Project Summary/Abstract
Behaviors essential for survival, including parenting behaviors, are driven by neural circuits that arise from
combinations of genetics and experience-dependent learning.
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 #
TitleNeural circuitry for observational learning of maternal behavior
Investigator
Amy Lemessurier
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleNeural Electrodes with Enhanced Charge Injection and Reduced Interfacial Impedance Using Graphenated Carbon Nanotubes Coated With Atomic Layer-Deposited Platinum Nanoparticles
Investigator
Charles Bernard Parker
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The objective of this project is to evaluate graphenated carbon nanotubes (gCNTs) as lower impedance,
smaller electrodes for neurostimulation, using deep brain stimulation (DBS) as a test case, with the long-term
goal of developing a new type of neural electrode with lower impedance and smaller size
TitleNeurobiology of Social Behavior: Circuit Analysis in Early Life
Investigator
Maya Opendak
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
My long-termcareer goal is to establish a research laboratory that dissects functional microcircuits supporting
flexible social behavior in typical and perturbed development.
TitleNeuroEthics of Non-Therapeutic Invasive Human Neurophysiologic Research
Investigator
Ashley L Feinsinger, Nader Pouratian
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
The BRAIN Initiative has made a significant investment in invasive human neuroscientific studies that take
advantage of unique neurosurgical opportunities to study basic human neuroscience without therapeutic intent.
These non-therapeutic studies are of particular ethical in
TitleNeuroExplorer: Ultra-high Performance Human Brain PET Imager for Highly-resolved In Vivo Imaging of Neurochemistry
Investigator
Richard E. Carson, Hongdi Li, Jinyi Qi
Institute
yale university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Research applications of brain Positron Emission Tomography (PET) have been in place for over 40 years.
The combination of quantitative PET systems with novel radiotracers has led to a numerous imaging para-
digms to understand normal brain physiology including neurotransmitter dynamics and receptor
TitleNeuronal mechanisms of human episodic memory
Investigator
Adam Nathaniel Mamelak, Ueli Rutishauser
Institute
cedars-sinai medical center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
The rapid formation of new memories and the recall of old memories to inform decisions is essential for human
cognition, but the underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly understood.
TitleNeuroPhIBER: A Nimble Fiber-Optically Read Silicon Microelectrode Array
Investigator
Amy Carole Foster, Mark A Foster
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/ Abstract
Advancements in microelectrode array (MEA) neural probes have allowed the number of neurons that can be
simultaneously recorded by implantable electrodes to roughly double every 7 years since the 1970s, with present
state of the art devices allowing for simultaneous recordi
TitleNeuropixels NXT: Integrated Silicon Probes for Large Scale Extracellular Recording in Rodents and Primates
Investigator
Timothy D Harris
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
1 Project Summary: The BRAIN 2025 Report, with the goal to “produce a dynamic picture of the functioning brain
2 by developing and applying improved methods for large-scale monitoring of neural activity” is directly
3 addressed by this application.
TitleNeurostimulation and Recording of Real World Spatial Navigation in Humans
Investigator
Nanthia A Suthana
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Decades of research and clinical observations have established that successful spatial navigation and memory
depend on the hippocampus and associated structures in the medial temporal lobe (MTL), including entorhinal,
perirhinal and parahippocampal cortices [1, 2].
TitleNeurostimulation by Ultrasound: Physical, Biophysical, and Neural Mechanisms
Investigator
Stephen A Baccus, Kim Butts-Pauly, Butrus T Khuri-Yakub, Merritt C Maduke
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
The goal of this project is to understand the neurobiological underpinnings of the effects of ultrasound
(US) on neural activity. US can modify action potential activity in neurons in vitro and in vivo without damaging
neural tissue.
TitleNew approaches for chemical-genetic targeting of specific circuits and cell types in the mammalian brain
Investigator
Anton Maximov
Institute
scripps research institute, the
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The goal of this research is to establish new robust methods for manipulation of specific circuits and genetically
defined neuron types in brains of model organisms with small molecules.
TitleNobrainer: A robust and validated neural network tool suite for imagers
Investigator
Satrajit Sujit Ghosh
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
There is an increasing need for efficient and robust software to process, integrate, and offer insight across the
diversity of population imaging efforts underway across the BRAIN Initiative and other projects.
TitleNon-invasive Radio Frequency Stimulation of Neurons and Networks
Investigator
Gyorgy Buzsaki, Daniel K Sodickson
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Nonivasive stimulation of the brain in health and disease is an important goal of the Brain Initiative. Current
methods include Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Transcranial Electric Stimulation (TES) and
Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (TFUS).
TitleNon-invasive, Deep Brain, and Focal Neuromodulation in Nonhuman Primates
Investigator
Taylor D Webb
Institute
university of utah
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The ability to non-invasively perturb specific regions deep in the human brain would enable researchers and clinicians
to study the causal relationships between specific brain structures and behavior.
TitleNoninvasive low-intensity focused ultrasound-enabled sonogenetic method to induce plasticity in adult visual cortex.
Investigator
Grace M Hwang, Hey-Kyoung Lee
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Development of non-invasive tools for activating deep brain structures is critical for causally
manipulating neural function in humans. Furthermore, such method, if able to elicit long-term plastic changes in
neural circuits, will aid in functional recovery of neural function.
TitleNovel transparent, ultra-soft neuroelectrode arrays based on nanomeshing conventional electrode materials
Investigator
Michela Fagiolini, Hui Fang, Wentai Liu
Institute
northeastern university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
There is a growing interest to effectively combine optical approaches with electrophysiology at large scale
and with great precision to fully leverage the complementary spatial and temporal resolution advantages of
both techniques.
TitleOpen-source software for multi-scale mapping of the human brain
Investigator
Bruce Fischl, Juan Eugenio Iglesias Gonzalez
Institute
massachusetts general hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary (maximum 30 lines)
The BRAIN initiative seeks to develop and apply technologies in order to understand of how brain cells interact
in both time and space to give rise to brain function.
TitleOptical control of neuromodulatory GPCRs
Investigator
Ehud Isacoff, Dirk Hartwig Trauner
Institute
university of california berkeley
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
A major goal of neuroscience is to understand how neuromodulatory systems regulate core processes of brain
and behavior, from motor function and learning to reward, aversion, attention, and sleep.
TitleOptimization of Clear Optically Matched Panoramic Access Channel Technique (COMPACT) for large-scale deep-brain neurophotonic interface
Investigator
Meng Cui, Guang Yang
Institute
purdue university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Optimization of Clear Optically Matched Panoramic Access Channel Technique (COMPACT)
for large-scale deep-brain neurophotonic interface
With the advance of sensitive molecular indicators and actuators, neurophotonics has become a powerful
paradigm for discovering the principles underlying neural ci
TitleOptimization, application and dissemination of high-speed hybrid multiphoton volumetric imaging technologies
Investigator
Attila Losonczy, Alipasha Vaziri
Institute
rockefeller university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Understanding how cognitively-relevant behavioral functions emerge from activity patterns of identified cell-
types is predicated on the ability to record large-scale ensemble dynamics from genetically-identified and
longitudinally-tracked neuronal populations across multi