Limited Competition: Small Grant Program for NHLBI K01/K08/K23/K25 Recipients (R03 Clinical Trial Optional)
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) · NIH Institute/Center · RFA-HL-27-004
Source: Grants.gov · View original posting ↗
- AwardWhat a single award can be worth — the funder's published per-award amount or floor–ceiling range.
- Up to $85K
- DeadlineFinal application due date.
- Nov 7, 2028
- Letter of intentDue date for the letter of intent (a short pre-application some funders require or request before the full proposal).
- —
- MechanismNIH activity code — the grant type (R01 research project, R21 exploratory, K series career development, F series fellowship, …).
- K01
- DurationMaximum project period for a single award.
- —
- Expected awardsHow many awards the funder anticipates making under this opportunity.
- 29
- Funding cycleHow often the program accepts applications (annual, multiple cycles per year, rolling, or one-time).
- One-time
- Open dateWhen applications open (or opened).
- May 12, 2026
- Total fundingThe overall pool the funder expects to commit across ALL awards under this opportunity — not what one project receives.
- $3.9M total
- Clinical trialWhether proposed projects must, may, or must not include a clinical trial.
- Optional / allowed
Funding context
Based on FY2025 NHLBI K01 applications (22 of 63 applications awarded).
Payline: NIH discontinued percentile paylines for 2026 under its Unified Funding Strategy ↗ — scores are now weighed in context rather than against a fixed cutoff.
NHLBI K01, FY2025 — atypical NIH funding year (multi-year upfront funding / rescinded paylines); NIH reports FY2025 success rates as not comparable to prior years.
Aggregate historical data by institute, mechanism, and fiscal year — context for planning, not a prediction for this opportunity. Source ↗
Research areas
Auto-classified from the title and description (keyword-based) — may be imperfect.
Description
This is a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for a Limited Competition that invites applications from eligible organizations to apply. Please see Section III. Eligibility for additional information. In accordance with NIH standard peer-review processes, the applications will be peer-reviewed, and only meritorious applications will be considered. The purpose of this NOFO is to solicit current or recently completed NHLBI K01, K08, K23, and K25 awardees for small grant support to expand their current research objectives or to branch out to a new study emerging from their K award research. This NOFO is intended to facilitate the transition to research independence for these NHLBI K awardees. Current NHLBI K01, K08, K23, and K25 awardees may apply for this R03 support starting in the third year of their K award Project Period. Recently completed NHLBI K01, K08, K23, and K25 award recipients are eligible to apply or resubmit A1 applications if the earliest potential R03 award start date is within two years of the end of their K award Project Period.The R03 grant mechanism supports research projects that can be completed within two years and with limited resources. These projects are expected to generate preliminary data to bolster a subsequent R01-equivalent application. Eligible projects include, but are not limited to, pilot or feasibility studies; proof of concept studies; secondary analysis of existing data; small, self-contained research projects; development of new research methodologies or technologies, or creation of novel experimental model systems.Applicants are required to maintain a minimum of 40% protected research effort during the R03 award period. This requirement can be fulfilled through a combination of effort on the proposed R03 project and other research projects, irrespective of funding source.For current and former K23 awardees, the research proposed in the R03 application may or may not include patient-oriented research.