Project Summary
Blindness in the United States is a large and increasing problem. Any significant vision loss is
debilitating, but profound blindness is devastating to an individual’s ability to be independent
and to perform everyday tasks and activities.
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 #
TitleEarly Feasibility Clinical Trial of a Visual Cortical Prosthesis
Investigator
Jessy D Dorn, Robert Jay Greenberg, Nader Pouratian
Institute
second sight medical products, inc.
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleElucidating the Wiring and Rewiring of Poly-synaptic Memory Circuits by Directed Stepwise Trans-neuronal Tracing
Investigator
Wei Xu
Institute
ut southwestern medical center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary
Multimodal sensory information is converged through poly-synaptic pathways to the
hippocampus to form integrated representations and encode memories of the world, which in
turn guide our future behavior through multiple poly-synaptic downstream pathways.
TitleEnabling Multi-Tracer SPECT Studies of the Human Brain
Investigator
Todd E Peterson
Institute
vanderbilt university medical center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Molecular imaging provides the means to quantitatively study many types of processes in the human brain in a
minimally invasive manner.
TitleFrom ion channel dynamics to human EEG and MEG: multiscale neuronal models validated by human data
Investigator
Maksim V Bazhenov, Sydney S Cash, Eric Halgren
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
The electroencephalogram (EEG) and magnetoencephalogram (MEG) are directly and instantaneously coupled
to the currents across cortical neuronal membranes which mediate information processing.
TitleHigh SNR Functional Brain Imaging using Oscillating Steady State MRI
Investigator
Douglas C Noll
Institute
university of michigan at ann arbor
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary: High SNR Functional Brain Imaging using Oscillating Steady State MRI
Functional brain imaging using MRI (functional MRI or fMRI) has grown rapidly over the past 25 years and is
widely used for basic cognitive neuroscience research and for presurgical planning.
TitleHuman Agency and Brain-Computer Interfaces: Understanding users’ experiences and developing a tool for improved consent
Investigator
Sara Goering, Eran Klein
Institute
university of washington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Neural prosthetic devices for sensorimotor and psychiatric disorders are in development as a
priority area of the BRAIN Initiative yet they raise important ethical concerns about human
agency.
TitleIdentifying, manipulating, and studying a complete sensory-to-motor model behavior circuit
Investigator
Lisa Stowers
Institute
scripps research institute, the
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
How does the brain transform sensory information into complex behavior?
TitleIlluminating Neurodevelopment through Integrated Analysis and Vizualization of Multi-Omic Data
Investigator
Ronna Hertzano, Owen R White
Institute
university of maryland baltimore
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
The wealth, depth and quality of multi-omic data generated through funding from the BRAIN
initiative is unprecedented. It ranges from bulk and single cell RNA-seq, to detailed cell type-
specific epigenetic analyses throughout development.
TitleImaging the D2/A2A Heterodimer with PET
Investigator
Robert H Mach
Institute
university of pennsylvania
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
The goal of this research project is to determine if it is possible to develop a PET radiotracer capable of
imaging GPCR heterodimers and not their corresponding homodimeric complexes.
TitleIn Vivo Imaging of Local Synaptic Neuromodulation by Dopamine
Investigator
Paul Robert Evans
Institute
max planck florida corporation
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Dopamine (DA) is a powerful neuromodulator that facilitates memory formation and underlies reward-related
behaviors by regulating synaptic plasticity.
TitleInforming Choice for Neurotechnological Innovation in Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery
Investigator
Judy Illes, Patrick Mcdonald
Institute
university of british columbia
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
More than 500,000 children in the USA and Canada suffer from epilepsy today. Unmanaged, epilepsy can
result in cognitive decline, social isolation and poor quality of life, and has substantial economic impact on
families and society.
TitleInvestigating the hypocretin to VTA circuit in memory consolidation during sleep
Investigator
Jeremy Borniger
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Chronic sleep disturbance affects 10-20% of the population in the developed world, representing a substantial public
health problem. Given the ubiquitous nature of sleep across the animal kingdom, intense investigation is underway into
the biological functions of sleep.
TitleInvestigating the neurocircuitry of sleep duration regulation
Investigator
Ying-Hui Fu
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Sleep is essential for the maintenance of our cognition and neurological functions, and both quality and
quantity of sleep are critical. We likely have known this for the entire human history. Yet, we remain
astonishingly ignorant on how the quality and quantity of sleep are regulated.
TitleIs the Treatment Perceived to be Worse than the Disease?: Ethical Concerns and Attitudes towards Psychiatric Electroceutical Interventions
Investigator
Laura Yenisa Cabrera Trujillo
Institute
michigan state university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
7. PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Mental health disorders cause immense personal suffering and represent a significant societal burden.
TitleLarge-scale recording of population activity during social cognition in freely moving non-human primates
Investigator
Behnaam Aazhang, Valentin Dragoi, Anthony A Wright
Institute
university of texas hlth sci ctr houston
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Social interactions, a ubiquitous aspect of our everyday life, are critical to the health and survival of the species,
but little is known about their underlying neural computations.
TitleLightweight, Compact, Low-Cryogen, Head-Only 7T MRI for High Spatial Resolution Brain Imaging
Investigator
Thomas Foo, Yunhong Shu, Duan Xu
Institute
general electric global research ctr
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
An innovative head-only 7T MRI system that delivers spatial resolution that is difficult to achieve with today's
whole-body 7T systems, and has the footprint and weight of a whole-body 3T scanner is proposed.
TitleLinking neuronal, metabolic, and hemodynamic responses across scales
Investigator
Geoffrey M Ghose
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
While functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) has proved invaluable for identifying where in the
brain activation is occurring during a particular task, it has had less to say about how the
dynamics of that activation actually contribute to task performance.
TitleLinking Plasticity of Hippocampal Representation across the Single Neuron and Circuit Levels
Investigator
Jayeeta Basu, Claudia Clopath
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Functional interactions between the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus are critical for spatial navigation
and episodic memories related to people, places, objects and events.
TitleMapping of spatiotemporal code features to neural and perceptual spaces
Investigator
Stefano Vt Panzeri, Dmitry Rinberg
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Two of the most fundamental questions of sensory neuroscience are: 1) how is stimulus information
represented by the activity of populations of neurons at different levels of information processing?
TitleMeasuring, Modeling, and Modulating Cross-Frequency Coupling
Investigator
Uri Tzvi Eden, Mark Alan Kramer
Institute
boston university (charles river campus)
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Although rhythms are a prominent feature of brain activity, the role of rhythms in brain function (and
dysfunction) remains elusive.