The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative
promotes the development and application of technologies to describe the temporal and spatial
dynamics of cell types and neural circuits 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 #
TitleA BRAIN Initiative Resource: The Neuroscience Multi-omic Data Archive
Investigator
Anup Mahurkar, Owen R White
Institute
university of maryland baltimore
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleA Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy Brain Data Archive
Investigator
Marcel P Bruchez, Alexander J Ropelewski, Alan Michael Watson
Institute
carnegie-mellon university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Brain image data collected by the neuroscience community will continue to grow
dramatically in the next 5-10 years as the push to image physically larger volumes, such as
whole brains from humans and other primates, becomes a focus.
TitleA Shared Neuroscience Platform for National Dissemination and Training in Brain Organogenesis, Behavioral and Brain Disease Models, Viral Vectors, and Imaging Technologies
Investigator
William T Newsome, Sergiu Pasca, Mehrdad Shamloo, Gordon X Wang
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Advances in neuroscience depend on robust in vivo and in vitro models with innovative technologies to carry out
functional and mechanistic studies accompanied by advanced imaging techniques.
TitleAberrant Signaling from Brain Tumors Regulates Distant and Local Environments
Investigator
Kaysaw C Tuy
Institute
university of alabama at birmingham
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Perturbations in redox signaling are associated with multiple neurological disorders, ranging from
neurodegenerative diseases to brain tumors.
TitleAn Ecosystem of Technology and Protocols for Adaptive Neuromodulation Research in Humans
Investigator
Peter Brunner, Kai Miller, Gregory A Worrell
Institute
mayo clinic rochester
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Neurological and psychiatric disorders affect millions of people in the United States and worldwide, and produce
a third of all health care costs.
TitleAnatomical connectivity and activity in primary visual cortex of mouse
Investigator
Zachary Samuel Pitkow, Andreas Tolias
Institute
baylor college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Estimates of the total length of axonal "wiring" in the human brain are on the order of hundreds of thousands
of kilometers.
TitleAssessment of Behavioral Deficits in Minipig Model of Pediatric Concussion
Investigator
Alesa Hughson Netzley
Institute
michigan state university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading health concern for both children and adults worldwide.
TitleBasic neural processing mechanisms of live human face viewing
Investigator
Megan Kelley
Institute
yale university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Significance. The human brain has a dedicated neural system for processing other humans. However relatively
little is known about the basic mechanisms of this processing.
TitleBCI-DEF: Brain Computer Interfaces and Disability: Developing an Inclusive Ethical Framework
Investigator
Karen G Hirsch, Holly K Tabor
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
The objective of “Brain Computer Interfaces and Disability: Developing an Inclusive Ethical Framework (BCI-
DEF)” is to use structured vignettes, video-supported interviews, and a deliberative democracy approach to
assess and analyze diverse, critical stakeholder perspective
TitleBiophysical and Neural Basis of Focused Ultrasound Stimulation
Investigator
Charles F Caskey, Li Min Chen
Institute
vanderbilt university medical center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
This proposal responds to BRAIN Initiative RFA-NS-20-006 and aims to elucidate the neural and biophysical mechanisms of noninvasive focused ultrasound (FUS) neuromodulation.
TitleBRAIN Initiative: Hierarchical Event Descriptors (HED): a system to characterize events in neurobehavioral data
Investigator
Scott Makeig, Kay A Robbins, Arnaud Delorme
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
This two-year project will advance, integrate, document, and promote the use of the Hierarchical
Event Descriptor (HED) system to describe events in human neuroimaging and behavioral data
from research experiments and other sources in sufficient detail to support comparative analysis
of human brain
TitleBRAIN Integrated Resource for Human Anatomy and Intracranial Neurophysiology
Investigator
Dominique Duncan, Nader Pouratian
Institute
ut southwestern medical center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Intracranial recordings in patients undergoing neurosurgical interventions provide a unique opportunity to directly
access, study, and learn about both normal human brain function and neuropsychiatric disease.
TitleCAJAL: A computational framework for the combined morphometric, transcriptomic, and physiological analysis of cells
Investigator
Pablo Gonzalez Camara
Institute
university of pennsylvania
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Morphology is an essential phenotype in the characterization of cells and their states. It reflects the progression
of functional cellular processes, such as morphogenesis, migration, or dendrite arborization, and can be
indicative of disease.
TitleCaring for BRAIN pioneers: Understanding and enhancing family and researcher support in neural device trials
Investigator
Sara Goering, Eran Klein
Institute
university of washington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project abstract
BRAIN pioneers are people who take on significant risk as participants in first-in-human or early
neurotechnology studies for the sake of helping to further science.
TitleCircuit dynamics of structuring episodic memories in humans
Investigator
Jie Zheng
Institute
boston children's hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project summary
Our lives unfold over time, weaving rich, dynamic, and multisensory information into a continuous experience.
However, we remember this as a series of discrete events. For example, the memory of a two-hour movie
consists of a few memorable moments tied to the main story.
TitleComputational Tools for assessing mechanisms and functional relevance of divisive normalization
Investigator
Ruben Coen-Cagli
Institute
albert einstein college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Divisive normalization (DN) is a well-established theory of how interactions between neurons in a circuit
modulate the activity of individual neurons.
TitleDeciphering the genomic mechanisms underlying the physiology of human brain stimulation
Investigator
Genevieve Konopka, Bradley C Lega
Institute
ut southwestern medical center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The underlying mechanisms of brain stimulation in humans are poorly understood, especially at the level of gene expression.
TitleDeep and fast imaging using adaptive excitation sources
Investigator
Chris Xu
Institute
cornell university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Optical recordings of activity are critical to probe neural systems because they provide high-resolution,
non-invasive measurements, ranging from single neurons to entire populations in intact nervous systems, and
are readily combined with genetic methods to provide cell type-specific reco
TitleDefining the circuit, synaptic, and molecular mechanisms linking intracellular Ca2+ release to learning using subcellularly-targeted manipulations and imaging techniques in dendrites in vivo
Investigator
Justin O'hare
Institute
columbia university health sciences
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Candidate Goals and Mission Relevance: The applicant’s broad, long-term objective is to investigate how high-
(circuit/behavioral) and low- (subcellular/molecular) level organizational principles of the brain cooperate to drive
learning.
TitleDissecting the role of cortico-basal ganglia circuit diversity in action learning from reinforcement
Investigator
Alice Mosberger
Institute
columbia university health sciences
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
To learn novel actions through reinforcement, a fundamental mechanism of motor learning, the brain needs to
causally link previously performed movements to their resulting outcomes.