NIH Highlighted Topics

NIH Highlighted Topics are curated areas of scientific interest that NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices actively want to fund, but they are not standalone funding opportunities with their own deadlines or SBIR/STTR set-asides.

Instead, they signal where NIH scientific priorities and MAHA initiative alignment are strongest right now, so small businesses can use them to sharpen an application submitted through the Parent SBIR/STTR mechanism (PA-27-100) or another broad NIH funding announcement on Grants.gov.

In practice, this means identifying a Highlighted Topic that matches your technology, citing it directly in your Specific Aims to show reviewers and program officers that your project addresses a stated NIH priority, and reaching out to the listed ICO Scientific Contact before submission to confirm fit and build a relationship with the program officer who may ultimately review your application.

Because most topics list multiple participating Institutes, applicants should also identify which ICO's areas of interest most closely match their technology, since that determines both the review home and the realistic budget ceiling for the award.

Review the Highlighted Topics Below:

• RNA Metabolism in Aging and Healthy Lifespan

• Characterizing Indoor Exposures to Advance Exposome Research

• Increasing Engagement in Treatment for Behavioral Health

• Implementation Science to Optimize Alcohol Misuse Prevention and Treatment in the Criminal Justice System

• School Mental and Behavioral Health: Expanding Access to Evidence-Based Interventions and Services

• Breaking Barriers: Integrating Immunology and Neuroscience to Transform AD/ADRD Research and Bring a Better Understanding of the Aging Brain

• New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) for Dietary Supplement and Nutrition research

• Cellular Quiescence, Senescence, and Cell Death in Aging and Disease

• Research on the Role of Post-Translational Modifications in Human Health and Disease

• Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Tools for Biomedical and Behavioral Research: Validity and Utility

• Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Approaches for Biomedical, Biobehavioral and Social Science Research

• Behavioral and Cognitive Signals of Aging in Real-World Contexts

• Enhancing Data Usage and Utility to Advance Biomedical Research

• Health and Extreme Weather: Advancing Critical Research to Address the Direct and Indirect Health Impacts of Weather-Related Natural Disasters and Emerging Weather-Related Harms

• Computational Modeling of Complex Processes Across Biological Scales

• Integrating Environmental Science and Engineering with Biomedical Research for Effective Exposure Prevention and Disease Intervention

• Environmental Contributors to Infertility

• Implementation Science to Optimize HIV Prevention and Treatment

• Oral Health and Aging

• Food Is Medicine

• Using Clinical Studies and Human-Based Models to Understand Vaccine Mechanisms Impacting Efficacy and Safety

• Epidemiological Studies of Vaccination and Health Outcomes Across the Lifespan

• Biology- and Physics-Informed Explainable AI Across the Lifespan

• Training and Career Development in Dissemination and Implementation Science

• Advancing Autoimmune Disease Research: Integrating Genetic, Environmental, and Immunological Factors to Improve Diagnosis and Treatment

• Strengthening Biomedical Research, Promoting Trust, and Improving Health through Bioethics Research

• Accelerating Otitis Media Research and Workforce Development