NIH R01 Grants — Research Project Grant
Reviewed by Dr. Meng ZhaoLast reviewed June 9, 2026Data refreshed June 9, 2026Editorial standards
Discrete, specified investigator-led research project
Funding
No fixed cap; most awards $250K–$500K direct/year
Duration
3–5 years (renewable)
Eligibility
Any qualified investigator with the skills, resources, and (typically) preliminary data
Activity code
R01
What is the NIH R01 grant?
The R01 is the standard NIH research grant — the workhorse mechanism that funds independent investigators to execute a discrete research project they have proposed. Most NIH-funded laboratories run on R01 funding. There is no fixed budget cap, but most awards land between $250,000 and $500,000 in direct costs per year, with project periods of 3–5 years and the option to renew (a "Type 2" competing renewal).
Recent R01 awards from NIH RePORTER
Examples of funded R01 projects across the last two fiscal years. The matching-award count comes from the full result set; funding totals, averages, rankings, and examples use the first 500 records returned by NIH RePORTER. Figures reflect a snapshot last refreshed on June 9, 2026.
Example R01 projects from the sample
Targeting of Doppel-axis to Control Lung Tumor Angiogenesis and Immunity
5R01CA262788-05Taslim Al-Hilal · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, UT · $352,275 · awarded Jun 5, 2026 · NIHProject summary Tumors, just like normal tissues, require blood vessels to receive nutrients and oxygen and to eliminate wastes and carbon dioxide. To ensure this blood supply, tumors create their own vascular beds from established blood vessels by a process called angiogenesis. This process plays a major role in tumor growth, survival, and invasiveness.…
Elucidating roles of TRPS1 in regulating antitumor immunity
1R01CA311117-01Casey Ager · MAYO CLINIC ARIZONA, AZ · $657,698 · awarded Jun 3, 2026 · NIHPROJECT SUMMARY Overcoming regulatory T cell (Treg) mediated immunosuppression in tumors remains a critical, yet elusive goal for cancer therapy. In prior work, we identified a novel role for the developmental transcription factor TRPS1 (transcriptional repressor GATA binding 1) in promoting Treg function within human and murine tumors. There is currently…
Women’s Social Ties and Psychosocial Well-Being in a Resource-Limited Patriarchal Setting: A Longitudinal Perspective
5R01AG075526-05VICTOR AGADJANIAN · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES, CA · $362,716 · awarded Jun 2, 2026 · NIHPROJECT SUMMARY The proposed study will investigate midlife women's relationships and support exchanges with their late- adolescent and adult children, as well as with other relatives and non-relatives, and the implications of these relationships and exchanges for women's psychosocial well-being in a rural sub-Saharan setting. The study will leverage and…
Functional outcomes of inflammatory bowel disease associated variants
5R01DK099097-13CLARA ABRAHAM · YALE UNIVERSITY, CT · $708,679 · awarded Jun 1, 2026 · NIHProject Summary/Abstract The interplay between microbial and genetic susceptibility factors is central to the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Innate mechanisms, in particular through pattern recognition receptor (PRR) pathways, are the initiating drivers of host responses to microbes. Of the >240 loci associated to IBD, a number of genes…
TWEAK/TNFSF12 and LIGHT/TNFSF14 interactions in allergic esophagitis remodeling
5R01DK114457-07Seema Aceves · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO, CA · $696,727 · awarded May 29, 2026 · NIHABSTRACT Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) is an oral- and aero-antigen mediated allergic disease of increasing prevalence and incidence. EoE is characterized by esophageal fibrosis, rigidity, and smooth muscle hypertrophy, resulting in food impactions and strictures, vomiting, poor appetite, failure to thrive, and dysphagia. Chronic Th2-type inflammation of…
Metallo-fluorocarbon nanoemulsion for PET detection of cancer inflammation
5R01CA279271-04ERIC AHRENS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO, CA · $655,698 · awarded May 29, 2026 · NIHIn cancer, macrophages play a multifaceted role in disease progression and response to therapies. Tumor- associated macrophages (TAMs) serve several pro-tumoral functions including the expression of factors promoting growth, immune suppression and angiogenesis. A high TAM burden in the tumor microenvironment is often associated with poor prognosis and…
Study the role of ICOS on murine and human ILC2s
5R01AI181866-02OMID AKBARI · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, CA · $590,670 · awarded May 29, 2026 · NIHSUMMARY The long-term goal of this study is to increase our understanding of the immune mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases and asthma. Allergic asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder that is characterized by airway hyperreactivity (AHR) and driven by Th2 cytokine production. Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) secrete high…
Next Generation Infectious Disease Diagnostics: Microfluidic-Free Gigapixel PCR with Self-Assembled Partitioning
5R01AI176829-04Adam Abate · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO, CA · $629,850 · awarded May 28, 2026 · NIHABSTRACT Infections by different pathogens can manifest with similar symptoms, but appropriate treatment requires specific and accurate diagnosis. Clinicians often turn to multiplexed assays testing for many organisms (e.g. BioFire). While these approaches can test for 50-70 organisms, they do not provide concentration titers, which is necessary to identify…
Quality Measures to Advance Suicide Prevention and Care Across Health Systems
5R01MH137062-03Brian Ahmedani · HENRY FORD HEALTH + MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES, MI · $402,934 · awarded May 28, 2026 · NIHPROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Suicide accounted for >48,000 deaths in the United States (US) in 2021. The annual rate has increased by >34% in the last 20 years. Suicide prevention is a top NIMH research priority. Evidence suggests that suicide attempts (fatal and non-fatal) are preventable, and health systems are an optimal location to implement prevention…
Longitudinal validation of retinal biomarkers against cerebral imaging in preclinical Alzheimer's disease
5R01AG079241-05Jessica Alber · UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND, RI · $2,002,901 · awarded May 28, 2026 · NIHProject Summary/Abstract Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a gradually progressive neurodegenerative disorder that results in total cognitive and functional loss. To date, disease-modifying therapeutics and secondary prevention efforts have proven ineffective in combating this public health burden, which impacts over 5.8 million individuals, and is the 6th…
Regulation and function of DNMT3A-mediated methylation in the brain.
