Cortical circuits perform computations to generate appropriate behaviors based upon diverse
sensory inputs. These computations are central to an animal maintaining its health and long-
term survival.
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 #
TitleUsing perceptual decision-making to understand the role of selective inhibitory activity in cortical computation
Investigator
James Patrick Roach
Institute
cold spring harbor laboratory
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleWireless Magnetomechanical Neuromodulation of Targeted Circuits
Investigator
Polina O Anikeeva
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Scalable approaches to modulate neural activity during complex behaviors are essential to basic study of normal
and aberrant brain function.
Title3D neonatal Photoacoustic Tomography (3D-nPAT) to detect Hypoxic-Ischemic brain injury in preterm neonates
Investigator
Kamran Avanaki
Institute
wayne state university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT:
Hypoxic-Ischemic brain Injury (HII) is a severe injury caused by oxygen deprivation to the brain at or near time of birth
in preterm and/or low birth weight newborns. It is very important to recognize HII as soon as possible because early
intervention improves outcomes.
Title3D Printed Multifunctional Brain Windows for Simultaneous Optical Imaging and Electrophysiology
Investigator
Suhasa B Kodandaramaiah, Michael Mcalpine
Institute
applied universal dynamics corporation
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
This proposal responds to PAR-18-870 titled “BRAIN Initiative: Development Optimization, and Validation of
Novel Tools and Technologies for Neuroscience Research (STTR).” This project is a Fast Track STTR with a
phase I and phase II.
Title4D Transcranial Acoustoelectric Imaging for High Resolution Functional Mapping of Neuronal Currents
Investigator
Russell S Witte
Institute
university of arizona
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
The overarching goal of this project is to develop, validate and implement a new modality for noninvasive
functional imaging of neural currents deep in the human brain through the skull at unprecedented spatial and
temporal resolution.
TitleA compact, modular two-photon fiber-coupled microscope for in vivo all-optical electrophysiology
Investigator
Emily Gibson, Karl Kilborn
Institute
3 i
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Good methods to interrogate, and ideally perturb, neural systems at the network level have been elusive until
recently.
TitleA Computational Miniature Mesoscope for Large-Scale Brain Mapping in Behaving Mice
Investigator
David A Boas, Ian Gordon Davison, Lei Tian
Institute
boston university (charles river campus)
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Scale is a fundamental obstacle in linking neural activity to behavior. While perception and cognition arise
from interactions between diverse brain areas separated by long distances, neural codes and computations are
implemented at the scale of individual neurons.
TitleA data science toolbox for analysis of Human Connectome Project diffusion MRI
Investigator
Ariel Shalom Rokem
Institute
university of washington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
The connections between different brain regions play an important role in normal brain function. This project
proposes to create an end-to-end pipeline for analysis of human white matter connections using “tractometry”
methods.
TitleA Fully Ultrasonic Approach for Combined Functional Imaging and Neuromodulation in Behaving Animals
Investigator
Charles F Caskey, Omer Oralkan, Gianmarco Pinton
Institute
univ of north carolina chapel hill
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Two very recent advancements have been transforming the field of medical ultrasound. First, the revolutionary
discovery of ultrasound neuromodulation, which non-invasively targets and modulates activity in specific regions
of the brain.
TitleA Functional and Selective Toolkit for Choroid Plexus Networks
Investigator
Maria Lehtinen, Christopher I Moore
Institute
boston children's hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
The choroid plexus (ChP) is a vital tissue located in each ventricle in the brain.
TitleA Massive Library of AAVs to Target Transcriptionally-Defined Primate Cell Types
Investigator
William Richard Stauffer
Institute
university of pittsburgh at pittsburgh
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Here we will identify nonhuman primate (NHP) neuron types and build an extensive toolbox of vectors for circuit-
based neuroscience studies.
TitleA multimodal platform to bridge the experimental gap between behavioral, neuronal, and molecular studies
Investigator
Dawen Cai, Meng Cui
Institute
university of michigan at ann arbor
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Depicting the specific neuronal identity and connectivity underlying particular brain function remains
a central goal for neuroscience.
TitleA new approach to biological recording of lineage hierarchy in primate brains
Investigator
Ali H Brivanlou
Institute
rockefeller university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
!
Most genetic recorders described so far utilize the CRISPR/Cas9 system to leave a unique genetic scar in
each cell that can be traced in daughter cells.
TitleA novel platform for the investigation of human microglia
Investigator
Mathew Mark Blurton-Jones, Robert C Spitale
Institute
university of california-irvine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
To accomplish their diverse maintenance and protective roles, microglia must be extremely plastic, dynamically
sensing and responding to specific local challenges throughout the brain.
TitleA SAFE AND COMPACT NEONATE TO ADULT NEUROIMAGING MRI SYSTEM
Investigator
Ravi Srinivasan
Institute
advanced imaging research, inc.
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
NIH SBIR PA-18-871 w/o Clinical Trials A Safe and Compact Neonate to Adult Neuroimaging MRI System
The intriguing human brain is the most imaged end-organ non-invasively, without ionizing radiation using
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
TitleA system for whole-brain recording and control of activated neurons with near-infrared light
Investigator
Daria Shcherbakova
Institute
albert einstein college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT:
The brain simultaneously processes tremendous amount of information using billions of neurons.
Technologies for large scale recording and modulation of neurons in the brain of behaving animals
sought by this RFA should provide researchers with tools to correlate neural circuits with behavi
TitleA Technology Resource for Polymer Microelectrode Arrays
Investigator
Ellis Meng, Dong Song
Institute
university of southern california
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The purpose of this proposal is to disseminate polymer microelectrode arrays and promote their
integrated into neuroscience research practice.
TitleA wearable functional-brain-imaging system with full-head coverage and enhanced spatiotemporal-resolution to study complex neural circuits in human subjects
Investigator
Peter D. D. Schwindt
Institute
sandia corp-sandia national laboratories
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
To develop maps at multiple scales of neuronal circuits in the human brain and study the brain dynamics, there
is a need for non-invasive functional brain imaging with high spatiotemporal resolution operating in natural
environments.
TitleA wearable high-density MEG system with uOPMs
Investigator
Orang Alem
Institute
fieldline, inc.
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
This Phase I project will focus on developing key elements needed to achieve a wearable, high-density,
magnetoencephalography (MEG) device based on optically-pumped atomic magnetometers (OPMs).
OPM sensors have progressed to be comparable in sensitivity to liquid-helium-cooled superconducti
TitleAccurate and reliable computational dosimetry and targeting for transcranial magnetic stimulation
Investigator
Luis Javier Gomez
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive technique used for neuroscience research and
treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders. During TMS, a current-carrying coil placed on the scalp
induces an electric field that modulates targeted neuronal circuits.