Project Abstract
In this Phase I STTR project, Vulintus, Inc., in collaboration with Columbia University, proposes
to develop and test ‘SensiTrak,’ an automated, high-throughput behavioral system designed to
finely measure somatosensory function in rodent models.
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 #
TitleSensiTrak: Automated Assessment of Forelimb Sensation
Investigator
Andrew Michael Sloan
Institute
vulintus, llc
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleSensory motor transformations in human cortex
Investigator
Richard A Andersen
Institute
california institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract: The long-term objective of this application is to understand cortical processing of sensory to
motor transformations within the human cerebral cortex. A vast number of computations must be
performed to achieve sensory-guided motor control.
TitleSex hormone regulation of Lateral Habenula circuitry for reward and aversion encoding
Investigator
Brandy A. Briones
Institute
university of washington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
This proposal seeks to investigate sex hormone effects on reward and aversion-related behaviors through
mapping of Lateral Habenula (LHb) circuits.
TitleSimultaneous functional MRI and Micro-Magnetic Nervous System Stimulation
Investigator
Ilknur Ay, Giorgio Bonmassar, Xin Yu
Institute
massachusetts general hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Micromagnetic stimulation (µMS) has several advantages over electrical stimulation. First, µMS does not
require charge-balanced stimulation waveforms as in electrical stimulation. In µMS, neither sinks nor sources
are present when the time-varying magnetic field induces a current.
TitleSimultaneous, Cell-Resolved, Bioluminescent Recording From Microcircuits
Investigator
Nozomi Nishimura, Chris B Schaffer
Institute
cornell university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary
Measuring the activity of many individual neurons at once while knowing their wiring diagrams would provide
exciting information on how the components of a network interact.
TitleSmall molecule regulation of endogenous transcription factors for circuit-specific neuromodulation
Investigator
Gerald R. Crabtree
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Methods for regulating cellular processes within distinct populations of neurons are needed to elucidate
relationships between molecular mechanisms, circuits, and behavior; and to develop cell type- or circuit-
selective treatments for neurological disorders.
TitleStability and Robustness of Hippocampal Representations of Space
Investigator
John C Doyle, Carlos Lois, Evgueniy Vassilev Lubenov, Athanassios Siapas
Institute
california institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
How does the brain balance the need to preserve prior knowledge with the necessity to continuously learn
new information? The tradeoff between stability and plasticity is inherent in both biological and artificial
learning systems constrained by finite resources and capacity.
TitleStimulation of novel spinal respiratory circuit to restore breathing in ventilator-dependent patients with SCI.
Investigator
Daniel Lu
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Respiratory failure after spinal cord injury (SCI) impairs the health of the injured patients, and respiratory failure
is the leading cause of death in patients with SCI.
TitleStrategy to map electrical synaptic connectivity in neural networks
Investigator
Sue A Aicher, Stephen C Massey, Catherine W Morgans, Christophe P. Ribelayga
Institute
university of texas hlth sci ctr houston
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY
Electrical synapses, also known as gap junctions, occur frequently in all nervous systems, including the human
brain. They are composed of connexins, arranged to form intercellular channels between adjacent, coupled
cells. Connexin36 (Cx36) is the predominant connexin in the CNS.
TitleStructural variation in neuronal circuits as a basis for functional and behavioral individuality
Investigator
Bassem A Hassan, Wei-Chung Allen Lee, Benjamin De Bivort
Institute
harvard medical school
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
A fundamental gap in our knowledge of the nervous system is understanding how variations in wiring and
connectivity of neuronal circuits relate to variability in neural computations and behavior.
TitleStructure and function of spontaneous network activity during circuit formation
Investigator
Arnaldo Carreira-Rosario
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Towards the end of nervous system development, neural circuits are extremely plastic. Small perturbations
during this time can cause lifelong circuit and behavioral changes.
TitleSWITCH trial: Early feasibility study of Stentrode BCI for augmentative communication
Investigator
Nicholas Lachlan Opie, Thomas J Oxley, David Francis Putrino, Douglas J Weber
Institute
carnegie-mellon university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
7. Project Summary
Multiple early feasibility trials in humans have demonstrated that implantable Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) can enable
people with severe paralysis to use neural signals to control remote and digital communication technologies, including
messaging and email.
TitleThalamocortical Responsive Neurostimulation for the Treatment of Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome
Investigator
Martha J Morrell
Institute
neuropace, inc.
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) is a devastating form of childhood onset epilepsy with cognitive
dysfunction and very frequent generalized onset seizures (GOS) often leading to injury.
TitleThe encoding of uncertainty in the Drosophila compass system
Investigator
Jan Drugowitsch, Rachel Wilson
Institute
harvard medical school
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary
Strategic behaviors often take account of uncertainty. For example, if we are presented with two conflicting
pieces of information, we give less weight to the more uncertain source of information – i.e., the source of
information that leads to lower accuracy overall.
TitleThe first adaptable, 3D-formfitting microelectrode array for organoid-based models of neurological and neurodegenerative diseases
Investigator
Oliver Graudejus
Institute
bmseed, llc
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
The proposed work aims at the development of an enhanced organoid-based in vitro pre-clinical drug
screening platform for neurological and neurodegenerative brain diseases.
TitleThe laminar organization of 'index' versus 'attribute' coding in neocortex
Investigator
Bruce L Mcnaughton
Institute
university of california-irvine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
We propose a circuit-level principal underlying how brains acquire 'episodic' memories and reprocess
them into compact, efficient 'schemas': The attributes or 'contents' of experience are represented primarily in
the deeper layers of neocortex (NC), whereas the superficial layers are dedicated to en
TitleThe origins of neuronal correlations in cerebral cortex
Investigator
David J Heeger, Jason Neil Maclean, John H.r. Maunsell
Institute
university of chicago
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Here, we propose to thoroughly characterize the origins of pairwise correlations in cortex using a synergistic mix
of experimental methodologies, behavior, and computation in mice and macaques.
TitleThe power of positivity: a novel class of voltage indicators for high-fidelity brain activity imaging
Investigator
Michael Z. Lin
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
To understand how the brain functions in health, and how sensory, motor, and cognitive functions are affected in disease, it
is crucial to be able to record the activities of large numbers of individual neurons in real time.
TitleThe representation and modulation of sensory information in the learning and memory center of the Drosophila brain
Investigator
Andrew M Davidson
Institute
univ of north carolina chapel hill
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The brain uses the combined physiology of many cells to transform incoming sensory signals into internal
representations.
TitleThe role of astrocyte-neuron signaling in closing a critical period required for motor circuit structure, function, and behavior
Investigator
Sarah D Ackerman
Institute
university of oregon
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Significance: Neural circuit assembly requires activity-dependent refinement of circuit architecture (e.g.
plasticity) to produce stereotyped behavior.