ABSTRACT
Optical imaging holds tremendous promise in our endeavor to understand brain functions. The major
challenges for optical brain imaging are depth and speed. Due to strong tissue scattering, the penetration
depth and imaging speed of optical microscopy in the mouse brain is very limited.
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 #
TitleDevelopment of Hybrid Adaptive Optics for Multimodal Microscopy Deep in the Mouse Brain
Investigator
Steven Graham Adie
Institute
cornell university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleDevelopment of Line-Scan Temporal Focusing for fast structural imaging of synapse assembly/disassembly in vivo
Investigator
Josiah R Boivin
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
A disproportionately large number of mutations resulting in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric
disorders target synaptic proteins. Synapse remodeling and loss precede cell death in neurodegenerative
disorders, and addictive drugs can alter circuit connectivity.
TitleDiffuse, spectrally-resolved optical strategies for detecting activity of individual neurons from in vivo mammalian brain with GEVIs
Investigator
Nozomi Nishimura
Institute
cornell university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Measuring and understanding the activity of individual neurons is critical for understanding how neuronal circuits function and lead to behavior. Two-photon microscopy of calcium-sensitive indicators has produced insightful data on the role of individual neurons with populations.
TitleDirect MEG/EEG detection using a novel MRI approach
Investigator
Paul A Bottomley
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
This R21 grant responds to RFA-EY-17-001 “BRAIN Initiative: New Concepts and Early-Stage Research for
Large-Scale Recording and Modulation in the Nervous System …for unique and innovative technologies in an
even earlier stage of development … including new and untested ideas in the initial stages of
TitleElectrophysiological Biomarkers to Optimize DBS for Depression
Investigator
Helen S Mayberg
Institute
emory university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subcallosal cingulate (SCC) white matter is an emerging new treatment
strategy for treatment resistant depression (TRD) with published studies demonstrating sustained long-term
antidepressant effects in 40-60% of implanted patients.
TitleElectrophysiological source imaging guided transcranial focused ultrasound
Investigator
Bin He
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
We propose to develop and test a novel noninvasive neuromodulation technique integrating transcranial
focused ultrasound (tFUS) with electrophysiological source imaging (ESI) to allow real-time evidence-based
neuromodulation with spatio-temporal precision for brain research and manag
TitleElementary Neuronal Ensembles to Whole Brain Networks: Ultrahigh Resolution Imaging of Function and Connectivity in Humans
Investigator
Kamil Ugurbil
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT:
The strategic plan of the NIH's BRAIN Initiative (BRAIN 2025: A scientific Vision) calls for transformative
technological developments with MRI to achieve “submillimeter spatial resolution descriptions of neuronal
activity, functional and structural connectivity, and network analysis in t
TitleEnabling ethical participation in innovative neuroscience on mental illness and addiction: towards a new screening tool enhancing informed consent for transformative research on the human brain
Investigator
Laura W Roberts
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Great discoveries in neuroscience hold promise for reducing the burden of many of the most disabling
conditions that threaten human health on a global scale, including mental illnesses and addictions.
Increasingly, exceptionally innovative science inspires hope that these devastating brain-based dis
TitleEnabling Shared Analysis and Processing of Large Neurophysiology Data
Investigator
William J Schroeder
Institute
kitware, inc.
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
Understanding brain function is key to improving health care and advancing a number of scientific initiatives.
The treatment of degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s, and ALS is becoming
increasingly important as the current US population ages and li
TitleEngineering optogenetic tools for studying neuropeptide activity
Investigator
Alexander Robert French
Institute
purdue university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
7. Project Summary/Abstract
Opioid receptors (ORs), consisting of -, -, and -ORs, are neuropeptide receptors that are broadly involved
in regulating analgesia, mood, reward, and motor coordination.
TitleEthical Safeguards for Exit and Withdrawal from Implanted Neurotechnology Research
Investigator
Lauren Sankary
Institute
cleveland clinic lerner com-cwru
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Research participants face complex decisions about the surgical removal of implanted devices
upon exiting clinical trials of implanted neurotechnology.
TitleEthics of Patients and Care Partners Perspectives on Personality Change in Parkinsons disease and Deep Brain Stimulation
Investigator
Cynthia M. S. Kubu
Institute
cleveland clinic lerner com-cwru
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
In our work with patients with neurological disorders, we often encounter patients and families who are afraid.
They are afraid that due to their neurodegenerative disorder or potential treatment, such as neurosurgery, they
will cease to exist – they will no longer be who they “are”.
TitleFluidic microdrives for minimally invasive actuation of flexible electrodes
Investigator
Jacob T. Robinson
Institute
rice university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Fluidic Microdrives for Minimally Invasive Implantation and Actuation of Flexible Neural
Electrodes
Abstract
Flexible microelectrodes that match the mechanical properties of the brain promise to increase the quality and
longevity of neural recordings by reducing chronic inflammatory reactions; howev
TitleGated 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
With this grant application we aim to dramatically improve over the capabilities of functional near-infrared
spectroscopy (fNIRS) by developing a completely novel approach to measure human brain function.
TitleGenetic analyses of complete circuit formation in Caenorhabditis elegans
Investigator
Steven Jay Cook
Institute
columbia univ new york morningside
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
Despite the central importance of neural circuit development to brain function and behavior, we lack the genetic
information required to assemble a complete circuit.
TitleGenetically Encoded Activity Sensors for Photoacoustic Imaging of the Brain
Investigator
Oliver Griesbeck, Daniel Razansky
Institute
max planck institute for neurobiology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
New tools for large-scale recording of neuronal activity in a living and behaving brain are essential for a
better understanding of brain function, efficient analysis and treatment of neuronal disorders.
TitleGenetically encoded indicators for large-scale sensing of neuromodulatory signaling in behaving animals
Investigator
Axel Nimmerjahn, Lin Tian, Mark E Vonzastrow, John T Williams
Institute
university of california at davis
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Brain functions are executed by intricately coordinated networks of neurons, whose modes of operation are
highly sensitive to a constellation of neuromodulators.
TitleGenetically-targeted hemodynamic functional imaging
Investigator
Alan Jasanoff
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The dominant techniques for brain-wide functional imaging in humans and opaque mammals make use of he-
modynamic contrast that results from coupling between neural activity and changes in blood flow and can be
detected by noninvasive imaging methods including functional magnetic resonance imaging (f
TitleHigh density multielectrode arrays with spatially selective unidirectional and rotating fields for investigation of neuronal networks
Investigator
Shalom Michaeli
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
In response to the BRAIN initiative RFA-NS-17-003 “New Technologies and Novel Approaches for Large-Scale
Recording and Modulation in the Nervous System (U01)”, in this project we aim at accomplishing selective
stimulation and recordings at ultra-high cellular level spatial resolution of distinct axo
TitleHigh Throughput of Protein-based Voltage Probes
Investigator
Vincent A Pieribone
Institute
john b. pierce laboratory, inc.
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
A significant motivation of the BRAIN Initiative is the desire to understand information processing in
neuronal tissues in situ.