Project Summary
In an effort to better understand structural organization and anatomy of nervous systems at
unprecedented spatial resolution, recent efforts, including BRAIN Initiative funded projects, have
collected increasingly larger datasets using Electron Microscopy (EM) and X-Ray
Microtomograp
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 #
TitleBig-Data Electron-microscopy for Novel Community Hypotheses: Measuring And Retrieving Knowledge (BENCHMARK)
Investigator
William R Gray Roncal
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleBRAIN Initiative: Assessing development of event-related cortical network dynamics
Investigator
Scott Makeig, Michael Peter Milham, Arnaud Delorme
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
The Child Mind Institute’s Healthy Brain Network (HBN) is an ongoing initiative focused on creating and
sharing a biobank of brain and behavioral data now being collected from 10,000 New York City area children
and adolescents (ages 5-21).
TitleBRAIN Viral Vector Services and Distribution Core
Investigator
Kimberly Ritola
Institute
univ of north carolina chapel hill
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The BRAIN Viral Vector Service and Distribution Core will serve as a resource for the maintenance,
propagation, and distribution of viral vectors that are used by neuroscientists for neural circuit
identification and manipulation, as well as for preclinical translational studies.
TitleBRAINShare: Sharing Data in BRAIN Initiative Studies
Investigator
Amy L Mcguire, Sameer Anil Sheth
Institute
baylor college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Data sharing is essential to promote equity and maximize the impact of the significant investment in the BRAIN
Initiative.
TitleCapturing large-scale locus coeruleus single neuron activity in behaving rats with nanoelectronic threads (NETs), an ultra-flexible multi-electrode probe
Investigator
Nelson Totah
Institute
university of helsinki
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
Systems neuroscience has viewed the brainstem noradrenergic nucleus, Locus Coeruleus (LC), as the
source of a global arousal signal, which modulates cognitive functions by altering operations throughout
the entire central nervous system.
TitleCell type atlasing of whole human brains using HOLiS: an optimized pipeline for staining, clearing, imaging, and analysis
Investigator
Elizabeth M. C. Hillman, Pavel Osten, Zhuhao Wu
Institute
columbia university health sciences
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary (Abstract)
Gaining a comprehensive understanding of brain-wide cellular organization in the human brain has long been
recognized as a critical foundation for understanding complex brain functions, including who we are as humans.
In this project we propose to take on this challenge an
TitleChanging the neuromodulation game: ultrasound fenestration of the blood brain barrier for noninvasive viral transfection of primate CNS neurons
Investigator
Arnaud Y Falchier, Charles E Schroeder
Institute
nathan s. kline institute for psych res
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary
Genetic technologies have revolutionized the way scientists can dissect out brain circuitry by inserting G
protein-coupled receptors that enable selective modulation of neurons in target structures.
TitleCircuit basis of social behavior decision-making in a subcortical network
Investigator
David J Anderson
Institute
california institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
This proposal responds to an FOA (RFA-NS-18-030) calling for 1) “novel approaches to understand neural
circuitry associated with well-defined social behaviors;” 2) Distributed circuits that contribute to the coordination
of motivational states and reward behavior;” 3) “Empi
TitleCircuits underlying threat and safety
Investigator
Donald B Arnold, Scott E Fraser, Nancy Kopell, Carl Kesselman
Institute
university of southern california
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Classical conditioning has been studied in many different animal models, and even in humans. However, the
larval zebrafish with its transparent brain offers a unique opportunity to observe large scale changes in
synaptic structure that accompany this form of learning.
TitleComparative Neuroanatomy at single-neuron resolution
Investigator
Roger L Clem, Peter Rudebeck
Institute
icahn school of medicine at mount sinai
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project summary
Although single neurons occasionally project to a single downstream target, it is more often the case that their
axons collateralize and project to multiple distinct anatomical areas.
TitleComprehensive and multi-resolution mapping of cell morphology and wiring through X-ray holographic nano-tomography
Investigator
Alexandra Teodora Joita Pacureanu, Wei-Chung Allen Lee
Institute
harvard medical school
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
A fundamental goal in neuroscience is understanding how information is processed in neuronal circuits.
However, the immense complexity of most brain networks has been a significant barrier to progress.
TitleConnecting late-life depression and cognition with statistical physics based connectomics and sparse Frechet regression
Investigator
Alex Leow, Yichao Wu, Liang Zhan
Institute
university of illinois at chicago
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Recently, several lines of evidence have supported that synaptic dysfunction represents one of
the earliest brain changes in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), leading to hyper-excitation in neuronal
circuits.
TitleConverting Value into Action: Computations in Corticostriatal Circuits for Flexible Decision Making
Investigator
Linda Amarante
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
To flexibly execute behavior, choices are made based on previous outcomes that will maximize reward.
Crucially, learning the value of each action to obtain a reward is thought to drive this decision making process.
In a value-based decision making framework, these values are first co
TitleCoordinating Structure and Function for Neuronal Computations Mediating Context-Dependent Behavior
Investigator
Bijan Pesaran
Institute
new york university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
This proposal explores an emergent computational framework for understanding the neural population codes
that support flexible, context-dependent behavior. The current state of the field is based on two competing
views.
TitleCorrelating molecular behavioral phenotypes in a marmoset model of Huntingtons disease
Investigator
Ali H Brivanlou
Institute
rockefeller university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
The common marmoset provides a very relevant primate model for understanding the organization of the human
nervous system and the diseases that affect it.
TitleCortical information integration as a model for pain perception and behavior
Investigator
Zhe Sage Chen, Jing Wang
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Sensory processing requires the interaction between external inputs and an internal brain state. Pain is a unique
sensory experience that is triggered by external signals, but is also strongly shaped by internal cognitive and
emotional variables.
TitleCortical visual processing for navigation
Investigator
Michael Goard, Cristopher M Niell, Spencer Lavere Smith
Institute
university of california santa barbara
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project summary
Vision plays a key role in our ability to navigate through the environment, from identifying landmarks and obstacles
to determining location and heading.
TitleDefining motor neuron diversity from embryo to adulthood and generating tools for in vivo and in vitro access
Investigator
Tulsi Patel
Institute
columbia university health sciences
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
In order to understand neurological diseases, it is essential to identify the affected neuronal cell types,
create model systems that accurately recapitulate normal function and disease phenotypes, and develop tools
that allow cellular manipulations.
TitleDefining Targets for Tic Detection and Suppression in Tourette Syndrome Deep Brain Stimulation
Investigator
Christopher R Butson, Aysegul Gunduz, Michael S Okun
Institute
university of florida
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Tourette syndrome (TS) is a continuous lifelong condition that is highly prevalent, socially disabling, and in some severe
cases, physically injurious.
TitleDeveloping cell type-specific enhancers and connectivity mapping pipelines for marmosets
Investigator
Guoping Feng, Partha Pratim Mitra
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Although genetic tools have dramatically advanced our understanding of brain function, they have
largely been confined to mice.