Lieber Institute Inc.

Lieber Institute Inc., doing business as Lieber Institute For Brain Development, is a non-profit research organization based in Baltimore, Maryland that performs federal grant-funded basic and translational neuroscience research as a prime recipient and sub-recipient across the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The institute operates in the federal research landscape as a recipient of competitive federal grants rather than as a federal contractor; it does not hold federal contracts or contract vehicles.

Lieber Institute's research portfolio centers on spatial and single-cell genomics, transcriptomics, and computational analysis of human postmortem brain tissue to understand molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Recent prime grants include a $1.86 million Project Grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (CFDA 93.279) awarded in March 2026 to develop three-dimensional spatio-molecular maps of the human nucleus accumbens in substance use disorder research; a $918,500 Project Grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (CFDA 93.859) effective September 2025 to systematically understand RNA-centric mechanisms of gene regulation in chromatin; and a National Institute of Mental Health grant awarded in August 2024 to model schizophrenia using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells and correlate genotypes with cellular and cognitive phenotypes. The institute acts as sub-recipient on grants anchored at Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, Mayo Clinic, and the University of Arizona, typically providing human postmortem brain tissue procurement and neuropathological analysis, bulk and spatial transcriptomics (10X Visium), and bioinformatic support for multiomics integration. Representative sub-awards include work with Yale on spatial transcriptomics and peptide sequencing of brain organoids, and with Mayo Clinic on establishing origins of hypermutability in adult brains.

Customer concentration is heavily skewed toward the National Institute of Mental Health, which accounts for 45 of 70 awards in the ranked customer set (64% of counted awards). The Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 anchors the second-largest customer relationship, contributing 15 awards with $39.9 million in combined potential value. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on General Medical Sciences, and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism round out the active grantor set. Across all federal sources, the institute reports 79 total awards (62 prime, 17 sub) with $39.9 million in combined potential value, though obligated dollars total $150.8 million, reflecting multi-year grant execution and prior-year commitments. Activity shows growth from three awards in 2022 to fifteen in 2024, with six awards recorded in 2025 and three in 2026. Nine awards are scheduled for ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and face renewal or recompete.

The institute's work is characterized by advanced spatial genomics methodologies including 10X Visium spatial transcriptomics, single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq), and spatial proteogenomics applied to human brain regions implicated in reward signaling, mood regulation, social behavior, attention, and neurodegeneration — specifically the nucleus accumbens, anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, basolateral amygdala, lateral septum, habenula, locus coeruleus, and dentate gyrus. Research focuses on autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, opioid use disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and age-related neurodegeneration. Grants consistently emphasize patient-derived cellular models, genetic ancestry disparities in neuropsychiatric illness, and translational pathways from rodent and human mechanistic studies toward therapeutic target identification.