Project Summary
Significance: Neuroscientists have set ambitious goals for electrophysiology and stimulation technology but
these tools continue to lag behind.
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 #
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
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’,
TitleA method for anterograde trans-synaptic tracing
Investigator
Donald B Arnold
Institute
university of southern california
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Although considerable information about neuronal circuits has been generated from experiments where
retrograde transsynaptic tracing has been performed using Rabies Virus, there is no comparable technique for
transsynaptic tracing in the anterograde direction.
TitleA TOF, DOI, MRI compatible PET detector to support sub-millimeter neuroPET imaging
Investigator
Sergei Dolinsky, Robert S Miyaoka
Institute
university of washington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
The overall goal of this research is to develop next generation positron emission tomography (PET) detector
technology to support non-invasive, quantitative brain imaging at spatial and temporal resolutions currently not
achievable with human neuro-PET systems.
TitleAChMRNS: Nanosensors for Chemical Imaging of Acetylcholine Using MRI
Investigator
Heather A Clark, Christopher A Flask
Institute
northeastern university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
The neurotransmitter acetylcholine is widely distributed in the central nervous system and brain,
and is a key signaling molecule involved in neural function.
TitleAdvanced MOTEs: Injectable Microscale Optoelectronically Transduced Electrodes
Investigator
Jesse Heymann Goldberg, Paul Mceuen, Alyosha Christopher Molnar, Chris Xu
Institute
cornell university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary
Our goal is to develop a new class of electrophysiological recording devices, on the same physical scale as the
neurons they record, by combining modern imaging with implanted optoelectronics.
TitleAn open source, wireless, miniature microscope for monitoring neuronal activity
Investigator
Michele A Basso, Peyman Golshani
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Recent years have seen a boon in the development of new molecular, genetic and imaging tools designed to
dissect brain circuits that give rise to behavior in live animals.
TitleAn Ultra High-Density Virtual Array with Nonlinear Processing of Multimodal Neural Recordings
Investigator
Duygu Kuzum
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
An Ultra High-Density Virtual Array with Nonlinear Processing of Multimodal
Neural Recordings
A major goal of neuroscience is to record the activity of all neurons in an area of
an intact brain and understand the relationship between neural activity and behavior.
However, with current technologies