Genetic and neural mechanisms underlying emerging social behavior in zebrafish
Our goal is to understand emerging collective behaviors of groups, such as schooling and shoaling in fish.
Our approach is to dissect basic sensorimotor transformations in the zebrafish, which we believe play a
fundamenta
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
Genetic and neural mechanisms underlying emerging social behavior in zebrafish
Investigator
Florian Engert, Mark C Fishman
Institute
harvard university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Title
Harmonizing and Archiving of Large-scale Infant Neuroimaging Data
Investigator
Gang Li
Institute
univ of north carolina chapel hill
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Abstract
The first postnatal years are an exceptionally dynamic and critical period of structural and functional development
of the human brain. Many neurodevelopmental disorders are the consequence of abnormal brain development
during this stage.
Title
Hemogenetic imaging technology for circuit-specific analysis of primate brain function
Investigator
Alan Jasanoff
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Primate brains contain cortical areas that exhibit selective engagement in high-level sensory or behavioral
operations. The functional specialization of these regions is thought to be central to primate-specific cognitive
faculties and to associated disorders.
Title
Heritability and cognitive implications of structural-functional connectome coupling
Investigator
Amy Kuceyeski
Institute
weill medical coll of cornell univ
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The human brain is an unimaginably complicated system of interconnected neurons that is capable of complex
thought, emotion and behavior.
Title
High-resolution synaptic and functional connectivity mapping of a neural circuit architecture underlying a behavioral sequence
Investigator
Andrew Michael Seeds
Institute
university of puerto rico med sciences
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The ability to generate complex motor behaviors by assembling sequences of movements is essential for
purposeful actions and survival. Defects in the brain regions thought to drive such movement selection can lead
to behaviors becoming abnormally repetitive (e.g. autism spectrum disorder).
Title
Hippocampal neural dynamics driving affiliation and attachment
Investigator
Zoe Rebecca Donaldson, Peyman Golshani, Weizhe Hong, Michael Moshe Yartsev
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract:
Attachment powerfully shapes our development and remains a primary driver of health and well-being in
adulthood; disruption of attachments is highly traumatic.
Title
Imaging Dynamics in Anxiogenic Serotonin Circuitry
Investigator
Emily Clarissa Wright
Institute
university of california at davis
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Serotonin has been long been recognized as an important modulator of mood and behavior, yet it projection-
specific dynamics are little understood.
Title
Influence of task complexity and sensory feedback on cortical control of grasp force
Investigator
Jennifer L. Collinger
Institute
university of pittsburgh at pittsburgh
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Humans can skillfully control their grasp during actions as complex and dynamic as swinging a tennis racket,
and as simple and static as holding a briefcase. Both tasks require the use of sensory feedback to achieve
and maintain an appropriate grasp force.
Title
Integrative analysis of genomics and imaging data from the BRAIN Initiative and other public data sources
Investigator
Mark Bender Gerstein, Avram J Holmes
Institute
yale university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Constructing an integrated picture of human brain function requires understanding how the effects of molecular
and genetic factors propagate upwards, through many intervening layers of structure and interaction, to
influence behavioral, psychiatric and cognitive traits.
Title
Integrative analysis of multiomic datasets for discovery of molecular underpinnings of large-scale human brain networks
Investigator
Mikail Rubinov
Institute
vanderbilt university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY
Brain-mapping initiatives are acquiring increasingly large and comprehensive neuroimaging and multiomic—
e.g. genomic and transcriptomic—datasets.
Title
Investigating Functional Ependymal Cell Heterogeneity in the Ventricular System
Investigator
Stephanie Redmond
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract:
Glial cells collectively outnumber neurons in the vertebrate brain, but mechanistic understanding of their
molecular subtypes and functions is lacking.
Title
iSonogenetics for incisionless cell-type-specific neuromodulation of non-human primate brains
Investigator
Hong Chen, Ilya E. Monosov
Institute
washington university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Critical advances in the treatment of human brain disorders are hindered by our inability to specifically target
dysfunctional circuitry in a safe and noninvasive manner.
Title
Linking Fast Timescale Neuron-Astrocyte Communication to Neural Circuit Function and Behavior
Investigator
Axel Nimmerjahn
Institute
salk institute for biological studies
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary: Project 2 - Linking Fast Timescale Neuron-Astrocyte Communication to Neural
Circuit Function and Behavior
A fundamental yet unresolved question in neuroscience is how non-neuronal cells communicate with the
surrounding neurons, influence their function, and potentially affect animal
Title
Linking function, structure, and molecular identity of lateral habenula neurons
Investigator
Steven Shabel
Institute
ut southwestern medical center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT:
The lateral habenula (LHb) impacts motivated behavior through dense direct and indirect projections to midbrain
dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons.
Title
Long-range neuronal projections: circuit blueprint or stochastic targeting? Rigorous classification of brain-wide axonal reconstructions
Investigator
Giorgio A Ascoli
Institute
george mason university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT (PROJECT SUMMARY)
The classification of neurons in the mammalian brain has long been a focus of intensive investigation in
neuroscience.
Title
Map Manager: Longitudinal image analysis with online editing and sharing.
Investigator
Robert Harry Cudmore
Institute
university of california at davis
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The increasing availability and ease of use of confocal, two-photon, and light-sheet microscopes coupled with
rapid developments in fluorescent protein reporters have made 3D and functional imaging and its analysis a
central component of modern Neuroscience research.
Title
Mapping Algorithmic State Space in the Human Brain
Investigator
Sameer Anil Sheth
Institute
baylor college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Humans have a remarkable ability to flexibly interact with the environment. A compelling demonstration of this
cognitive flexibility is our ability to respond correctly to novel contextual situations on the first attempt, without
prior rehearsal.
Title
MAPPING RETINOTECTAL CIRCUITS FOR VISUAL-EVOKED INNATE BEHAVIORS
Investigator
Xin Duan, Massimo Scanziani
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
The precise assembly of neural circuits ensures accurate neurological function and behavior.
Title
Mapping thalamo-striatal neuronal circuits underlying motivational drive
Investigator
Sofia Beas
Institute
national institute of mental health
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Motivational drive is an adaptive process that helps individuals overcome obstacles to obtain essential needs and hence ensure survival. Motivation is composed of two major components.
Title
Mechanism and Modulation of the homeostatic setpoint for protein feeding
Investigator
Qili Liu
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
All animals share motivated behaviors to fulfill their basic needs for survival, including food, water,
sleep, and social interactions, etc. The homeostatic regulatory system energizes behaviors to defend a
target level for these needs (the homeostatic setpoint).