Issue: ORN-2026-33

Request for Information: NIH Common Fund is Soliciting Ideas for NIH-wide Challenges and Opportunities

NOT-RM-26-004

Responses must be received by 11:59:59 pm (ET) on September 19, 2026.

The Common Fund supports bold scientific programs that catalyze discovery across all biomedical and behavioral research. These programs bring together investigators and multiple NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices (ICOs) to collaborate on innovative research. Common Fund programs are expected to address high priority challenges for NIH as a whole and make a broader impact on the scientific community. Many Common Fund programs are designed to produce specific deliverables, such as broadly useful datasets, tools, technologies, research methods, or fundamental scientific paradigms. These deliverables are expected to have exceptional impact on the way science is conducted, our understanding of human physiology or disease, or our ability to support human health. 

All Common Fund investments share the following criteria: 

• Transformative – strong potential for exceptionally high and broadly applicable impact in biomedical/behavioral research 
• Catalytic – time-limited investments of 10 years or less, designed to capitalize on new scientific knowledge or breakthroughs to accelerate and enable subsequent research 
• Goal-driven – include defined goals to develop specific deliverables (such as new knowledge, data sets, resources, methods, or technologies) 
• Synergistic – advance the missions of multiple NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs), leverage expertise from multiple ICOs, and accelerate research relevant to multiple diseases and conditions 
• Novel – pursue innovative solutions to specific scientific challenges important to the NIH mission but that no other entity is likely or able to address 

Information requested

The NIH requests ideas for biomedical and behavioral research challenges and opportunities that may be of interest to the Common Fund. These ideas may inform activities to advance areas of science relevant to these challenges/opportunities, including, but not limited to, scientific workshops, pilot initiatives, and/or future Common Fund programs.

NIH encourages idea submissions that may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• A critical challenge or exciting emerging opportunity in biomedical/behavioral research
• Resources, tools, or knowledge that are needed to address the important challenge or opportunity
• Scientific advancements or other factors that make addressing the important challenge or opportunity particularly timely
• Critical challenges that small labs or research groups face with respect to funding, contracting, or navigating the regulatory landscape
• Priorities from "Advancing NIH's Mission Through a Unified Strategy" and "Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy."

Please also consider:

• The potential impact on human health
• Completed work products that could be accomplished in 5-10 years

NIH encourages concise ideas to facilitate the review process. Submissions should focus on broad concepts rather than detailed descriptions.

How to submit a response

All responses must be submitted electronically using the following website https://rfi.grants.nih.gov/?s=6a22cf1d0957e14467009772.

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NSF announces $1.5B for foundational research to drive scientific breakthroughs for American technological leadership

The U.S. National Science Foundation today released 12 new notices of funding opportunity (NOFOs) providing over $1.5 billion for foundational research, including basic and use-inspired inquiry across the sciences and engineering. These funding opportunities support the foremost goal in the administration's memorandum "Ushering in a New Golden Age of American Innovation: Fiscal Year 2028 Administration Research and Development Budget Priorities" which calls for investing in the foundational research that remains the bedrock of American science and technology leadership. They also deliver on a central premise of the report Science: A New Golden Age — that America must respond to the forces reshaping the scientific enterprise and create conditions in which exceptional science can occur more often and progress more rapidly.