Project Summary/Abstract
The connections between different brain regions play an important role in normal brain function. This project
proposes to create an end-to-end pipeline for analysis of human white matter connections using “tractometry”
methods.
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 data science toolbox for analysis of Human Connectome Project diffusion MRI
Investigator
Ariel Shalom Rokem
Institute
university of washington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleA Functional and Selective Toolkit for Choroid Plexus Networks
Investigator
Maria Lehtinen, Christopher I Moore
Institute
boston children's hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
The choroid plexus (ChP) is a vital tissue located in each ventricle in the brain.
TitleA Massive Library of AAVs to Target Transcriptionally-Defined Primate Cell Types
Investigator
William Richard Stauffer
Institute
university of pittsburgh at pittsburgh
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Here we will identify nonhuman primate (NHP) neuron types and build an extensive toolbox of vectors for circuit-
based neuroscience studies.
TitleA multimodal platform to bridge the experimental gap between behavioral, neuronal, and molecular studies
Investigator
Dawen Cai, Meng Cui
Institute
university of michigan at ann arbor
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Depicting the specific neuronal identity and connectivity underlying particular brain function remains
a central goal for neuroscience.
TitleA new approach to biological recording of lineage hierarchy in primate brains
Investigator
Ali H Brivanlou
Institute
rockefeller university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
!
Most genetic recorders described so far utilize the CRISPR/Cas9 system to leave a unique genetic scar in
each cell that can be traced in daughter cells.
TitleA novel platform for the investigation of human microglia
Investigator
Mathew Mark Blurton-Jones, Robert C Spitale
Institute
university of california-irvine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
To accomplish their diverse maintenance and protective roles, microglia must be extremely plastic, dynamically
sensing and responding to specific local challenges throughout the brain.
TitleA Technology Resource for Polymer Microelectrode Arrays
Investigator
Ellis Meng, Dong Song
Institute
university of southern california
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The purpose of this proposal is to disseminate polymer microelectrode arrays and promote their
integrated into neuroscience research practice.
TitleA wearable functional-brain-imaging system with full-head coverage and enhanced spatiotemporal-resolution to study complex neural circuits in human subjects
Investigator
Peter D. D. Schwindt
Institute
sandia corp-sandia national laboratories
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
To develop maps at multiple scales of neuronal circuits in the human brain and study the brain dynamics, there
is a need for non-invasive functional brain imaging with high spatiotemporal resolution operating in natural
environments.
TitleAccessible technologies for high-throughput, whole-brain reconstructions of molecularly characterized mammalian neurons
Investigator
Michael I Miller, Ulrich Mueller
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY
The BRAIN Initiative seeks to accelerate the development and application of innovative technologies that
ultimately will revolutionize our understanding of the human brain.
TitleAccurate and reliable computational dosimetry and targeting for transcranial magnetic stimulation
Investigator
Luis Javier Gomez
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive technique used for neuroscience research and
treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders. During TMS, a current-carrying coil placed on the scalp
induces an electric field that modulates targeted neuronal circuits.
TitleAcoustically targeted molecular control of cell type specific neural circuits in non-human primates
Investigator
Mikhail Shapiro, Doris Ying Tsao
Institute
california institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY
Controlling specific neural circuits across large areas of the brain is a major technology goal of the BRAIN
Initiative.
TitleAn open software solution to integrate non-invasive brain stimulation with functional imaging data
Investigator
Alexander Opitz
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Noninvasive tools capable of selectively manipulating neural systems in the human brain are needed to
advance our neuroscientific understanding of brain function and develop novel non-pharmacologic
psychotherapeutics and are a major focus of Brain Initiative funding.
TitleAutomating whole brain connectomics: development, validation, and application of an open toolkit
Investigator
Davi Bock
Institute
university of vermont & st agric college
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
We have recently published a 3D electron microscopy volume of the whole fruit fly brain. However mapping of
synaptic `wiring diagrams' or connectomes of neuronal circuits from this volume is currently completely manual
and therefore slow.
TitleAxonal connectomics: dense mapping of projection patterns between cortical areas
Investigator
R Clay Reid
Institute
allen institute
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Connectomics is a new field, created with the goal of densely or completely mapping the connections in the
brain. Because this goal is at present only achievable for small organisms, connectomics has taken on two forms
in the study of larger brains.
TitleBCI2000: Software Resource for Adaptive Neurotechnology Research
Investigator
Peter Brunner, Gerwin Schalk
Institute
wadsworth center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The central nervous system (CNS) changes throughout life, and its interactions with the world produce activity-
dependent plasticity that enables it to acquire and maintain useful behaviors.
TitleBilateral Closed Loop Deep Brain Stimulation for Freezing of Gait using Neural and Kinematic Feedback
Investigator
Helen Bronte-Stewart
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Gait impairment and Freezing of gait (FOG), lead to falls, injury (even death), loss of independent living, and are
common in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease (PD), affecting over 7 million people
worldwide.
TitleBRAIN INITIATIVE RESOURCE: DEVELOPMENT OF A HUMAN NEUROELECTROMAGNETIC DATA ARCHIVE AND TOOLS RESOURCE (NEMAR)
Investigator
Amitava Majumdar, Scott Makeig, Russell A Poldrack, Arnaud Delorme
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
To take advantage of recent and ongoing advances in intensive and large-scale computational methods,
and to preserve the scientific data created by publicly funded research projects, data archives must be
created as well as standards for specifying, identifying, and annotating deposited data.
TitleBreaking the Barriers to Microscale fMRI
Investigator
An Vu
Institute
northern california institute/res/edu
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY
The goal of this proposal is to develop technology that is both novel and disruptive in order to achieve
anatomical quality, dynamic B0 corrected, whole brain, microscale (≤ 500 µm isotropic) fMRI.
TitleBridging structure, dynamics, and information processing in brain networks
Investigator
Hannah Choi
Institute
university of washington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The mammalian brain is believed to be optimally designed for robust and adaptable computation of the
sensory inputs from the world, with respect to both its hardware (network structure) and software (network
dynamics).
TitleCell class- or type-specific viruses for brain-wide labeling and neural circuit examination
Investigator
Bosiljka Tasic
Institute
allen institute
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Experimental access to specific cell classes or types in the brain is essential for elucidating their roles in neural
circuit function.