This revised proposal is in response to PAR-15-090 "BRAIN Initiative: Development, Optimization, and
Validation of Novel Tools and Technologies for Neuroscience Research".
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
NeuroPET HD: A low-cost high performance neuro-PET imaging system
Investigator
William Coulis Jason Hunter
Institute
pet/x, llc
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Title
Noninvasive neuromodulation via focused ultrasonic drug uncaging
Investigator
Raag D Airan
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY .
In psychiatry, we are limited by the mismatch between the diverse heterogeneity of the brain and the tools we
have to treat it.
Title
Novel Neuromodulation by Transcranial Infrared Brain Stimulation with Imaging
Investigator
Francisco Gonzalez-Lima, Hanli Liu
Institute
university of texas arlington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
This project will develop a novel infrared-based neuro-stimulation tool for specifically modulating neural
circuitry. Transcranial infrared brain stimulation (TIBS) at 1064 nm will be developed as a new tool for non-
invasive neuromodulation of the human brain.
Title
Predictive models of brain dynamics during decision making and their validation using distributed optogenetic stimulation
Investigator
Bijan Pesaran
Institute
new york university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
During behavior, the oculomotor system is tasked with selecting objects from an ever-changing visual field and
guiding eye movements to these locations.
Title
Prosthetic System for Large-Scale Recording and Manipulation of Neural Circuit Activity in Non-Human Primates
Investigator
Albert Baldwin Goodell
Institute
graymatter research
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The fundamental objective of the BRAIN Initiative is to understand how dynamic activity in distributed
neural circuits mediates human cognitive behavior.
Title
Revealing circuit control of neuronal excitation with next-generation voltage indicators
Investigator
Thomas Robert Clandinin, Michael Z. Lin
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Recording the electrical impulses of individual neurons in intact brain circuits in real time has been a longstanding goal in
neuroscience.
Title
Reversing Synchronized Brain Circuits with Targeted Auditory-Somatosensory Stimulation to Treat Phantom Percepts
Investigator
Susan E Shore
Institute
university of michigan at ann arbor
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
The dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) integrates auditory and somatosensory information through circuitry that
modulates activity of the principal output neurons of the circuit, the fusiform cells.
Title
SABER: Scalable Analytics for Brain Exploration Research using X-Ray Microtomography and Electron Microscopy
Investigator
William R Gray Roncal
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Abstract
Advances in imaging have had a profound effect on our ability to generate high-resolution measurements of
the brain’s structure.
Title
Scalar Closed-Loop STN/GPi DBS Based on Evoked and Spontaneous Potentials
Investigator
Dennis Alan Turner
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
DBS therapy for Parkinson's disease is now the primary surgical approach for Parkinson's disease, recently
FDA approved at 4 years after onset of disease.
Title
Sensorimotor processing, decision making, and internal states: towards a realistic multiscale circuit model of the larval zebrafish brain
Investigator
Florian Engert, Jeff W Lichtman, Haim Sompolinsky
Institute
harvard university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary - A realistic multiscale circuit model of the larval zebrafish brain
The working group of the BRAIN initiative (BRAIN 2025, a Scientific Vision) identified “the analysis of circuits of
interacting neurons as being particularly rich in opportunity, with potential for revolutionary adv
Title
Spinal root stimulation for restoration of function in lower-limb amputees
Investigator
Lee E Fisher, Douglas J Weber
Institute
university of pittsburgh at pittsburgh
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Recent advances in design and actuation have led to important improvements in prosthetic limbs. However, these devices
lack a means for providing direct sensory feedback, requiring users to infer information about limb state from pressure on
the residual limb.
Title
Split RNA polymerases for sensitive, multidimensional analysis of intercellular PPIs at synapses
Investigator
Bryan Dickinson, Engin Ozkan
Institute
university of chicago
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Deciphering the complex underpinning of brain structure and function requires a complete understanding of how
molecular contacts between cells in the brain are regulated.
Title
The Application of Generalized Linear Models to Calcium Imaging Data for Optimal High-Dimensional Receptive Field Estimation and Identification of Latent Network Dynamics
Investigator
Stephen L Keeley
Institute
princeton university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
As new recording methods emerge in neuroscience, new statistical techniques are needed to properly relate
neural activity to behavior, a given stimulus, or an internal process.
Title
The impact of cerebellar tDCS in local and downstream brain circuits: how much is neuralactivity modulated in the resting state and during sensorimotor processing?
Investigator
Javier F Medina
Institute
baylor college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Non-invasive stimulation of the cerebellum holds great promise for investigating brain function, and for
diagnosing and treating a variety of brain disorders.
Title
the self-tuning brain: cellular and circuit mechanisms of behavioral resilience
Investigator
Adrienne L Fairhall, Timothy James Gardner, Carlos Lois
Institute
california institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
A major goal in clinical neuroscience is to develop efficient treatments to prevent or minimize the loss of
brain function caused by pathological decreases or increases of neuronal activity, which are hallmarks of a
wide variety of neurological disorders.
Title
Towards a Complete Description of the Circuitry Underlying Sharp Wave-Mediated Memory Replay
Investigator
Gyorgy Buzsaki, John E Lisman, Attila Losonczy, Mark J Schnitzer, Ivan Soltesz
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Although neuroscience has provided a great deal of information about how neurons work, the fundamental
question of how neurons function together in a network to produce cognition has been difficult to address.
Our group has been at the forefront of developing methods that allow large scale monitorin
Title
Transcranial magnetic stimulation with enhanced focality and depth (fdTMS)
Investigator
Angel V Peterchev
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
This project will develop transcranial magnetic stimulation coils with improved focality and depth (fdTMS).
TMS is a technique for noninvasive brain stimulation using strong, brief magnetic pulses. TMS is widely used in
the neurosciences as a tool for probing brain function and connectivity.
Title
Viral Strategies for Functional Connectomics in the Visual System
Investigator
R Clay Reid
Institute
allen institute
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
A fundamental but unsolved question in neuroscience is how specific connections between brain cells
(neurons) underlie information processing.
Title
A high-speed volumetric multiphoton microscope for the study of developing neural circuits in retina
Investigator
Marla Feller
Institute
university of california berkeley
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Our research goal is to determine the factors that instruct the development of visual
responses in the mammalian retina. In particular, we are studying the developmental
period when the retina transitions from generating retinal waves to mediating visual
responses by forming functional circuits.
Title
A platform for high-throughput production of targeting systems for cell-type-specific transgene expression in wild-type animals
Investigator
Ian R Wickersham
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
We will use high throughput techniques to produce a set of viral vectors that will allow selective expression of transgenes in specific populations of neurons in the brain.