Your TL;DR: CDMRP has released a pre-announcement for the FY26 Spinal Cord Injury Research Program, signaling that new funding opportunities for SCI research are coming soon on Grants.gov. Investigators should start planning now around four priority areas and take advantage of options like early-career partnerships to strengthen applications.
https://cdmrp.health.mil/pubs/press/2026/scirppreann
The Department of War’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs has just published a pre-announcement for the FY26 Spinal Cord Injury Research Program (SCIRP), part of the broader federal research portfolio that includes nearly $1.3 billion across 34 programs this cycle.
This pre-announcement is essentially CDMRP’s way of giving researchers a heads-up about anticipated funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) that will soon appear on Grants.gov. It is not a guarantee of awards yet, but it outlines what kinds of projects SCIRP aims to support and provides critical context for planning a compelling submission.
What Researchers Should Know Now
To align with SCIRP’s FY26 priorities, prospective teams should consider research that addresses at least one of these four focus areas:
- Acute injury intervention with the goal of protecting or preserving spinal cord tissue.
- Combating secondary health effects that unfold long after initial injury.
- New approaches to psychosocial well-being for SCI survivors and care partners.
- Strategies in rehabilitation and regeneration that meaningfully improve functional recovery.
A notable feature in this cycle is the early-career partnership option. This allows two principal investigators to collaborate on a single proposal and receive separate awards, which can enhance capacity and diversify expertise on SCI projects.
Before full application submission, the CDMRP requires submission of a pre-application through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal, eBRAP, prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final funding opportunity announcements available for downloading from Grants.gov. To obtain a listing of all CDMRP funding opportunities on the Grants.gov website, perform a basic search using CFDA number 12.420.
What’s Next
The actual FOAs with application and pre-application deadlines will be posted officially on Grants.gov. Subscribing to program updates and monitoring the CDMRP site will be key to timing your submissions effectively.
https://cdmrp.health.mil/pubs/press/2026/scirppreann
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