PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Impaired consciousness during seizures has a major negative impact on quality of life for people with epilepsy.
Consequences include risk of motor vehicle accidents, drowning, poor work and school performance, and
social stigmatization.
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 #
TitleThalamic stimulation to prevent impaired consciousness in epilepsy
Investigator
Hal Blumenfeld
Institute
yale university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleThe glial mechanism for electrical brain stimulation
Investigator
Hai-Long Wang, Gregory A Worrell, Long-Jun Wu
Institute
mayo clinic rochester
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT:
Electrical brain stimulation (EBS) is a FDA-approved neuromodulation therapy applied to several
neurological disorders. However, the molecular basis of its efficacy remains unclear.
TitleThe Neural Mechanism of Interval Timing in Drosophila
Investigator
Ashley Danielle Smart
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
There is no dedicated sensory organ for time, and yet our brains are able to use time to anticipate the
environment and adapt.
TitleThe Neuroimaging Data Model: FAIR descriptors of Brain Initiative Imaging Experiments
Investigator
David Bryant Keator
Institute
university of california-irvine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Reuse of existing neuroscience data relies, in part, on our ability to understand the experimental design and
study data.
TitleTime-Gated Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy for functional imaging of the human brain
Investigator
Maria Angela Franceschini
Institute
massachusetts general hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a well-established neuroimaging method which enables
neuroscientists to study brain activity by non-invasively monitoring hemodynamic changes in the cerebral cortex.
In the last decade, the use of fNIRS has increased significa
TitleTransparent neural interface for in vivo interrogation of human organoids
Investigator
Anna Devor
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Recent advances in pluripotent stem cell technology have enabled generation of neuronal cell lines and
cerebral organoids from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) as well as human induced pluripotent stem cells
(hiPSCs) derived from peripheral tissues.
TitleUltra-flexible μLED Optoelectrode Platform for Brain Circuit Mapping: a Longitudinal, Minimally Invasive Tool
Investigator
Gyorgy Buzsaki, John P Seymour, Kensall David Wise, Euisik Yoon
Institute
university of michigan at ann arbor
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Significance: Neuroscientists have set ambitious goals for electrophysiology and stimulation technology but
these tools continue to lag behind.
TitleUnbiased Epigenomic and Transcriptomic Profiling of Non-Neuronal Cells in the Mouse Brain
Investigator
Nicola J Allen, Joseph R Ecker
Institute
salk institute for biological studies
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
The mammalian brain is composed of 50% neurons and 50% non-neuronal glial cells, including astrocytes
(20%) which regulate synaptic transmission and provide metabolic support for neurons, oligodendrocytes
(25%) that speed up neuronal action potential conduction, and microglia (5-15%) which
TitleUnderstanding Brain Development Through the Lens of Metabolism
Investigator
Aparna Bhaduri
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The human cerebral cortex is a complex structure comprised of distinct areas with specialized functions and connectivity patterns.
TitleUnderstanding how post-translational palmitoylation influences in vivo molecular and circuit dynamics during learning
Investigator
Jessica C Nelson
Institute
university of pennsylvania
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Habituation is a simple form of learning in which animals reduce responsiveness to repetitive stimuli. Habituation forms a foundation for normal cognition; without the ability to filter irrelevant stimuli, animals are unable to perform more complex cognitive tasks.
TitleUsing Direct Brain Stimulation to Study Cognitive Electrophysiology
Investigator
Michael Jacob Kahana
Institute
university of pennsylvania
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Abstract
Our project aims to form a multi-site consortium that will carry out fundamental exper-
iments to elucidate the mesoscopic and microscopic neural dynamics underlying human
memory and use direct brain stimulation as a manipulative tool to study those dynamics.
Additionally, we seek
TitleValidated tools for identifying, characterizing, and targeting all non-neuronal cells in the brain and determining the neuro-glio-vascular connectome
Investigator
Chenghua Gu
Institute
harvard medical school
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract:
Proper function of precisely wired neural circuits depends on a close physical and functional relationship with an
equally complex and overlapping vascular network.
TitleVentromedial prefrontal cortex regulation of fear memory expression
Investigator
Kirstie Alyssa Cummings
Institute
icahn school of medicine at mount sinai
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) typically nucleate when individuals experience a highly traumatic event. One hallmark of PTSD is pronounced expression of fear and resistance to fear-suppressing behavioral therapies.
Title3D-Fast Optical Interface for Rapid Volumetric Neural Sensing and Modulation
Investigator
Emily Gibson, Cristin G Welle
Institute
university of colorado denver
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
To further our understanding of the function of neural circuits, there is a need for new tools that can collect
simultaneous measurements from large populations of neurons involved in a common neural computation and
provide precise functional modulation.
TitleA 100μm Scale Single Unit Neural Recording Probe Using IR-Based Powering and Communication
Investigator
David Blaauw
Institute
university of michigan at ann arbor
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
In this research proposal, we present a new approach for recording and transmitting neural signals at the level of
single neurons using micron-scale distributed implants referred to as micro-probes (mProbes).
TitleA Biomimetic Approach Towards a Dexterous Neuroprosthesis
Investigator
Michael L. Boninger
Institute
university of pittsburgh at pittsburgh
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Cervical spinal cord injury results in the loss of arm and hand function, which significantly limits independence
and results in costs over the person’s lifespan.
TitleA Facility to Generate Connectomics Information
Investigator
Jeff W Lichtman
Institute
harvard university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The goal of this proposal is to disseminate high resolution large volume serial section electron
microscopy data to neuroscientists.
TitleA Fast, Accurate and Cloud-based Data Processing Pipeline for High-Density, High-Site-Count Electrophysiology
Investigator
Nathan G Clack, Bruce Kimmel
Institute
vidrio technologies, llc
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The past decade has seen major advances in the tools available to neuroscientists, making it possible to ask
increasingly specific questions regarding which neurons and circuits are correlated with, necessary for, and
sufficient for, specific behavioral or computational functions.
TitleA fully biological platform for monitoring mesoscale neural activity
Investigator
Kafui Dzirasa
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
A fully biological platform for monitoring mesoscale neural activity
One of the barriers to understanding the human brain is due to its geometry. Accessing
brain tissue at single cell resolution has classically involved implanting electrodes (metallic or
optical) directly into the brain.
TitleA high-performance unshielded wearable brain-computer interface based on microfabricated total-field OPMs
Investigator
Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal, Svenja Knappe
Institute
university of houston
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary: The broad, long-term goal of this project is to develop a wearable high performance MEG
system that can operate without external shielding that will lead to Advances in Human Neuroscience and
transformative advances in our understanding of the Human Brain ‘in Action and in Context’,