The goal of this research is to establish new robust methods for manipulation of specific circuits and genetically
defined neuron types in brains of model organisms with small molecules.
Funded Awards
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) BRAIN Initiative funds a wide-variety of research: toolmakers, trainees, individual labs testing new hypotheses, and large, team-based efforts aiming to catalyze neuroscience inquiry forward. Explore NIH BRAIN Initiative funded awards listed below. Click on the project title to learn more about it within NIH RePORTER.
To see more NIH-funded awards and associated publications, please visit the NIH RePORTER.
Title
Investigator(s)
Institution
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunity #
Project #
Title
New approaches for chemical-genetic targeting of specific circuits and cell types in the mammalian brain
Investigator
Anton Maximov
Institute
scripps research institute, the
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Title
Nobrainer: A robust and validated neural network tool suite for imagers
Investigator
Satrajit Sujit Ghosh
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
There is an increasing need for efficient and robust software to process, integrate, and offer insight across the
diversity of population imaging efforts underway across the BRAIN Initiative and other projects.
Title
Non-invasive Radio Frequency Stimulation of Neurons and Networks
Investigator
Gyorgy Buzsaki, Daniel K Sodickson
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Nonivasive stimulation of the brain in health and disease is an important goal of the Brain Initiative. Current
methods include Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Transcranial Electric Stimulation (TES) and
Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (TFUS).
Title
Non-invasive, Deep Brain, and Focal Neuromodulation in Nonhuman Primates
Investigator
Taylor D Webb
Institute
university of utah
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The ability to non-invasively perturb specific regions deep in the human brain would enable researchers and clinicians
to study the causal relationships between specific brain structures and behavior.
Title
Noninvasive low-intensity focused ultrasound-enabled sonogenetic method to induce plasticity in adult visual cortex.
Investigator
Grace M Hwang, Hey-Kyoung Lee
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Development of non-invasive tools for activating deep brain structures is critical for causally
manipulating neural function in humans. Furthermore, such method, if able to elicit long-term plastic changes in
neural circuits, will aid in functional recovery of neural function.
Title
Novel transparent, ultra-soft neuroelectrode arrays based on nanomeshing conventional electrode materials
Investigator
Michela Fagiolini, Hui Fang, Wentai Liu
Institute
northeastern university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
There is a growing interest to effectively combine optical approaches with electrophysiology at large scale
and with great precision to fully leverage the complementary spatial and temporal resolution advantages of
both techniques.
Title
Open-source software for multi-scale mapping of the human brain
Investigator
Bruce Fischl, Juan Eugenio Iglesias Gonzalez
Institute
massachusetts general hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary (maximum 30 lines)
The BRAIN initiative seeks to develop and apply technologies in order to understand of how brain cells interact
in both time and space to give rise to brain function.
Title
Optical control of neuromodulatory GPCRs
Investigator
Ehud Isacoff, Dirk Hartwig Trauner
Institute
university of california berkeley
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
A major goal of neuroscience is to understand how neuromodulatory systems regulate core processes of brain
and behavior, from motor function and learning to reward, aversion, attention, and sleep.
Title
Optical interrogation of neural circuits in Manduca
Investigator
Barry A Trimmer, Bing Ye
Institute
tufts university medford
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
R34 BRAIN Initiative. Optical interrogation of neural circuits in Manduca
Project Summary / Abstract
This BRAIN Circuits Planning Project will help to bridge the gap between well-established brain studies
on the fruit fly, Drosophila, and complex behaviors exhibited more generally by other species.
Title
Optical methods for imaging and manipulating dendritic spines in vivo
Investigator
Roberto Etchenique, Rafael Yuste
Institute
columbia univ new york morningside
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Dendritic spines cover dendrites of most mammalian neurons and receive almost
all excitatory connections in the cortex.
Title
Optical tools to probe neural circuits in the echolocating bat
Investigator
Kishore V Kuchibhotla, Melville J Wohlgemuth
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT:
A major goal in neuroscience is to dissect the neural circuits that support complex behaviors.
Title
Optimization of Clear Optically Matched Panoramic Access Channel Technique (COMPACT) for large-scale deep-brain neurophotonic interface
Investigator
Meng Cui, Guang Yang
Institute
purdue university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Optimization of Clear Optically Matched Panoramic Access Channel Technique (COMPACT)
for large-scale deep-brain neurophotonic interface
With the advance of sensitive molecular indicators and actuators, neurophotonics has become a powerful
paradigm for discovering the principles underlying neural ci
Title
Optimization, application and dissemination of high-speed hybrid multiphoton volumetric imaging technologies
Investigator
Attila Losonczy, Alipasha Vaziri
Institute
rockefeller university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Understanding how cognitively-relevant behavioral functions emerge from activity patterns of identified cell-
types is predicated on the ability to record large-scale ensemble dynamics from genetically-identified and
longitudinally-tracked neuronal populations across multi
Title
Optimizing oscillatory epidural electrical stimulation to selectively increase task-related population dynamics in motor areas
Investigator
Karunesh Ganguly, Jeffrey A Roberts
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Stroke is the leading cause of motor disability in the United States. While brain stimulation to enhance motor
function after stroke has shown promise in small studies, two recent large stroke trials did not find evidence for
significant benefits.
Title
Optogenetic manipulation of cortical feedback to examine network function and behavior
Investigator
Valentin Dragoi
Institute
university of texas hlth sci ctr houston
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY
The brain transforms raw sensory input into perception and cognition, and this transformation relies on
computations performed across neuronal circuits. Fortunately, the anatomy of cortical microcircuits in non-
human primate models is much better understood today than decades ago.
Title
Organization of inhibition in the cerebellar cortex
Investigator
Jason M Christie, Adam Hantman
Institute
max planck florida corporation
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Our long-term goal is to generate a complete understanding of how the cerebellum learns to improve movement
in response to motor errors. Climbing fibers are thought to play an essential role in this process because they
fire during erroneous movement.
Title
Photoactivatable systems for controlling transcription and ablating synapses.
Investigator
Donald B Arnold
Institute
university of southern california
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The advent of optogenetic tools for controlling neuronal function with light has led to dramatic
advances in the understanding of the anatomy and function of neural circuits.
Title
Population codes and sensory discrimination
Investigator
Dario L Ringach
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
How do cortical populations represent sensory input and support perceptual decision making?
Title
Prefrontal contributions to contextual representation
Investigator
Cybelle Marguerite Smith
Institute
university of pennsylvania
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Abstract/Summary
This application describes a 3-year training plan that will enable me, a cognitive neuroscientist with prior
training in electroencephalography (EEG), to conduct research on contextual memory representation using
neuroimaging (fMRI) and computational modeling.
Title
Re-engineering Connectivity in the Drosophila Brain
Investigator
Marco Gallio
Institute
northwestern university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Understanding how our brain's 100 billion neurons process information to produce complex
feelings, decisions, and behaviors is a daunting task. A single neuron in the human brain may
communicate with more than a hundred thousand partners.