Project Summary
The ability to trigger neural activity with high resolution millimeters to centimeters deep in tissue remains an
elusive goal in neuroscience research. Current research relies on using invasive electrodes, optogenetics, or
pharmacological stimulation.
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
Remote Neurostimulation with Ultrasound-activated Piezoelectric Nanoparticles
Investigator
Geoffrey P. Luke
Institute
dartmouth college
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Title
Repetitive transcranial ultrasound stimulation for modulating brain rhythms
Investigator
Jacek Dmochowski
Institute
city college of new york
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
The goal of the proposed research career development program is to allow the applicant to acquire training in
a new form of brain stimulation using ultrasonic waves.
Title
Resource for Multiphoton Characterization of Genetically-Encoded Probes
Investigator
Mikhail Drobizhev
Institute
montana state university - bozeman
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Two-photon laser scanning microscopy powers many projects in the.
Title
Reverse Engineering the Brain Stem Circuits that Govern Exploratory Behavior
Investigator
Martin Deschenes, Yoav Shai Freund, David Golomb, David Kleinfeld, Partha Pratim Mitra, Fan Wang
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Overview - Abstract
Brainstem function is necessary for life-sustaining functions such as breathing and for survival functions,
such as foraging for food. Individual motor actions are activated by specific brainstem cranial motor nuclei.
Title
SCAPE microscopy for high-speed 3D imaging of cellular function in behaving animals: Continued innovation, optimization, and dissemination
Investigator
Elizabeth M. C. Hillman
Institute
columbia university health sciences
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Swept confocally aligned planar excitation (SCAPE) microscopy is a method for high-speed, cellular level
imaging of living, intact tissues.
Title
Selective Optogenetic Inhibition of Neuropeptide Release
Investigator
Pablo Blinder, Zhitao Hu, John Yu-Luen Lin
Institute
tel aviv university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary:
Neuropeptides are key components of modulation across the central nervous system.
Title
Spatially Resolved Methylomes to Map Neuronal Cell-Type Connectivity in Tissue
Investigator
Robert Youssefian Henley
Institute
salk institute for biological studies
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
The BRAIN initiative has put forth the development of a neuronal cell-type census as the first step towards
mapping the structure and components of neuronal circuits.
Title
Spatiotemporal Coding in the Pain Circuit Along the Spine-brain Continuum
Investigator
David Allenson Borton, Carl Y Saab
Institute
rhode island hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary/Abstract
Pain is a national health challenge costing our economy more than $600 Billions per year.
Title
Spatiotemporal control of dendritic inhibition by a family of diverse somatostatin-expressing interneurons
Investigator
Bernardo Rudy
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary
GABAergic interneurons (INs) are a diverse group of neurons with critical roles in signal processing in the
cerebral cortex. Moreover, malfunction of these neurons has been implicated in a number of diseases ranging
from epilepsy to schizophrenia, anxiety disorders and autism.
Title
Striatal Plasticity in Habit Formation as a Platform to Deconstruct Adaptive Learning
Investigator
Nicole Calakos
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
A distinguishing feature of the brain is that its circuitry isn’t computationally static, it adapts to
experience.
Title
Studying perceptual decision-making across cortex by combining population imaging, connectomics, and computational modeling
Investigator
Christopher D Harvey, Wei-Chung Allen Lee, Stefano Vt Panzeri
Institute
harvard medical school
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
During perceptual decision-making, populations of neurons, arranged in highly interconnected microcircuits,
work together to encode sensory stimuli and to transform sensory perception into appropriate behavioral choices.
A fundamental gap in our knowledge about perceptual decision-ma
Title
Subiculm circuits for cortical feedback regulation of spatial mapping and learning
Investigator
Douglas Arthur Nitz, Xiangmin Xu
Institute
university of california-irvine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
Encoding of environmental location and navigational behavior in mammals involves large ensembles of
specific neuron types across multiple interacting brain regions.
Title
Synthetic imager to record cortical neural activity over whole cranium in freely-behaving animals
Investigator
Weijian Yang
Institute
university of california at davis
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Synthetic imager to record cortical neural activity over whole cranium in freely-behaving animals
Understanding information flow across different brain regions during animal behavior is a key step to
decipher how the brain works.
Title
Taking DISCO Live: Dual pathway Imaging of Striatal Circuit Output in vivo
Investigator
Nicole Calakos
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
The basal ganglia are critical for the learning and subsequent selection of motor programs. In health,
adaptive plasticity in the basal ganglia enables easy execution of complex motor tasks through
formation of habits.
Title
Technology for functional study of cells and circuits in large postmortem brains ex vivo
Investigator
Nenad Sestan
Institute
yale university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
The mammalian brain is arguably the most complex biological structure.
Title
Thalamocortical and corticocortical mechanisms for sleep-dependent visual learning
Investigator
Sara J Aton
Institute
university of michigan at ann arbor
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project summary: Consolidating transient sensory experiences into long-lasting memories is a fundamental
function of the brain, linked to synaptic plasticity.
Title
Thalamocortical state control of tactile sensing: Mechanisms, Models, and Behavior
Investigator
Garrett B. Stanley
Institute
georgia institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Thalamocortical state control of tactile sensing: Mechanisms, Models, and Behavior
Despite the fact that the sensory thalamus plays a major role in shaping sensory representations in cortex, and
thus shaping our percepts, most of what we know has been determined through electrophysiological
investig
Title
The biophysics and potential cell-type selectivity of acoustic neuromodulation
Investigator
Robert Crooks Froemke, Eitan Kimmel, Shy Shoham
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary
Neuroscience has an essential requirement for large-scale perturbation tools. Such
tools would be transformative in the mapping of brain function, the causal testing of
neurotheoretic models, and the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders.
Title
The Brainstorm Project: A Collaborative Approach to Facilitating the Neuroethics of Bioengineered Brain Modeling Research
Investigator
Insoo Hyun
Institute
case western reserve university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary – Abstract
Neuroscientists are getting close to building realistic bioengineered ex vivo human brain models
by: (1) introducing perfusable vascular networks to maintain tissue viability and promote 3D
brain model growth; (2) generating the full complement of currently missing cell ty
Title
The Development and Human Translation of Temporal Interference Brain Stimulation
Investigator
Daniel Z. Press
Institute
beth israel deaconess medical center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has had great impact, helping patients with disorders such as Parkinson's
disease and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and with great potential for other disorders such as
depression and Alzheimer's disease.