PROJECT SUMMARY: Behavioral dysfunction in neurodevelopmental diseases often arises from aberrant
neural circuit assembly. However, the developmental logic that dictates circuit organization, function, and
ultimately behavior remains unresolved due to the complexity of most circuits.
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
Molecular and sensory foundations of vestibular reflex circuit assembly in the larval zebrafish
Investigator
Dena Goldblatt
Institute
new york university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Title
Monitoring presynaptic release of neuropeptides in awake behaving animals
Investigator
Sung Han
Institute
salk institute for biological studies
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Neuromodulators, such as neuropeptides and biogenic amines are produced and released by neurons to communicate with each other.
Title
Motor Recovery through Plasticity-Inducing Cortical Stimulation
Investigator
Steven C. Cramer, Jeffrey G Ojemann
Institute
university of washington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Limited recovery of function after stroke remains a major problem for millions. Disability persists in
many, especially when hand function is limited. Existing therapies are limited and many have difficulties with
activities of daily living, even after rehabilitation.
Title
Multi-probe minimally invasive endomicroscope
Investigator
Antonio Miguel Caravaca Aguirre
Institute
modendo inc.
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
This project seeks to develop a multi-probe ultrathin endomicroscope to enable high-resolution imaging and
photo-stimulation at multiple sites within currently inaccessible regions of the brain.
Title
Multimodal dissociation of posterior cingulate cortex contributions to episodic memory
Investigator
Seth Ryan Koslov
Institute
university of pennsylvania
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Episodic memory is the ability to recall details about prior experiences. Researchers have historically relied on
controlled item-recognition paradigms, in complement to autobiographical recall tasks, to investigate the
biological substrates of episodic memory.
Title
Network based neuro-modulation for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy
Investigator
Behnaam Aazhang, Sandipan Pati Bankim Behari Pati, Nitin Tandon, Gregory A Worrell
Institute
university of texas hlth sci ctr houston
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Title
Neural basis of facial individual recognition in paper wasps
Investigator
Michael J Sheehan
Institute
cornell university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The neural circuits of animals, including humans, are the combined product of adaptation by natural selection
and the evolutionary history of a species.
Title
Neural circuit control of fluid and solute clearance during sleep
Investigator
Patrick James Drew, Hajime Hirase, Douglas H Kelley, Laura Diane Lewis, Maiken Nedergaard
Institute
university of rochester
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Program abstract: This proposal aims to identify the neural circuit mechanisms that control periarterial
cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pumping and glymphatic clearance of fluid and solutes.
Title
Neural circuit mechanisms for multisensory associative learning
Investigator
Roudabeh Behnia, Ashok Litwin-Kumar
Institute
columbia university health sciences
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
The brain uses sensory representations to assess risk and predict reward in order to adjust behavior. Per
ception is a multisensory process. To make reliable predictions, it is advantageous for the brain to combine
more than one sensory modality to represent the world.
Title
Neural coding of natural stimuli in freely moving macaque
Investigator
Valentin Dragoi
Institute
university of texas hlth sci ctr houston
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Despite the fact that visual perception represents such a fundamental aspect of our everyday life, our knowledge
of the underlying neural coding of natural stimuli is woefully lacking.
Title
Neural mechanisms of behavioral coordination in Hydra
Investigator
Alison Hanson
Institute
columbia university health sciences
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
How do animals coordinate their many parts to generate coherent, adaptive behavior?
Title
Neural mechanisms of taste and metabolic state integration in the brainstem
Investigator
Nilay Yapici
Institute
cornell university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
The taste of food is a critical factor that determines whether an organism will accept or reject a food source.
Title
Neuro-flakes: Direct Voltage Imaging of Neural Activity with Atomically-thin Optoelectronic Materials
Investigator
Ertugrul Cubukcu
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Neuro-flakes: Direct Voltage Imaging of Neural Activity with Atomically-thin
Optoelectronic Materials
Recording electrical activity of neural populations with high resolution is essential to
investigate neural circuits and cognitive functions.
Title
NEURODEVELOPMENTAL FUNCTION OF HCFC1
Investigator
Victoria L Castro
Institute
university of texas el paso
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Mutation of HCFC1 causes a multiple congenital anomaly syndrome characterized by inborn errors of cobalamin
metabolism, intractable epilepsy, intellectual disability, and motor dysfunction.
Title
Neurodevelopmental role of a tRNA methyltransferase underlying intellectual disability
Investigator
Kimberly Rose R. Madhwani
Institute
brown university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Gene regulation at multiple levels is critical for nervous system development and function.
Title
Neurostimulation of the Nucleus Basalis of Meynert for the cognitive-motor syndrome in Parkinson's disease
Investigator
Helen Bronte-Stewart
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Cognitive decline begins in early stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and progresses to dementia in 75% of
people with PD after ten years.
Title
New Methodologies for Connectomics
Investigator
Xiaotang Lu
Institute
harvard university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT ABSTRACT
The nervous systems of animals are comprised of neurons connected by a large number of synapses.
The resulting neural networks underlie animal behavior and contribute to the storage of learned
information in many species.
Title
New strategies for molecular cell-type labeling in volume electron microscopy
Investigator
Linnaea E Ostroff
Institute
university of connecticut storrs
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Recent years have seen major breakthroughs in methodology for studying two complex yet
fundamental aspects of brain structure: synaptic connectivity patterns and the heterogeneous distribution of
molecules.
Title
Noninvasive Targeted Neuromodulation
Investigator
Jan Kubanek
Institute
university of utah
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary
Neurological and psychiatric disorders absorb one-third of the total health care expenditures; more than cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes combined. On average, approximately one in three patients fails to respond to medication treatments or has intolerable side effects.
Title
Odor trail tracking: a new paradigm to unveil algorithms and neural circuits underlying active sensation and continuous decision making
Investigator
Catherine Dulac, Venkatesh N Murthy, Massimo Vergassola
Institute
harvard university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary
Animals actively sample sensory information, which they combine with prior knowledge to make
decisions in a sensorimotor feedback loop.