Optogenetics and chemo-optogenetics are powerful tools for modulating cell activities with light.
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 #
TitleDeveloping novel chemo-optogenetic tools for in vivo applications
Investigator
Pui Ying Lam
Institute
university of utah
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleDevelopment and validation of AAV vectors to manipulate specific neuronal subtypes and circuits involved in epilepsy and psychiatric disorders across mammalian species.
Investigator
Benjamin E Deverman, Jordane Dimidschstein, Gordon J Fishell
Institute
broad institute, inc.
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
In this proposal we aim to identify gene regulatory elements that permit the targeting and manipulation of brain
circuit models of human brain function.
TitleDissecting circuits for local and long-range competitive inhibition in the mouse superior colliculus
Investigator
Shreesh P Mysore
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
The SCid, a sensorimotor hub in the midbrain, plays a fundamental role in stimulus-guided behavior as well as spatial
attention control.
TitleDissecting distributed representations by advanced population activity analysis methods and modeling
Investigator
Shaul Druckmann
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
A central goal of systems neuroscience is to relate behavior to its underlying circuit dynamics. This task is
complicated by the complex and circuitous paths along which information flows as it is encoded and processed
in the many steps between sensory inputs and motor outputs.
TitleDissecting the dual role of dopamine in context-dependent and learned behaviors
Investigator
Vanessa Ruta
Institute
rockefeller university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Dopamine plays a central role in motivation and reinforcement learning, allowing animals to take advantage of
their current circumstances to optimize both present and future behavior.
TitleDissecting the inhibitory architecture governing basal ganglia output
Investigator
Rebekah C Evans
Institute
national institute of neurological disorders and stroke
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The initiation and maintenance of organized movement through the basal ganglia is strongly influenced by its feed-forward and feedback inhibitory architecture. The substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) contribute to the overall output of the basal ganglia.
TitleDual Lead Thalamic DBR-DBS Interface for Closed Loop Control of Severe Essential Tremor
Investigator
Kelly D Foote, Karim G Oweiss
Institute
university of florida
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Abstract
Essential Tremor (ET) is a progressive disease that leads to significant disability and
markedly diminished quality of life.
TitleDynamic Neural Mechanisms of Audiovisual Speech Perception
Investigator
Michael S Beauchamp, Charles E Schroeder
Institute
baylor college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Speech perception is inherently multisensory: when conversing with someone that we can see,
our brains combine auditory information from the voice with visual information from the face.
Speech perception lies at the heart of our interactions with other people and is thus one
TitleEffects of standard fMRI calibrations on the diverse microvascular blood flow and oxygenation responses in cortical layers
Investigator
Ikbal Sencan-Egilmez
Institute
massachusetts general hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
This proposed project focuses on quantifying the spatial and temporal diversity in cortical oxygen metabolism and neurovascular coupling, and informing next generation of biophysical models of the Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) measurements by integr
TitleEfficient resource allocation and information retention in working memory circuits
Investigator
Shinung Ching, Lawrence H Snyder
Institute
washington university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Short-term working memory is critical for all cognition. It is important to fluid intelligence by definition and is
disordered in many psychiatric conditions. It is also an ideal model system for studying the link between the
dynamics and functions of neural circuits.
TitleExpanding access to open-source data acquisition software for next-generation silicon probes
Investigator
Joshua H Siegle
Institute
allen institute
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
We plan to provide software support services for Neuropixels probes, a groundbreaking new tool for recording
electrical signals from the brain.
TitleFunctional Dissection of Neural Circuitry Underlying Parenting Behavior
Investigator
Weizhe Hong
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Impairments in social functioning is a prominent, debilitating symptom in many neuropsychiatric disorders, such
as autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and major depressive disorder.
TitleFunctional dissection of thalamocortical interactions through genetically-defined TRN subnetworks
Investigator
Guoping Feng, Michael M Halassa
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
The thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), the major source of thalamic inhibition, plays essential roles in
sensory processing, arousal and cognition.
TitleFunctional implications of a patch/matrix-like compartmental organization in the mouse inferior colliculus
Investigator
Alexandria Marie Lesicko
Institute
university of pennsylvania
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
A major unresolved question in systems neuroscience is whether specialized anatomical structures support
specific functions in behavior. Therefore, this proposal will bridge the gap between anatomical circuit diagrams
and their predicted functional roles.
TitleGenerating a formal set of collaborative standards for sharing behavioral data and task designs to enable reproducibility in neuroscience
Investigator
Stephen Anthony Edwards, Adam Kepecs
Institute
cold spring harbor laboratory
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
The goal of this project is to develop an archival data format and a formal task specification
language to serve as standards for describing behavioral experiments.
TitleHigh-density microgrid development for human neural interface devices
Investigator
Daniel R Cleary
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) offer hope to treat otherwise intractable neurological disease. However, the
current state of BCI is still short of the potential; solutions to fundamental biological and engineering problems
must be found before BCIs can be broadly used for patient care.
TitleImaging Brain Function with Biomechanics
Investigator
Samuel Patz, Ralph Sinkus
Institute
brigham and women's hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Methods that improve upon the temporal resolution of current fMRI techniques are urgently needed to better
understand the temporal characteristics of healthy brain function and to better identify the drivers of brain
dysfunction.
TitleInput-specific imaging and manipulation of synaptic plasticity underlying social memory
Investigator
Mary L Phillips
Institute
max planck florida corporation
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
Ascertaining the neural basis of behavior has been a cornerstone goal since the conception of neurobiology.
While activity recording and loss-of-function studies have shed light on brain regions involved and necessary for
the expression of certain behaviors, they are unabl
TitleIntercellular TWEAK/Fn14 Cytokine Signaling in Sensory-Dependent Circuit Refinement
Investigator
Lucas M Cheadle
Institute
harvard medical school
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
During postnatal brain development, newly assembled neural circuits are refined through the strengthening of a subset of synaptic connections and the concurrent elimination of others.
TitleInterneurons differentially regulate discrete pathways from ventral hippocampus
Investigator
Jennifer Donegan
Institute
university of texas hlth science center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Hippocampal microcircuits are comprised of excitatory pyramidal cells, which integrate information and innervate
downstream brain regions, and inhibitory interneurons, which function locally to regulate pyramidal cell activity
and synchronicity.