Funding Landscape
Where NIH funding flows in this space — trends, category concentration, and top-funded organizations.
Lighter bar = partial fiscal year (YTD only); not directly comparable to fully-reported prior years.
Through September 2026; FY2026 ends Sep 30, 2026.
| Category | Projects | Share | Funding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Research | 47 | 38.5% | $54.7M |
| Biotools | 51 | 41.8% | $51.8M |
| Therapeutics | 13 | 10.7% | $10.9M |
| Medical Device | 5 | 4.1% | $9.1M |
| Infrastructure | 3 | 2.5% | $1.8M |
| Digital Health | 1 | 0.8% | $1.4M |
| Training | 2 | 1.6% | $144K |
| Organization | Projects | Funding |
|---|---|---|
| ALLEN INSTITUTE | 5 | $17.8M |
| STANFORD UNIVERSITY | 8 | $9.5M |
| JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY | 8 | $8.6M |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY | 4 | $7.3M |
| NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING | 1 | $6.2M |
| UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH | 5 | $5.5M |
| HARVARD UNIVERSITY | 3 | $3.7M |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | 3 | $3.6M |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES | 4 | $3.5M |
| UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR | 3 | $3.4M |
Among the examined projects, our analysis reveals a strong concentration of NIH investment in tool development for human brain organoid electrophysiology, with biotools (51 projects) and basic research (47 projects) together accounting for the vast majority of the 122-project sample. The most heavily funded Precise-tier projects prioritize building next-generation recording infrastructure - including multi-electrode arrays, Neuropixels-class silicon probes, integrated optogenetic-electrophysiology systems, and long-term culture platforms - suggesting that the perceived bottleneck is measurement capability rather than biological hypotheses alone. Disease modeling applications appear prominently across the sample, with multiple projects targeting cortico-striatal circuits relevant to autism, schizophrenia, and epilepsy, and several others developing assembloid and organoid-on-chip systems for neurodevelopmental disorders. This sample recorded $39.3M in FY2024 and $52.5M in FY2025; two data points do not establish a trend, so no directional inference is drawn from these figures. FY2026 shows $26.5M as a partial-year YTD figure that should not be interpreted as a decline.
Funding Summary
Funding figures sum award amounts across all budget periods for each project. Each fiscal year reflects actual spend in that year, not the most recent budget period only. Totals only include projects that meet the topic-relevance threshold - umbrella support grants (e.g., P30 cancer centers) that host a relevant trial but cover many unrelated programs are intentionally excluded so the headline number stays topically attributable.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total Committed Funding | $129.8M |
| Active Projects | 122 |
| Funding Organizations | 70 |
| Principal Investigators | 131 |
Funding by Year
| Year | Projects | Funding |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 (YTD) | 44 | $26.5M |
| FY2025 | 72 | $52.5M |
| FY2024 | 66 | $39.3M |
The Projects column counts each project in every year it received funding, so per-year counts sum to more than the 122-project sample total. Funding amounts are actual per-year spend from NIH RePORTER budget-period rows.
Through September 2026; FY2026 ends Sep 30, 2026. The YTD figure should not be compared directly to fully-reported prior years.
Top Funding Categories
| Category | Projects | Funding |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Research | 47 | $54.7M |
| Biotools | 51 | $51.8M |
| Therapeutics | 13 | $10.9M |
| Medical Device | 5 | $9.1M |
| Infrastructure | 3 | $1.8M |
| Digital Health | 1 | $1.4M |
| Training | 2 | $144K |