Project Summary Many social behaviors, such as defense and aggression, are innate- requiring no prior experience to be expressed and presumably ‘hardwired’ into neural circuits.
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 #
Title
Mechanisms of experience-dependent plasticity in an innate social behavior circuit
Investigator
Emma E Boxer
Institute
california institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Title
Mechanisms of neural circuit dynamics in working memory and decision-making
Investigator
Carlos D Brody, Ila R. Fiete, Mark S Goldman, Jonathan William Pillow, Hyunjune Sebastian Seung, David W Tank, Samuel Sheng-Hung Wang, Ilana Witten
Institute
princeton university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract: Overall The overarching goal of this U19 program is to determine how neural computations across brain regions produce two core cognitive processes, working memory and decision-making, and thus to derive fundamental principles of brain function.
Title
Models for accumulation of evidence through sequences in a navigation-based, decision-making task
Investigator
Lindsey Shoemaker Brown
Institute
princeton university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Decision making is a fundamental cognitive process, and many decisions are based on gradually accumulated evidence. Thus, it is critical to understand the mechanistic basis underlying this accumulation process.
Title
Multiplex Imaging of Brain Activity and Plasticity with Optimized FRET/FLIM-based Sensors
Investigator
Daniel A Dombeck, Oliver Griesbeck, Ryohei Yasuda
Institute
northwestern university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary Plasticity is a fundamental aspect of neuronal circuits across all species. It is at the base of learning and memory, sensory adaption, and many disease-related processes such as addiction, chronic pain or regeneration.
Title
Multisensory integration and self-motion perception in primate vestibular cortex
Investigator
Alejandra Gomez
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary In vertebrate animals, the vestibular system (primarily known as the “balance system” of the brain) interprets head-movement and orientation signals to provide organisms with a sense of self-motion.
Title
Nanoparticle Coated Microelectrode Arrays for Electrochemically Controlled Gene Editing at the Electrode Site
Investigator
Nathaniel P Williams
Institute
university of pittsburgh at pittsburgh
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) have great potential for therapeutic use in direct brain-computer interface (BCI) control of robotic prostheses to improve the lives of patients suffering from debilitating conditions related to loss of limbs or limb function.
Title
Neural basis of collective behavior during environmental stress
Investigator
Tara Raam
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary Social interactions are critical to the physical and emotional health of a wide variety of species.
Title
Neural circuits for social modulation of a persistent negative emotional state
Investigator
Weizhe Hong, Li I Zhang
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY In social species, social relationships can exert profound influences on individuals’ behavioral and physiological states.
Title
Neural Mechanisms for Flexible Vocal Communication
Investigator
Arkarup Banerjee
Institute
cold spring harbor laboratory
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary: Whether to laugh at a joke or to engage in a lively debate, we flexibly modify our vocalizations based upon social contexts. Such adaptive behavior requires real-time adjustments of motor outputs in response to rapidly changing sensory inputs.
Title
Neuronal and Network Mechanisms of Electrocortical Stimulation
Investigator
Marc W. Slutzky
Institute
northwestern university at chicago
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Electrocortical stimulation (ECS) has been used for functional mapping for many decades to identify brain areas that are “critical” for speech and language (i.e., that impair function when stimulated) prior to epilepsy or tumor surgery.
Title
Neuropixels Opto: Integrated Silicon Probes for Cell-Type-Specific Electrophysiology
Investigator
Joshua H Siegle, Karel Svoboda
Institute
allen institute
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY Within every brain region, neurons can be classified into dozens or hundreds of different cell types, each with unique functional roles and unique impacts on disease states.
Title
NexGen 7T MRI scanner for mesoscale brain imaging: Integration and Dissemination
Investigator
Alexander Beckett, David Alan Feinberg, An T Vu
Institute
university of california berkeley
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY The "NexGen" 7 Tesla MRI scanner at UC Berkeley is a unique resource that we wish to make available for neuroscience collaborations across the globe.
Title
Next generation axonal quantification and classification using AI
Investigator
Jacob R Glaser
Institute
microbrightfield, llc
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
This Phase II project describes the commercial development of HyperAxon™, highly innovative software for performing automated segmentation, tracing, reconstruction and quantitative analysis of all axonal fibers (with and without signs of acute axonal injury) visible in two- and three-dimensional
Title
Next Generation Opto-GPCRs for Neuromodulatory Control
Investigator
Andre Berndt, Michael R Bruchas, Moran Shalev-Benami, Ofer Yizhar
Institute
university of washington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract: The field of optogenetics — utilizing light to engage biological systems — is widely used for the dissection of neural circuits, cellular signaling and manipulating neurophysiological systems in awake, behaving animals.
Title
O-GlcNac Modulation of GABAergic Transmission
Investigator
Shekinah Phillips
Institute
university of alabama at birmingham
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Changes in the strength of GABAergic transmission is heavily influenced by posttranslational modifications and allosteric modulators like benzodiazepines and neurosteroids.
Title
OpenNeuro: An open archive for analysis and sharing of BRAIN Initiative data
Investigator
Russell A Poldrack
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract The BRAIN Initiative is supporting a broad portfolio of neuroscience research aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the brain.
Title
Optimizing ultraflexible electrodes and integrated electronics for high-resolution, large-scale intraspinal recording and modulation
Investigator
Lan Luan, Chong Xie
Institute
rice university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Electrophysiology is a critical technology in neuroscience as a direct measure of neuronal functions. It has become routine for scientists to record and stimulate neuron populations in different brain regions in awake behaving animals, correlating activity with behavior.
Title
Oxytocin Modulation of Neural Circuit Function and Behavior
Investigator
Richard W Tsien
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary Oxytocin is a peptide hormone synthesized and released from the hypothalamus for reproduction, maternal care, and social behavior, as well as various ‘non-social’ aspects of internal state and physiological processes.
Title
Parameterizing the relationship between motor cortical reactivation during sleep and motor skill acquisition in the freely behaving marmoset
Investigator
Nicholas G Hatsopoulos, Jason Neil Maclean
Institute
university of chicago
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract This project will provide a more nuanced and mechanistic model of the role of sleep in memory consolidation, particularly as it pertains to procedural motor skill acquisition in a non-human primate model.
Title
Peptidergic neurons in error computations and behavioral flexibility
Investigator
Emily L Sylwestrak
Institute
university of oregon
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY Survival in dynamic environments demands that behaviors are flexible and adaptive. An organism must make predictions about which actions lead to rewards, calculate how outcomes differ from those predictions (prediction errors), and adapt a behavioral strategy accordingly.