Progress in treating brain disorders has been frustratingly slow, in large part due to the extraordinary complexity of the
human brain and its inaccessibility to study.
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 #
TitleFunctionally guided adult whole brain cell atlas in human and NHP
Investigator
Ed Lein, Hongkui Zeng
Institute
allen institute
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleGene regulatory networks influencing neuron-microglia interactions in fetal brain development.
Investigator
Claudia Z Han
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
The prenatal period is a sensitive and critical time for brain development characterized by waves of neurogenesis,
neuronal migration, and formation of neural networks.
TitleHierarchy of the vocalization motor patterning circuits
Investigator
Kevin Yackle
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
How are complex behaviors that require the coordination of multiple muscle systems produced? How does the
brain suddenly turn them “on”?
Vocalizations are seemingly simple, yet to occur, ~100 muscles must be coordinated, such as those for
articulation (laryngeal and tongue) and breathing.
TitleHigh-throughput mapping of synaptic connectivity between transcriptomically defined cell types
Investigator
Michael Nicholas Economo
Institute
boston university (charles river campus)
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Identifying the cell types that make up each region of the brain and the patterns of synaptic connections
through which they are linked is key to understanding how neural circuits give rise to all perception, cognition,
and behavior.
TitleHigh-throughput sequencing of synaptic partnerships and gene expression at single-cell resolution in vivo
Investigator
Arpiar B Saunders
Institute
oregon health & science university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Brain function depends on forming and maintaining synaptic connections between neurons of specific types,
yet systematic descriptions of cell-type connectivity and the molecules that instruct these relationships remain
challenging because we lack some necessary tools.
TitleHippocampo-cortical contributions to world building in freely behaving macaques
Investigator
Kari Hoffman
Institute
vanderbilt university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
When learning in complex, realistic, or even real worlds, we have the benefit of using different
strategies adaptively. For most primate brains, adaptive means adjusting as a function of where we
are, who we are with, and what things of use are in view or in reach.
TitleHormonal regulation of sensory processing during parental care
Investigator
Kristina O. Smiley
Institute
university of massachusetts amherst
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Does the way we hear sounds change when we become parents?
TitleIdentifying prefrontal signatures of successful and dysfunctional attention
Investigator
Brielle Ferguson
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Attention is comprised of several component processes, including sustained attention, selective
attention, and attentional flexibility.
TitleImplementation and dissemination of cloud-based retrospective hemodynamic analysis tools to enhance HCP data interpretation
Investigator
Blaise Debonneval Frederick
Institute
mclean hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging data has been a mainstay of neuroscience research for more than two
decades, as it allows rapid, continuous, noninvasive monitoring of neuronal function.
TitleImproving the robustness of neuroimaging through exploitation of variability in processing pipelines
Investigator
Gregory Kiar, Michael Peter Milham
Institute
child mind institute, inc.
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Reproducible findings are essential to scientific advancement. Unfortunately, when fields lack consensus
standards for methods, or their implementations, reproducibility tends to be more of an ideal than a reality.
TitleIn situ Single-Cell Multi-Omic and Morphological Profiling in Mammalian Brains
Investigator
Chongyuan Luo
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Single-cell technologies have revolutionized the characterization of mammalian brains allowing unbiased census
of cell types and their transcriptomic and epigenomics signatures.
TitleIntegrated functional and structural analysis of an entire column in mouse primary visual cortex
Investigator
Reza Abbasi Asl
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Neurons in the visual cortex form an intricate connectivity structure and topographic arrangement. The
structural and morphological organization of the neurons is known to constrain its functional properties.
TitleIntegration of social and nonsocial information in the primate brain
Investigator
Joseph Simon
Institute
icahn school of medicine at mount sinai
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Primate species frequently use social information to inform their decisions, for instance, to help make inferences
about potential threats or rewards in the environment.
TitleIntroducing Neuroscience and Neurocomputation Concepts to High School Students using Brain-based Neurorobots
Investigator
Gregory John Gage, Christopher Aiden Harris
Institute
backyard brains, inc.
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Understanding the brain is a profound and fascinating challenge, captivating the scientific community and the public alike. The lack of effective treatment for most brain disorders makes training the next generation of neuroscientists, engineers and physicians a key concern.
TitleInvestigating descending control of walking
Investigator
Helen Horan Yang
Institute
harvard medical school
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Circuits in the brain control motor output to generate the precise behaviors required for survival. Dysfunction of
these circuits results in devastating movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis.
TitleInvestigating the microcircuit determinants of neural population activity through comparative analysis of latent dynamics across cortical areas in the mouse
Investigator
Audrey Sederberg
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
A key goal in neuroscience is determining how microcircuit structure predicts circuit function. An intriguing idea,
supported by some theoretical models, is that variation in microcircuit composition supports functional
specialization.
TitleInvestigating the pathomechanisms underlying Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease
Investigator
Julia Alexis Jones
Institute
scripps research institute, the
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of
inherited peripheral neuropathies that is characterized by damage to long motor and sensory
axons.
TitleInvestigating the Role of Microglia in Methamphetamine Use Disorder
Investigator
Samara Jo Vilca
Institute
university of miami school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Substance use disorder is a chronic relapsing disease that is characterized by repeated drug use despite
negative consequences.
TitleLocus coeruelus-prefrontal interactions for flexible decision-making
Investigator
Joshua I Gold
Institute
university of pennsylvania
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Higher brain functions include the ability to learn expectations about the world, update those expectations
appropriately when given new sensory information, and use those continually updating expectations to guide
behavior.
TitleLong-term consequences of visual working memory
Investigator
Megan Teresa Debettencourt
Institute
university of chicago
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
The ability to remember information, whether after short or long delays, is a fundamental human ability.