Project Abstract
Completely noninvasive neuromodulation using focused ultrasound (FUS) offers the promise of precisely
stimulating specific targets deep in the brain. FUS is already used to deliver precise ablations deep in the
brain.
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 #
TitleMR-guided Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation of Deep Brain Structures
Investigator
Kim Butts-Pauly
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleMulti-channel MR-compatible flexible microelectrode for recording and stimulation
Investigator
Robert Kyle Franklin, Yen-Yu Ian Shih
Institute
blackrock microsystems
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become one of the leading research tools to study brain function and is playing a pivotal role in several large-scale brain mapping projects worldwide.
TitleMulti-Site Non-Invasive Magnetothermal Excitation and Inhibition of Deep Brain Structures
Investigator
Polina O Anikeeva, Arnd Pralle
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
This project seeks to develop a wireless, minimally invasive bi-directional deep brain stimulation technology
based on remote heating of magnetic nanoparticles.
TitleMultimodal modeling framework for fusing structural and functional connectome data
Investigator
Srikantan S. Nagarajan, Ashish Raj
Institute
weill medical coll of cornell univ
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Project Summary
A key goal of computational neuroscience is to discover how the brain’s structural organization produces its
functional behavior, and how impairment of the former causes dysfunction and disease.
TitleMultiparametric Biosensor Imaging in Brain Slices
Investigator
Thomas A Blanpied, Andrea L Meredith, Megan A Rizzo
Institute
university of maryland baltimore
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Deciphering neural coding will require deconstructing the complex and intertwined signaling mechanisms that
drive cellular excitability, synaptic plasticity, and circuit dynamics in the brain.
TitleMultiplex in vivo imaging of cell-specific and circuit-specific signaling pathways during synaptic plasticity
Investigator
Richard L Huganir, Jin Zhang
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Cell signaling pathways in the brain are an essential part of a complex system regulating the activity and
coordination of neuronal circuits. During learning and memory synaptic plasticity processes regulate the
strength of synaptic connections and modify neuronal circuits.
TitleNear Infrared Genetically Encoded Voltage Indicators (NIR-GEVIs) for All-Optical Electrophysiology (AOE)
Investigator
Srdjan D Antic, Thomas Knopfel, Vladislav Verkhusha
Institute
imperial college of science, technology and medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Attaining effective optical modulation and readout of neuronal circuit activities has been a longstanding goal
in neuroscience and is a key near-term aim of the BRAIN Initiative.
TitleNetwork Connectivity Modeling of Heterogeneous Brain Data to Examine Ensembles of Activity Across Two Levels of Dimensionality
Investigator
Kathleen Gates
Institute
univ of north carolina chapel hill
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Network methods have emerged as some of the most useful approaches for analyzing functional MRI
data. While great advancements have been made in these methods, limitations hamper the progress fMRI
researchers can make in better understanding brain processes.
TitleNeural activity integration during user defined epochs with modular reporters
Investigator
Scott T. Laughlin
Institute
state university new york stony brook
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The brain's control of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors stems from neural circuits, which perform logical
operations based on the temporal patterns of neural activity and the connectivity of the neurons as the circuit
traverses the brain.
TitleNeural mechanisms and behavioral consequences of non-Gaussian likelihoods in sensorimotor learning
Investigator
Ilya M. Nemenman, Samuel Sober
Institute
emory university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
A central goal of neuroscience is to understand how learning is implemented by the nervous system.
However, despite years of studies in animals and humans, our understanding of both the computational basis
of learning and its implementation by the brain is still rudimentary.
TitleNeuroGrid: a scalable system for large-scale recording of action potentials from the brain surface
Investigator
Gyorgy Buzsaki, Orrin Devinsky
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
We propose to develop a novel electrode array (`NeuroGrid') for large-scale recording of spikes and
improved miniaturized, multiplexed devices for recording of neural activity in freely behaving rodents,
while minimizing the loss of cellular/sub-cellular and temporal resolution.
TitleNeuromodulation by Transcranial Current Stimulation
Investigator
Bart Krekelberg
Institute
rutgers the state univ of nj newark
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
A novel technique called transcranial current stimulation (TCS) creates small
electrical fields in the brain through electrodes placed on the scalp.
TitleNeuronal Substrates of Hemodynamic Signals in the Prefrontal Cortex
Investigator
Matthew A. Howard, John P O'doherty, Doris Ying Tsao
Institute
california institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Neuronal Substrates of Hemodynamic Signals in the Prefrontal Cortex
PIs: Dr. John P. O'Doherty and Dr.
TitleNeurons, Vessels and Voxels: Multi-modal Imaging of Layer Specific Signals
Investigator
Prakash Kara, Thomas P Naselaris, Cheryl A. Olman, Kamil Ugurbil
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Our knowledge of signal processing in various parts of the human brain has been heavily influenced by non-
invasive functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments. FMRI infers the location and selectivity of
neural activity from vascular signals.
TitleNew approaches for better protein voltage sensors
Investigator
Lawrence B Cohen
Institute
yale university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
This proposal aims to develop better tools for analyzing brain cells and circuits and for
large-scale recordings of brain activity. The currently available tools are relatively primitive in terms of sensitivity
and speed. One major function of a neuron is to process electrical signals.
TitleNext-gen Opto-GPCRs: spatiotemporal simulation of neuromodulator signaling
Investigator
Michael R Bruchas, Roger K Sunahara
Institute
washington university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract: The emerging field of optogenetics — using light to engage biological systems
— holds tremendous promise for dissection of neural circuits, cellular signaling and manipulating
neurophysiological systems in awake, behaving animals.
TitleNext-Generation Calcium Imaging Analysis Methods
Investigator
Liam M Paninski
Institute
columbia univ new york morningside
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Calcium imaging methods allow us to record the simultaneous activity of many neurons with single-cell
resolution; these methods are therefore a critical enabling tool for the BRAIN initiative and in neuroscience
more broadly.
TitleNon-invasive neuromodulation mechanisms and dose/response metrics
Investigator
Desmond Oathes
Institute
university of pennsylvania
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
In an exciting era of growth in the use of non-invasive brain stimulation, new methods and applications are
being disseminated widely with an increasing number of FDA approvals and equipment designed to probe or
modulate the brain in fascinating new ways.
TitleNoninvasive Biomarkers to Advance Emerging DBS Electrode Technologies in Parkinson's Disease
Investigator
Harrison Carroll Walker
Institute
university of alabama at birmingham
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
It is easy to underestimate the importance of normal movement in daily life, until that ability is altered or taken
away by disease.
TitleNovel Bayesian linear dynamical systems-based methods for discovering human brain circuit dynamics in health and disease
Investigator
Vinod Menon
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Understanding how the human brain produces cognition ultimately depends on precise quantitative
characterization of context-dependent dynamic functional networks (DFN) that transiently link distributed
brain regions.