Funded Awards

Project Summary Primate species frequently use social information to inform their decisions, for instance, to help make inferences about potential threats or rewards in the environment.

Understanding the brain is a profound and fascinating challenge, captivating the scientific community and the public alike. The lack of effective treatment for most brain disorders makes training the next generation of neuroscientists, engineers and physicians a key concern.

Project Summary/Abstract Circuits in the brain control motor output to generate the precise behaviors required for survival. Dysfunction of these circuits results in devastating movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Project Summary A key goal in neuroscience is determining how microcircuit structure predicts circuit function. An intriguing idea, supported by some theoretical models, is that variation in microcircuit composition supports functional specialization.

PROJECT SUMMARY Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of inherited peripheral neuropathies that is characterized by damage to long motor and sensory axons.

ABSTRACT Substance use disorder is a chronic relapsing disease that is characterized by repeated drug use despite negative consequences.

High-speed volumetric imaging of dynamic neuronal activity over long periods is a challenging but essential goal in neuroscience. Conventional optical measurements of neuronal activity mostly rely on calcium signals.

Project Summary The ability to remember information, whether after short or long delays, is a fundamental human ability.

Project Summary Understanding cell-type-specific gene functions, expression dynamics, and regulatory mechanisms in complex brains is still challenging.

Project Summary Cortical interneurons (cINs) are inhibitory cells that are born in surplus far from the cortex. During prenatal timepoints, cIN precursors migrate into the mouse visual cortex (V1) where only a fraction are selected to survive.

PROJECT SUMMARY Achieving a detailed understanding of the neural codes of sensation, action, and cognition requires technologies that can causally perturb each of the major dimensions of population coding one at a time with extremely high precision across multiple brain areas.

This project aims to develop the 2P-ActivityScope™, a revolutionary new microscope based on a technological breakthrough called second-generation Scanned Line Angular Projection (SLAP2) two photon laser scanning microscopy that was recently developed by Dr.

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Miniaturized silicon neurochemical probe to monitor brain chemistry.

The cerebellum has been overlooked for its potential for neuromodulation for decades.

Project summary Nausea is an unpleasant sensation of visceral malaise often accompanied by an involuntary urge to vomit. Nausea responses to toxin ingestion and infection are evolutionarily beneficial survival behaviors that avoid or expel toxins which may cause peripheral tissue damage.

PROJECT SUMMARY: Behavioral dysfunction in neurodevelopmental diseases often arises from aberrant neural circuit assembly. However, the developmental logic that dictates circuit organization, function, and ultimately behavior remains unresolved due to the complexity of most circuits.

ABSTRACT Neuromodulators, such as neuropeptides and biogenic amines are produced and released by neurons to communicate with each other.

Limited recovery of function after stroke remains a major problem for millions. Disability persists in many, especially when hand function is limited. Existing therapies are limited and many have difficulties with activities of daily living, even after rehabilitation.

PROJECT SUMMARY This project seeks to develop a multi-probe ultrathin endomicroscope to enable high-resolution imaging and photo-stimulation at multiple sites within currently inaccessible regions of the brain.

Project Summary Episodic memory is the ability to recall details about prior experiences. Researchers have historically relied on controlled item-recognition paradigms, in complement to autobiographical recall tasks, to investigate the biological substrates of episodic memory.