5R01MH142292-02Hume Akahori Stroud · UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER, TX · $548,446 · awarded May 27, 2026 · NIHProject Summary: The DNA methyltransferase DNMT3A is mutated in individuals with neurological disorders such as autism and intellectual disabilities. DNMT3A is highly expressed in the nervous system, primarily methylating atypical non- CG sequences, particularly at CA sites (mCA). The mCA mark is partially bound by MECP2, a protein mutated in Rett syndrome,…
Testing Heart Failure Resilience Intervention for Caregivers (HEROIC) in Advanced Heart Failure
1R01HL183346-01Martha Abshire Saylor · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, MD · $795,172 · awarded May 26, 2026 · NIHProject Summary Heart failure (HF) is a major source of suffering, the leading cause of death in the US (higher than dementia and cancer combined) and results in $108 billion annually in global health care costs to individuals, families and communities. Policies limiting reimbursement for HF readmissions increase strain on family caregivers to manage HF in…
Funding institutes in the sample
| Institute | Awards | Funding |
|---|---|---|
| NIH | 496 | $307.2M |
| AHRQ | 3 | $1.2M |
| ALLCDC | 1 | $531K |
Most frequent institutions in the sample
- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO — 33 awards
- COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES — 21 awards
- DUKE UNIVERSITY — 13 awards
- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES — 13 awards
- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO — 13 awards
- UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER — 11 awards
- UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH — 11 awards
- NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY — 10 awards
Source: NIH RePORTER. Verify any award in the official record by searching its project number. See our data methodology for how this sample is built and its limitations.
Decision guide
Choose R01 when
Choose R01 when you have a defined, hypothesis-driven research project with preliminary data, an established literature, and 3–5 years of milestones you can articulate in a Specific Aims page. Multiple specific aims should be logically connected but able to stand independently if one fails.
Choose another mechanism when
Skip R01 in favor of R21 if you lack preliminary data and the project is genuinely high-risk/exploratory. Choose R03 for very small, focused projects that finish in 2 years. Pick R35 if you're an established investigator and want one larger, longer, more flexible award per program (you can only have one R35 active at a time).
Who applies for R01
Faculty and other qualified investigators apply for R01s after typically 1–2 postdoctoral years of preliminary data generation, often after a successful K99/R00 or K-series award. Both new (NI) and early-stage (ESI) investigators receive payline advantages. Clinicians, basic scientists, and computational researchers all use R01s, though the typical preliminary-data expectation pushes earlier-stage investigators toward R21 or K mechanisms first.
Compare nearby NIH grant mechanisms
Searchers often land on R01 while deciding between adjacent NIH activity codes. Compare scope, NIH staff involvement, budget scale, and applicant stage before choosing a funding opportunity.
Novel, high-risk/high-reward exploratory research
Small, short-term projects (pilot studies, secondary analyses, methods development)
Long, flexible support for productive investigators (one program per lab)
Postdoc → faculty transition (mentored K99 then independent R00)
R01 with extended funding for top-scoring established investigators
For broad grant lookup, use the NIH grant search to find funded examples by activity code, PI, institution, and award year.
Search tips for R01
- Filter the PI Finder by activity_code R01 to find investigators currently funded as PIs.
- R01 success rates vary by institute — NIAID, NCI, and NHLBI publish rates separately.
- A "Type 1" R01 is a new award; "Type 2" is a competing renewal; "Type 5" is a non-competing year of an active award.
Search NIH grants by activity code
Find R01-funded PIs
R01 funding trends
R01 frequently asked questions
What is the page limit for an NIH R01?
The Research Strategy section of an R01 is 12 pages. Specific Aims is 1 page. The full application includes additional sections (biosketches, budget, resource sharing plan, etc.) that have their own page limits.
What is the typical NIH R01 success rate?
Overall NIH R01 success rates have ranged 18–22% in recent years, with significant variation by institute. Early-stage investigators (ESI) and new investigators (NI) typically receive payline advantages.
How many NIH R01s can a PI have at one time?
There is no hard cap on the number of R01s a single PI can hold. Many established labs hold 2–4 R01s simultaneously. NIH does flag investigators whose total direct costs exceed $1M/year for additional review.
Can postdocs apply for an R01?
An R01 must be submitted by an institution on behalf of an investigator who can hold an independent position. Most postdocs cannot apply directly because they don't have the required institutional independence. The standard postdoc-to-faculty bridge is the K99/R00.
Related NIH grant types
Exploratory/Developmental Grant
Novel, high-risk/high-reward exploratory research
Small Research Grant
Small, short-term projects (pilot studies, secondary analyses, methods development)
Outstanding Investigator Award
Long, flexible support for productive investigators (one program per lab)
Pathway to Independence Award
Postdoc → faculty transition (mentored K99 then independent R00)
MERIT Award
R01 with extended funding for top-scoring established investigators