PROJECT SUMMARY
The highly-organized intrinsic brain activity, as measured by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging
(rsfMRI), is being widely used to measure functional brain connectivity in both healthy subjects and patient
groups, despite the underlying neural mechanisms remain large
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 #
TitleMultimodal study of infra-slow propagating brain activity
Investigator
Xiao Liu
Institute
pennsylvania state university, the
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleNeural circuitry for observational learning of maternal behavior
Investigator
Amy Lemessurier
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Behaviors essential for survival, including parenting behaviors, are driven by neural circuits that arise from
combinations of genetics and experience-dependent learning.
TitleNeurobiology of Social Behavior: Circuit Analysis in Early Life
Investigator
Maya Opendak
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
My long-termcareer goal is to establish a research laboratory that dissects functional microcircuits supporting
flexible social behavior in typical and perturbed development.
TitleNeuroEthics of Non-Therapeutic Invasive Human Neurophysiologic Research
Investigator
Ashley L Feinsinger, Nader Pouratian
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
The BRAIN Initiative has made a significant investment in invasive human neuroscientific studies that take
advantage of unique neurosurgical opportunities to study basic human neuroscience without therapeutic intent.
These non-therapeutic studies are of particular ethical in
TitleNeuroExplorer: Ultra-high Performance Human Brain PET Imager for Highly-resolved In Vivo Imaging of Neurochemistry
Investigator
Richard E. Carson, Hongdi Li, Jinyi Qi
Institute
yale university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Research applications of brain Positron Emission Tomography (PET) have been in place for over 40 years.
The combination of quantitative PET systems with novel radiotracers has led to a numerous imaging para-
digms to understand normal brain physiology including neurotransmitter dynamics and receptor
TitleNeuronal mechanisms of human episodic memory
Investigator
Adam Nathaniel Mamelak, Ueli Rutishauser
Institute
cedars-sinai medical center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
The rapid formation of new memories and the recall of old memories to inform decisions is essential for human
cognition, but the underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly understood.
TitleNeurostimulation and Recording of Real World Spatial Navigation in Humans
Investigator
Nanthia A Suthana
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Decades of research and clinical observations have established that successful spatial navigation and memory
depend on the hippocampus and associated structures in the medial temporal lobe (MTL), including entorhinal,
perirhinal and parahippocampal cortices [1, 2].
TitleNeurostimulation by Ultrasound: Physical, Biophysical, and Neural Mechanisms
Investigator
Stephen A Baccus, Kim Butts-Pauly, Butrus T Khuri-Yakub, Merritt C Maduke
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
The goal of this project is to understand the neurobiological underpinnings of the effects of ultrasound
(US) on neural activity. US can modify action potential activity in neurons in vitro and in vivo without damaging
neural tissue.
TitleNobrainer: A robust and validated neural network tool suite for imagers
Investigator
Satrajit Sujit Ghosh
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
There is an increasing need for efficient and robust software to process, integrate, and offer insight across the
diversity of population imaging efforts underway across the BRAIN Initiative and other projects.
TitleNon-invasive Radio Frequency Stimulation of Neurons and Networks
Investigator
Gyorgy Buzsaki, Daniel K Sodickson
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Nonivasive stimulation of the brain in health and disease is an important goal of the Brain Initiative. Current
methods include Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Transcranial Electric Stimulation (TES) and
Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (TFUS).
TitleNon-invasive, Deep Brain, and Focal Neuromodulation in Nonhuman Primates
Investigator
Taylor D Webb
Institute
university of utah
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The ability to non-invasively perturb specific regions deep in the human brain would enable researchers and clinicians
to study the causal relationships between specific brain structures and behavior.
TitleOpen-source software for multi-scale mapping of the human brain
Investigator
Bruce Fischl, Juan Eugenio Iglesias Gonzalez
Institute
massachusetts general hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary (maximum 30 lines)
The BRAIN initiative seeks to develop and apply technologies in order to understand of how brain cells interact
in both time and space to give rise to brain function.
TitleOptimizing oscillatory epidural electrical stimulation to selectively increase task-related population dynamics in motor areas
Investigator
Karunesh Ganguly, Jeffrey A Roberts
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Stroke is the leading cause of motor disability in the United States. While brain stimulation to enhance motor
function after stroke has shown promise in small studies, two recent large stroke trials did not find evidence for
significant benefits.
TitlePrefrontal contributions to contextual representation
Investigator
Cybelle Marguerite Smith
Institute
university of pennsylvania
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Abstract/Summary
This application describes a 3-year training plan that will enable me, a cognitive neuroscientist with prior
training in electroencephalography (EEG), to conduct research on contextual memory representation using
neuroimaging (fMRI) and computational modeling.
TitleReal-time manipulations to understand and improve memory processes
Investigator
Anna Kathleen Gillespie
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The hippocampus is critical for capturing rich, multimodal representations of experience and facilitating
the long-term storage and later recall of these experiences.
TitleRestoring Sight to the Blind: Neural Imaging with Retinal Prostheses
Investigator
Noelle Stiles
Institute
university of southern california
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary – Restoring Sight to the Blind: Neural Imaging with Retinal Prostheses
Retinal prostheses restore sight to the blind by electrically stimulating still viable cells in the
retina.
TitleSignificance of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic integration by interneurons for local circuit dynamics and behavior
Investigator
Brandon David Turner
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Localized structuring of neuronal output by inhibitory microcircuits is a fundamental component of
neuronal information processing.
TitleStudying how the hippocampal-prefrontal-hypothalamic circuit encodes social dominance
Investigator
Nancy Padilla Coreano
Institute
salk institute for biological studies
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Social deficits are common in psychiatric disorders and available treatments are limited. Our lack of basic
knowledge on how the brain controls social behaviors makes it challenging to develop therapeutics for social
deficits.
TitleThe behavioral microstructure of a memory-guided food-caching behavior and its relationship to hippocampal replay
Investigator
Selmaan Chettih
Institute
columbia university health sciences
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
The hippocampus is a critical site for rapid memory formation and retrieval, with extensively documented
functions representing spatial and navigational variables, yet less is known of the means by which it guides
behavior.
TitleThe experience of human subjects with brain organoid research
Investigator
Kate E. Macduffie
Institute
university of washington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Efforts to understand the mechanisms of brain-based disease have been hindered by the limited
ability of animal models to reflect the full complexity of human brain and behavior.