Closed · PA-25-169 · CFDA 93.286;93.866;93.867 · Discretionary

Trailblazer Award for New and Early Stage Investigators (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)

Federal grant opportunity posted by National Institutes of Health, cataloged on Grants.gov.

Varies
Award range
Closed
Status
May 7, 2026
Close date
-
Expected awards

The verdict

Trailblazer Award for New and Early Stage Investigators (R21 Clinical Trial Optional) is a closed discretionary listing from National Institutes of Health that offered Varies by applicant. Future funding cycles may be published under the same CFDA number. PlainGrants indexes 12,419 other opportunities from National Institutes of Health.

Varies
award range
Closed
application status
93.286;93.866;93.867
CFDA program
12,419
other opportunities from National Institutes of Health

Recently closed NOFO

This listing closed on May 7, 2026. CFDA 93.286;93.866;93.867 may re-announce under a new opportunity number. Historical award band was Varies by applicant.

According to Grants.gov (extract vintage 2026-08-10), this record reflects the officially published listing. See methodology.

Deadline tracker

Application window closed

Closed May 7, 2026

Posted Jan 8 Closes May 7

Instrument

Grant

Description

This Trailblazer Award is an opportunity for NIH-defined New and Early Stage Investigators (https://grants.nih.gov/policy/early-investigators/index.htm) to pursue research programs that integrate engineering and the physical sciences with the life and/or biomedical sciences. A Trailblazer project may be exploratory, developmental, proof of concept, or high risk-high impact, and may be technology design-directed, discovery-driven, or hypothesis-driven. Importantly, applicants must propose research approaches for which there are minimal or no preliminary data.A distinct feature for this FOA is that no preliminary data are required, expected, or encouraged. However, if available, minimal preliminary data are allowed. Preliminary data are defined as material which the applicant has independently produced and not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal. All preliminary data should be clearly marked and limited to one-half page, which may include one figure. Applications including data more than one-half page or more than one figure will be considered noncompliant with the FOA instructions and will not go forward to review.

Wide-open applicant board · 15 Grants.gov doors

Trailblazer Award for New and Early Stage Inv… prints 15 distinct Grants.gov eligibility doors (State governments; County governments; City or township governments; Special district governments; +11 more). Filter fit before reading award size as demand — most applicant classes appear on the row. The extract does not mark applicant cost-sharing as required. Instrument: Grant. Funding-activity code maps to Health (HL). This eligibility-code string dominates the National Institutes of Health book (9,741 peers, 78% of 12,420).

Code 00
State governments
Code 01
County governments
Code 02
City or township governments
Code 04
Special district governments
Code 05
Independent school districts
Code 06
Public / state-controlled institutions of higher education
Code 07
Federally recognized tribal governments
Code 08
Public / Indian housing authorities
Code 11
Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
Code 12
Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (other than IHEs)
Code 13
Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status (other than IHEs)
Code 20
Private institutions of higher education
Code 22
For-profit organizations other than small businesses
Code 23
Small businesses
Code 25
Others (see official listing text)

Codes are Grants.gov eligibility category values from the extract vintage 2026-08-10. Confirm the full eligibility statement on the official listing or the Grants.gov eligibility reference.

Official Listing on Grants.gov

View full details, application forms, and submission instructions.

View on Grants.gov

Agency Contact

NIH Grants Information grantsinfo@nih.gov

What to do next

Trailblazer Award for New and Early Stage Inv… is closed; use the parent program and agency catalog for the next funding cycle.

  • Browse open federal opportunities in the same category when this listing is closed. Open opportunities
  • Look up CFDA 93.286;93.866;93.867 across all indexed listings before you commit to this opportunity alone. Eligibility finder
  • National Institutes of Health lists 12,419 other indexed opportunities on PlainGrants. Agency catalog

Opportunity deadlines and eligibility change on Grants.gov; PlainGrants mirrors the extract and is not the submission system.

Disclaimer: This information is sourced from Grants.gov and SAM.gov and is for informational purposes only. Opportunity details, deadlines, and eligibility requirements change frequently. Always verify current information directly on Grants.gov before applying. PlainGrants is not affiliated with any federal agency.

Data sourced from the SAM.gov Assistance Listings and Grants.gov. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainGrants