NIH K08 grants: recently funded projects and award sizes

Project length

3 to 5 years

Who applies

Clinicians with a health professional doctorate

Effort

Usually at least 75% of full-time effort on research

Key sections

Candidate information, mentoring plan, research strategy, institutional commitment

Limits change between notices: the notice you apply to is what counts.

• OpenPA-24-182

  Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (Parent K08 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

  Deadline May 8, 2027

• OpenPA-24-181

  Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (Parent K08 Independent Clinical Trial Required)

  Deadline May 8, 2027

• OpenPAR-25-091

  Limited Competition: Small Grant Program for NIDDK K01/K08/K23/K25 Recipients (R03 Clinical Trial Optional)

  Deadline Jan 7, 2028Up to $75K

• OpenRFA-HL-27-004

  Limited Competition: Small Grant Program for NHLBI K01/K08/K23/K25 Recipients (R03 Clinical Trial Optional)

  Deadline Nov 7, 2028Up to $85K

• Understanding melanocyte-keratinocyte interactions in normal and malignant states

  Elisabeth Anne Pedersen · University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, MI · NIAMS · $164K · Sep 17, 2026

  This K08 proposal comprises a five-year mentored career development plan designed to lead Dr. Elisabeth A. Pedersen MD, PhD to develop an independent research program in cutaneous oncology and related developmental biology. Dr. Pedersen is a physician scientist with dermatology training and a long-term goal of…

• An Anticoagulation-Free Artificial Placenta Oxygenator

  David Blauvelt · Nemours Children'S Hospital, Delaware, DE · NICHD · $152K · Sep 17, 2026

  Dr. David Blauvelt is committed to his development as a clinician-scientist dedicated to helping critically ill children through bioengineering, with a specific focus on innovation in extracorporeal life support (ECLS). In this proposal, he aims to develop an anticoagulation-free artificial placenta oxygenator to…

• Neuronal mechanisms of deep brain stimulation for psychiatric disorders

  Thomas Hainmueller · Stanford University, CA · NIMH · $196K · Sep 17, 2026

  Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a rapidly expanding treatment for severe neuropsychiatric disorders, including obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD), depression, and movement disorders. Novel devices enable complex adaptive stimulation patterns but raise new challenges: (1) DBS effects are thought to manifest through…

• The Role of IL-9 Signaling in Immune-Mediated Preterm Birth

  Jacquelyn D Lajiness · Indiana University Indianapolis, IN · NICHD · $82K · Sep 17, 2026

  The goal of this K08 application is to provide Dr. Jacquelyn Lajiness the necessary training and skills to establish an independent lab in the field of reproductive immunology. With strong mentorship and an expert Career Advisory Panel, she will master skills in reproductive immunology, next-generation sequencing,…

• Metabolic Imaging to Enable Targeted Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

  David James Tischfield · University of Pennsylvania, PA · NCI · $296K · Sep 17, 2026

  This proposal outlines a five-year research and training plan to transition Dr. Tischfield from a mentored role to an independent investigator. Dr. Tischfield is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology (Division of Nuclear Medicine Imaging and Therapy) at UPenn. His long-term goal is to establish an…

• Translatable Epigenetic Signatures of Tau Pathology in Aging Brain and Blood

  Anil R Wadhwani · University of Pennsylvania, PA · NIA · $170K · Sep 17, 2026

  Cognitive outcomes in aging vary widely, and among pathological markers, phosphorylated tau (pTau) most closely tracks impairment. Yet people with similar amyloid-β (Aβ) burden differ in both the timing and within- region severity of pTau. This Aß-pTau mismatch is not explained by age alone and suggests additional…

• Targeting metabolic drivers of therapy resistance in TP53 mutant acute myeloid leukemia

  Sarah J Skuli · University of Pennsylvania, PA · NCI · $299K · Sep 17, 2026

  Below we have provided an updated abstract that addresses utilization of vertebrate animals in this proposal. The goal of the proposed five-year training plan is the development of my independent research career as an academic physician-scientist studying therapy refractory acute myeloid leukemias (AML). I am…

