A disproportionately large number of mutations resulting in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric
disorders target synaptic proteins. Synapse remodeling and loss precede cell death in neurodegenerative
disorders, and addictive drugs can alter circuit connectivity.
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
Development of Line-Scan Temporal Focusing for fast structural imaging of synapse assembly/disassembly in vivo
Investigator
Josiah R Boivin
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Title
Development of tools for cell-type specific labeling of human and mouse neocortical neurons
Investigator
Ed Lein, Boaz Pirie Levi, Jonathan T Ting
Institute
allen institute
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
How the brain performs its computational task is a great unsolved problem in biology, but this answer is vital
for us to understand and combat disorders of brain function like autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s.
One appealing strategy towards solving this problem is to deconstruc
Title
Electrophysiological Biomarkers to Optimize DBS for Depression
Investigator
Helen S Mayberg
Institute
emory university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subcallosal cingulate (SCC) white matter is an emerging new treatment
strategy for treatment resistant depression (TRD) with published studies demonstrating sustained long-term
antidepressant effects in 40-60% of implanted patients.
Title
Electrophysiological source imaging guided transcranial focused ultrasound
Investigator
Bin He
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
We propose to develop and test a novel noninvasive neuromodulation technique integrating transcranial
focused ultrasound (tFUS) with electrophysiological source imaging (ESI) to allow real-time evidence-based
neuromodulation with spatio-temporal precision for brain research and manag
Title
Elementary Neuronal Ensembles to Whole Brain Networks: Ultrahigh Resolution Imaging of Function and Connectivity in Humans
Investigator
Kamil Ugurbil
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT:
The strategic plan of the NIH's BRAIN Initiative (BRAIN 2025: A scientific Vision) calls for transformative
technological developments with MRI to achieve “submillimeter spatial resolution descriptions of neuronal
activity, functional and structural connectivity, and network analysis in t
Title
Enabling ethical participation in innovative neuroscience on mental illness and addiction: towards a new screening tool enhancing informed consent for transformative research on the human brain
Investigator
Laura W Roberts
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Great discoveries in neuroscience hold promise for reducing the burden of many of the most disabling
conditions that threaten human health on a global scale, including mental illnesses and addictions.
Increasingly, exceptionally innovative science inspires hope that these devastating brain-based dis
Title
Engineering optogenetic tools for studying neuropeptide activity
Investigator
Alexander Robert French
Institute
purdue university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
7. Project Summary/Abstract
Opioid receptors (ORs), consisting of -, -, and -ORs, are neuropeptide receptors that are broadly involved
in regulating analgesia, mood, reward, and motor coordination.
Title
Ethical Safeguards for Exit and Withdrawal from Implanted Neurotechnology Research
Investigator
Lauren Sankary
Institute
cleveland clinic lerner com-cwru
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Research participants face complex decisions about the surgical removal of implanted devices
upon exiting clinical trials of implanted neurotechnology.
Title
Ethics of Patients and Care Partners Perspectives on Personality Change in Parkinsons disease and Deep Brain Stimulation
Investigator
Cynthia M. S. Kubu
Institute
cleveland clinic lerner com-cwru
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
In our work with patients with neurological disorders, we often encounter patients and families who are afraid.
They are afraid that due to their neurodegenerative disorder or potential treatment, such as neurosurgery, they
will cease to exist – they will no longer be who they “are”.
Title
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
With this grant application we aim to dramatically improve over the capabilities of functional near-infrared
spectroscopy (fNIRS) by developing a completely novel approach to measure human brain function.
Title
Genetic analyses of complete circuit formation in Caenorhabditis elegans
Investigator
Steven Jay Cook
Institute
columbia univ new york morningside
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
Despite the central importance of neural circuit development to brain function and behavior, we lack the genetic
information required to assemble a complete circuit.
Title
High Throughput Approaches for Cell-Specific Synapse Characterization
Investigator
Alison L Barth, Marcel P Bruchez
Institute
carnegie-mellon university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Synapses are formed, broken and reformed dynamically both during development, normal
function and in response to activity.
Title
High throughput mapping of neuronal circuitry using DNA sequencing
Investigator
Anthony M Zador
Institute
cold spring harbor laboratory
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
The long-term goal of these investigations is to develop methods based on high-
throughput DNA sequencing for determining neuronal circuitry. Neurons transmit
information to distant brain regions via long-range axonal projections.
Title
Imaging Human Brain Function with Minimal Mobility Restrictions
Investigator
Michael Garwood
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), by offering the sole means of imaging human brain
structure and activity with high spatial resolution, has evolved into an indispensable tool for
studying brain function in health and disease.
Title
Impact of Timing, Targeting, and Brain State on rTMS of Human and Non-Human Primates
Investigator
Marc A Sommer
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Non-invasive methods for stimulating the human brain show great promise for safe, effective treatments of
psychiatric and motor disorders, and are in widespread use for basic research on human behavior and
cognition.
Title
Integrative approach to classifying neuronal cell types of the mouse hippocampus
Investigator
Hong-Wei Dong, Li I Zhang
Institute
university of southern california
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Identifying the diversity of cell types in the nervous system will allow for their selective manipulation and reveal
their functional contributions in health and disease.
Title
Investigating the Role of Neurotensin on Valence Assignment During Associative Learning in the Basolateral Amygdala
Investigator
Jacob Michael Olson
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Learned associations between environmental stimuli and organism-effecting outcomes guide adaptive
behavior. When healthy, this process results in increased rewards and decreased harm.
Title
Large-scale monitoring of sensory transformations in the mammalian olfactory system
Investigator
Shawn Denver Burton
Institute
university of utah
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
How information is transformed as it propagates through a neural circuit remains an outstanding question of modern
neuroscience.
Title
Mechanism and dosimetry exploration in transcranial electrical stimulation using magnetic resonance current mapping methods.
Investigator
Rosalind J Sadleir
Institute
arizona state university-tempe campus
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Abstract
Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) methods, principally transcranial direct current simulation
(tDCS) and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) are neuromodulation techniques that
have been the subject of great recent interest.
Title
MRI CORTICOGRAPHY: DEVELOPING NEXT GENERATION MICROSCALE HUMAN CORTEX MRI SCANNER
Investigator
David Alan Feinberg, Chunlei Liu, Pratik Mukherjee, Kawin Setsompop, Lawrence L Wald
Institute
university of california berkeley
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY
The overarching objective of our proposal is to bring noninvasive human brain imaging into the microscale
(50-500 micron isotropic) resolution in order to create a tool for studies of neuronal circuitry and network
organization in the human brain.