ABSTRACT / SUMMARY
New technologies are enabling molecular profiling of single brain cells at remarkable throughput.
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 #
TitleSingle cell transcriptional and epigenomic atlas of the macaque brain across the lifespan
Investigator
Michael L Platt, Jay Ashok Shendure, Noah Snyder-Mackler
Institute
university of washington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleSingle Neuron Analyzer for Multi-modal, Cross-dataset (Epi)genomic Cell Type Datasets
Investigator
Eran A Mukamel
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Our project will create a computational resource, the Single Neuron Analyzer, to support the neuroscience
community’s efforts to build a reproducible, comprehensive, data-driven atlas of brain cell types.
TitleSpinal Circuits for the Control of Dextrous Movement
Investigator
Martyn D Goulding
Institute
salk institute for biological studies
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary: Overall
Local networks within the spinal cord represent an essential computational layer for the control of limb-driven
motor behaviors, integrating descending and sensory inputs to coordinate dexterous motor output.
TitleSpinal Effects of Cortical Stimulation: Mechanisms and Functional Impact
Investigator
Jonathan Saul Carp, Yu Wang, Jonathan Rickel Wolpaw
Institute
wadsworth center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Because activity-dependent plasticity is ubiquitous in the CNS, brain stimulation may have long-term effects on
areas to which the stimulated area connects. These effects have received little attention.
TitleSubcellular Mapping and Post-Synaptic Impacts of Striatal Dopamine Release During Behavior
Investigator
Mai-Anh Vu
Institute
boston university (charles river campus)
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The basal ganglia are a group of deep brain nuclei that play a central role in motivating, selecting, and learning
actions.
TitleTechnology development for closed-loop deep brain stimulation to treat refractory neuropathic pain
Investigator
Edward Chang, Philip Andrew Starr
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Many pain syndromes are notoriously refractory to almost all treatment and pose significant costs to patients
and society. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for refractory pain disorders showed early promise but
demonstration of long-term efficacy is lacking.
TitleThe glial mechanism for electrical brain stimulation
Investigator
Hai-Long Wang, Gregory A Worrell, Long-Jun Wu
Institute
mayo clinic rochester
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT:
Electrical brain stimulation (EBS) is a FDA-approved neuromodulation therapy applied to several
neurological disorders. However, the molecular basis of its efficacy remains unclear.
TitleThe Neural Mechanism of Interval Timing in Drosophila
Investigator
Ashley Danielle Smart
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
There is no dedicated sensory organ for time, and yet our brains are able to use time to anticipate the
environment and adapt.
TitleThe Neuroimaging Data Model: FAIR descriptors of Brain Initiative Imaging Experiments
Investigator
David Bryant Keator
Institute
university of california-irvine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Reuse of existing neuroscience data relies, in part, on our ability to understand the experimental design and
study data.
TitleTime-Gated Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy for functional imaging of the human brain
Investigator
Maria Angela Franceschini
Institute
massachusetts general hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a well-established neuroimaging method which enables
neuroscientists to study brain activity by non-invasively monitoring hemodynamic changes in the cerebral cortex.
In the last decade, the use of fNIRS has increased significa
TitleTools to broaden access to high-throughput functional connectomics
Investigator
Wei-Chung Allen Lee, Thomas Macrina, Hyunjune Sebastian Seung, John Tuthill
Institute
harvard medical school
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
The goal of this proposal is to develop a widely adoptable, high-throughput, functional connectomics platform to
semi-automatically reconstruct and analyze the synaptic connectivity of functionally characterized neuronal
microcircuits.
TitleTowards a unified framework for dopamine signaling in the striatum
Investigator
John Assad, Sandeep R Datta, Samuel J Gershman, Scott Warren Linderman, Bernardo L Sabatini, Naoshige Uchida, Linda E Wilbrecht
Institute
harvard medical school
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project abstract
Animals, including humans, interact with their environment via self-generated and continuous actions that
enable them to explore and subsequently experience the positive and negative consequences of their actions.
As a result of their interactions with the environment, animals alter
TitleUnbiased Epigenomic and Transcriptomic Profiling of Non-Neuronal Cells in the Mouse Brain
Investigator
Nicola J Allen, Joseph R Ecker
Institute
salk institute for biological studies
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
The mammalian brain is composed of 50% neurons and 50% non-neuronal glial cells, including astrocytes
(20%) which regulate synaptic transmission and provide metabolic support for neurons, oligodendrocytes
(25%) that speed up neuronal action potential conduction, and microglia (5-15%) which
TitleUnderstanding Brain Development Through the Lens of Metabolism
Investigator
Aparna Bhaduri
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The human cerebral cortex is a complex structure comprised of distinct areas with specialized functions and connectivity patterns.
TitleUnderstanding how post-translational palmitoylation influences in vivo molecular and circuit dynamics during learning
Investigator
Jessica C Nelson
Institute
university of pennsylvania
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Habituation is a simple form of learning in which animals reduce responsiveness to repetitive stimuli. Habituation forms a foundation for normal cognition; without the ability to filter irrelevant stimuli, animals are unable to perform more complex cognitive tasks.
TitleValidated tools for identifying, characterizing, and targeting all non-neuronal cells in the brain and determining the neuro-glio-vascular connectome
Investigator
Chenghua Gu
Institute
harvard medical school
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract:
Proper function of precisely wired neural circuits depends on a close physical and functional relationship with an
equally complex and overlapping vascular network.
TitleVentromedial prefrontal cortex regulation of fear memory expression
Investigator
Kirstie Alyssa Cummings
Institute
icahn school of medicine at mount sinai
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) typically nucleate when individuals experience a highly traumatic event. One hallmark of PTSD is pronounced expression of fear and resistance to fear-suppressing behavioral therapies.
TitleA Biomimetic Approach Towards a Dexterous Neuroprosthesis
Investigator
Michael L. Boninger
Institute
university of pittsburgh at pittsburgh
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Cervical spinal cord injury results in the loss of arm and hand function, which significantly limits independence
and results in costs over the person’s lifespan.
TitleA Facility to Generate Connectomics Information
Investigator
Jeff W Lichtman
Institute
harvard university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The goal of this proposal is to disseminate high resolution large volume serial section electron
microscopy data to neuroscientists.
TitleA Fast, Accurate and Cloud-based Data Processing Pipeline for High-Density, High-Site-Count Electrophysiology
Investigator
Nathan G Clack, Bruce Kimmel
Institute
vidrio technologies, llc
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The past decade has seen major advances in the tools available to neuroscientists, making it possible to ask
increasingly specific questions regarding which neurons and circuits are correlated with, necessary for, and
sufficient for, specific behavioral or computational functions.