application. The application should be in the NIH R21 format, detailing:

1. specific aims
2. significance
3. innovation
4. approach (including preliminary data, if any).

Also required in the submission are: 

• The investigator’s NIH biosketch
• Project budget ($25,000 max) – not included in the 6-page max
• Rigor and Reproducibility, as required by the NIH

Postdoctoral fellows who are seeking funds for a project indirectly related to their mentor's research—i.e. trying to start an independent line of investigation, are encouraged to apply. If the senior investigator already has funding for the proposed project, then it would not be a responsive application. Applicants are encouraged to contact the JHU NIMH Center with any questions and/or to discuss their projects.

Application due date: February 2, 2024

Internal funding decision will be made by March 1, 2024

Scoring Criteria

Routine studies that follow long-established lines of investigation in a given discipline are not automatically excluded from consideration, but will be scored in accordance with the accompanying criteria. Note that to get the maximum score, a proposal of high novelty must still conform to the requirements of excellent and feasible experimental design. If you still have questions after reviewing the guidelines below, please feel free to contact Dr. Ahmet Hoke or Dr. Amanda Brown.

Detailed scoring criteria:

• Scientific merit, including feasibility and experimental design (10 points). Well controlled experiments with convincing or proven methodologies; clearly and appropriately related to the Specific Aims and individual hypotheses; useful information likely to be generated whether the hypothesis is supported or rejected by experimental results. Adequate discussion of statistical issues. Potential problems identified and suitable alternative approaches outlined in convincing detail.
• Scientific impact and novelty (8 points). To receive full score, the proposal should have: major new implications for therapeutics or direct patient care, AND/OR represent a major departure from the established paradigms in the literature, AND/OR potentially answer a major unsolved problem or question in the indicated field(s) involved. Novelty and impact can derive from the first application of new techniques or disciplines to preexisting problems (an example from the past would be the first MRI brain studies of HIV-associated dementia or a new animal model of HIV CNS disease).

Bonus points:

• PI new to NeuroHIV research (4 points)
• New collaboration between investigators (1 point)
• New area of research for PI (1 point)
• Proposal is utilizing P30 resources (1 point)

Contact us if you have questions

• Co-Director: Dr. Ahmet Hoke ([email protected], 410-955-2227)
• Co-Director: Dr. Amanda Brown ([email protected]; 410-614-2429)
  
  
  For more information, please see the full call for pilot grants.

We are pleased to announce the availability of funds for single-purpose projects such as to test new hypotheses, research tools, datasets, experimental models or toward the purchase of specialized small equipment. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis (no due date) until all funds have been disbursed. An expedited review process and funding decision can be expected within 4 weeks of submission.


The application should be 3 pages maximum detailing:

• Specific aims
• Significance
• Innovation
• Approach

Please include an NIH biosketch, which is not included in the application page limits. 

Postdoctoral fellows who are seeking funds for a project indirectly related to their mentor's research—i.e. trying to start an independent line of investigation, are encouraged to apply. If the senior investigator already has funding for the proposed project, then it would not be a responsive application. Applicants are encouraged to contact the JHU NIMH Center with any questions and/or to discuss their projects.

Scoring Criteria

Routine studies that follow long-established lines of investigation in a given discipline are not automatically excluded from consideration, but will be scored in accordance with the accompanying criteria. Note that to get the maximum score, a proposal of high novelty must still conform to the requirements of excellent and feasible experimental design. If you still have questions after reviewing the guidelines below, please feel free to contact Dr. Ahmet Hoke or Dr. Amanda Brown.

Detailed scoring criteria:

• Scientific merit, including feasibility and experimental design (10 points). Well controlled experiments with convincing or proven methodologies; clearly and appropriately related to the Specific Aims and individual hypotheses; useful information likely to be generated whether the hypothesis is supported or rejected by experimental results. Adequate discussion of statistical issues. Potential problems identified and suitable alternative approaches outlined in convincing detail.
• Scientific impact and novelty (8 points). To receive full score, the proposal should have: major new implications for therapeutics or direct patient care, AND/OR represent a major departure from the established paradigms in the literature, AND/OR potentially answer a major unsolved problem or question in the indicated field(s) involved. Novelty and impact can derive from the first application of new techniques or disciplines to preexisting problems (an example from the past would be the first MRI brain studies of HIV-associated dementia or a new animal model of HIV CNS disease).

Bonus points:

• PI new to NeuroHIV research (4 points)
• New collaboration between investigators (1 point)
• New area of research for PI (1 point)
• Proposal is utilizing P30 resources (1 point)

Contact us if you have questions

• Co-Director: Dr. Ahmet Hoke ([email protected], 410-955-2227)
• Co-Director: Dr. Amanda Brown ([email protected]; 410-614-2429)