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����Budgetary Guidance

Unallowable Costs

Proposals including the following expenses in the budget are not eligible:

• Projects with a primary focus on curriculum development
• Faculty course or teaching buy-out
• Payment to collaborators from other institutions

Proposals for projects that could be supported with existing funds, such as funding from other internal or external sources, are discouraged.

Allowable Costs

In addition to costs for supplies and materials, the use of core services, etc., some salary support can be requested based on role/campus:

• The CU Anschutz PI may request the equivalent of 0.04 FTE. Salary support for faculty collaborators/co-investigators is not allowed.
• The CU ������ý���� PI may request up to two weeks of summer salary. Salary support for faculty collaborators/co-investigators is not allowed.
• Project personnel (e.g., postdocs, students) from both campuses may request an amount fitting to the work proposed.
• Special Topic Announcement only: Third party contractor support may be requested if needs cannot be met by CU Anschutz or CU ������ý���� campuses. Teams must receive prior approval from AB Nexus program staff no later than two weeks prior to submission deadline. Requests must include justification that identifies the third-party contractor as a crucial and integral part of the project, as well as an estimated budget for that portion of the award. Requests are due no later than April 27, 2026, and should be sent to abnexus_seedgrants@colorado.edu.

����Review Criteria

Projects submitted via both the Exploratory/Broad Announcement and the Special Topic Announcement will be evaluated against the criteria described below. Consideration of review criteria will acknowledge the distinct definitions of merit, impact and success that exist across various disciplines.

• Fit with��Special Topic��(special topic proposals only):��Proposal clearly and compellingly articulates how the project addresses the AI & Brain Health/Neurological Disease��topic area. Strong proposals will explicitly describe the relevance of the research to AI and brain health/neurological disorders and will demonstrate a distinct, competitive, and well‑justified approach that advances the field. Proposal focuses on novel AI approaches, rather than relying on publicly available, general-purpose tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Copilot) as the primary innovation.
• Significance: Proposal assesses the importance of the proposed research, its relevance to the field and its potential for meaningful scientific or societal impact.
• Innovation: Proposal clearly articulates what is novel and unique, how the innovation improves upon existing work, and why the proposed approach has the potential to meaningfully shift current scientific, technological, or clinical paradigms.
• Approach: Proposal provides a well‑justified research plan, appropriate and robust methodology, and a logical sequence of activities that clearly support the project’s aims.
• Research Team: Proposal clearly states the integration of the collaborative team and articulates how the investigators’ expertise, roles, and contributions collectively enhance the project’s feasibility, innovation, and potential for impact.
• Extramural Funding Alignment: Proposal presents a well‑justified pathway to external funding, including targeted mechanisms and a realistic plan for submission. The potential to develop the concept into a competitive federal grant proposal will be considered in the grant evaluation.

����Terms, Conditions and Other Guidelines

Upon accepting an award, recipients agree to fulfill several requirements. If a recipient fails to fulfill any of these, AB Nexus reserves the right to suspend funds.

• Regulatory Compliance. All approvals from the relevant regulatory compliance governing bodies (IRB, IACUC, EHS, biohazardous materials, etc.) must be granted before work may be initiated.
• Project Reporting. PIs must submit progress reports. The progress reporting process will be initiated by AB Nexus program staff and completed through the online InfoReady platform. Exploratory/Broad Announcement projects must submit progress reports at the 18-month mark (project end date) and 12 months after the grant ends. Special Topic Announcement projects must submit progress reports at the 12- and 24-month mark (project end date) and 12 months after the grant ends. Annual Reports are required following project close-out for the length of time that scientific activity and/or collaborations continue.��
• Post-Award Reporting Policy. Failure to comply with required Annual Reports will result in consequences including ineligibility to apply for future AB Nexus funding opportunities and limited submission funding opportunities coordinated through the Office of Research Development and Strategy, and the project being reported with no documented activity in programmatic updates provided to the CU President’s Office and campus leadership.
• PI Change. If there is a change or absence (60 days or greater) in PI, recipients will immediately contact and provide a justification to��abnexus_seedgrants@colorado.edu.
• Funding Access. Awards will be made available through the financial office in recipients’ respective college/school/institute on the first day of September following award notification. The budget office at the PI’s respective college/school/institute will set up the speedtype (account) number for the award and will transfer the funds to the speedtype. Recipients should contact their respective budget office for the speedtype following award notification.��
• Project Duration and No-Cost Extensions.����Exploratory/Broad Announcement projects: up to 18 months (through February 29, 2028). Special Topic Announcement projects: up to 24 months (through August 31, 2028).��No more than two no-cost extensions (3–6 months) may be requested and must be approved by AB Nexus before the end date. Requests must be sent to abnexus_seedgrants@colorado.edu and include justification, plan for remaining funds, and extension length. Unused funds will be returned to the program.
• AB Nexus Reviewer.��Recipients agree to review and score AB Nexus proposals for the following two review cycles. Recipients on sabbatical or family leave during the review period will serve as reviewers in the subsequent cycle. If a recipient fails to serve as a reviewer during the next cycle, funds may be suspended.��
• Pursuit of External Funding. PIs agree to identify and pursue external funding to achieve sustainability for their project. Research development staff will be available to assist in this activity through funding opportunity searches and proposal development support.��
• Suspension of Funds. If a recipient fails to fulfill any of the aforementioned conditions, AB Nexus reserves the right to suspend funds.

Applicants are not eligible to submit a 2026 AB Nexus proposal in the role of PI if they are the PI of an active AB Nexus project. Current AB Nexus awardees are not eligible to submit a new proposal until their project is completed, and the award is closed out. Once all award and reporting requirements have been fulfilled, past awardees are eligible to submit a new proposal. Decisions about additional awards to previously funded applicants will be at the discretion of AB Nexus program staff.

����Submission Instructions

InfoReady Online Portal

Proposals for both the Exploratory/Broad Announcement and the Special Topic Announcement must be submitted via InfoReady by the deadline. All teams will submit through and be asked to identify which mechanism they are applying for. Late submissions will not be accepted for any reason.

Only one submission is required per team. PIs from both campuses may use the portal to submit, but please note that your email domain will dictate how you should log in to the system:

• PIs from CU Anschutz (if your email ends in @cuanschutz.edu) should select “Login for University of Colorado Users” and proceed with their university credentials/single sign-on.
• PIs from CU ������ý���� (if your email ends in @colorado.edu) should select “Login for Other Users” and register for an InfoReady account if you do not have one or log in with your existing account.

Style and Formatting

Proposals should use clear writing appropriate for non-experts and make a strong case for the importance of the project to reviewers outside the discipline(s). Please adhere to the following formatting guidelines for any proposal documents:

• 0.5” margins minimum
• 11 pt Arial type, single spaced
• PDF format, unless template provided.

Appendix

Side-by-side Mechanism Comparison��