• Transcriptional regulation of synovial tissue-resident memory CD8 T cells

  Paul Hsu · University of California, San Diego, CA · NIAMS · $100K · Sep 17, 2026

  This proposal represents a five-year research career development program focused on the study of synovial resident memory CD8 T cells (TRM) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and in RA disease models. The candidate is an Assistant Clinical Professor at University of California San Diego in the Division of Rheumatology,…

• Investigating the evolutionary and clinical implications of tumor suppressor allele dosage

  Anton Safonov · Sloan-Kettering Inst Can Research, NY · NCI · $310K · Sep 16, 2026

  Research: Acquired therapeutic resistance is a pervasive problem in oncology. It may occur through an unpredictable array of potential mechanisms, motivating attempts to identify resistance at increasingly earlier timepoints. My preliminary data demonstrate that pre-treatment allelic configuration predisposes breast…

• Wearable Computational Sensing of Optical Biomarkers for Inflammatory Skin Diseases

  Shannon Wongvibulsin · University of California-Irvine, CA · NIAMS · $150K · Sep 15, 2026

  This proposal describes a five-year research and training plan to support the development of an academic, physician-scientist with a focus on advancing the diagnosis and management of inflammatory skin diseases through innovations in non-invasive optical biomarkers. The principal investigator (PI), Dr. Shannon…

• Innovative, Multiplexed Assays with Data Deconvolution Approach for Filovirus Seroprevalence

  Jillian Peters · Johns Hopkins University, MD · NIAID · $195K · Sep 15, 2026

  Filoviruses such as Ebola virus are highly virulent, deadly pathogens that intermittently spillover into humans causing outbreaks and threatening global biosecurity. Serosurveillance literature from sub-Saharan Africa suggests that undetected filovirus transmission is occurring; however, existing filovirus…

• Characterization of molecular scaffolding in photoreceptor disc morphogenesis

  Kelly Donovan · Duke University, NC · NEI · $207K · Sep 14, 2026

  Photoreceptor cells continuously produce stacked membranous discs in their outer segments to facilitate efficient light capture. These discs are damaged by the harsh oxidative environment and require constant renewal. New discs are formed via a tightly-controlled molecular sequence that produces a strikingly uniform…

• Dissecting Differentiation and Immune Niches in Liposarcoma for Therapeutic Discovery

  Erica Maria Pimenta · Dana-Farber Cancer Inst, MA · NCI · $288K · Sep 14, 2026

  Sarcomas are rare connective tissue cancers associated with dysfunctional mesenchymal differentiation. Half of all patients diagnosed with sarcoma will develop metastatic disease, where outcomes are poor and have not improved over the last 40 years. There is a critical need to understand the underlying molecular…

• REGULATION OF EPITHELIAL HOMEOSTASIS BY UBIQUITIN-LIKE PROTEINS

  Carl Gustaf Marten Winge · Stanford University, CA · NIAMS · $165K · Sep 11, 2026

  REGULATION OF SKIN HOMEOSTASIS BY UBIQUITIN-LIKE PROTEINS Diseases involving abnormal epidermal differentiation, such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, affect roughly 13% of Americans. This motivates understanding the mechanisms underlying epidermal homeostasis. Through multi-omic profiling, we identified…

• Preventing necrotizing enterocolitis by optimization of human milk through prenatal dietary supplements

  Maria Estefania Barbian · Emory University, GA · NICHD · $166K · Sep 11, 2026

  Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a life-threatening gastrointestinal disease which primarily affects premature infants and causes intestinal inflammation and necrosis. Despite decades of research, NEC remains a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Premature infants are at risk of NEC, in part, because…

1. 1University of California, San Francisco, CA21
2. 2Stanford University, CA13
3. 3University of Pennsylvania, PA11
4. 4Sloan-Kettering Inst Can Research, NY10
5. 5University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, MI10
6. 6Massachusetts General Hospital, MA9
7. 7Yale University, CT9
8. 8Brigham and Women'S Hospital, MA8
9. 9Children'S Hosp of Philadelphia, PA8
10. 10University of California Los Angeles, CA8

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