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”.
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 #
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
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.
TitleImaging Human Brain Function with Minimal Mobility Restrictions
Investigator
Michael Garwood
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), by offering the sole means of imaging human brain
structure and activity with high spatial resolution, has evolved into an indispensable tool for
studying brain function in health and disease.
TitleInvestigating the Role of Neurotensin on Valence Assignment During Associative Learning in the Basolateral Amygdala
Investigator
Jacob Michael Olson
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Learned associations between environmental stimuli and organism-effecting outcomes guide adaptive
behavior. When healthy, this process results in increased rewards and decreased harm.
TitleLarge-scale monitoring of sensory transformations in the mammalian olfactory system
Investigator
Shawn Denver Burton
Institute
university of utah
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
How information is transformed as it propagates through a neural circuit remains an outstanding question of modern
neuroscience.
TitleMRI CORTICOGRAPHY: DEVELOPING NEXT GENERATION MICROSCALE HUMAN CORTEX MRI SCANNER
Investigator
David Alan Feinberg, Chunlei Liu, Pratik Mukherjee, Kawin Setsompop, Lawrence L Wald
Institute
university of california berkeley
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY
The overarching objective of our proposal is to bring noninvasive human brain imaging into the microscale
(50-500 micron isotropic) resolution in order to create a tool for studies of neuronal circuitry and network
organization in the human brain.
TitleMulti-context software for robust and reproducible neuroscience image analysis
Investigator
Xenophon Papademetris, Dustin Scheinost
Institute
yale university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary (Abstract)
The goal of this application is to develop, test, and disseminate multi-context (command line, desktop, server,
and web applications) software for robust and reproducible neuroscience image analysis from data across mul-
tiple scales (two photon microscopy, mesoscale Ca2+
TitleNeuroethics of aDBS Systems Targeting Neuropsychiatric and Movement Disorders
Investigator
Wayne K Goodman, Gabriel Lazaro-Munoz, Amy L Mcguire
Institute
baylor college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS) systems can record neural activity and adjust stimulation in real
time.
TitleSABER: Scalable Analytics for Brain Exploration Research using X-Ray Microtomography and Electron Microscopy
Investigator
William R Gray Roncal
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Abstract
Advances in imaging have had a profound effect on our ability to generate high-resolution measurements of
the brain’s structure.
TitleScalar Closed-Loop STN/GPi DBS Based on Evoked and Spontaneous Potentials
Investigator
Dennis Alan Turner
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
DBS therapy for Parkinson's disease is now the primary surgical approach for Parkinson's disease, recently
FDA approved at 4 years after onset of disease.
TitleSpinal root stimulation for restoration of function in lower-limb amputees
Investigator
Lee E Fisher, Douglas J Weber
Institute
university of pittsburgh at pittsburgh
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Recent advances in design and actuation have led to important improvements in prosthetic limbs. However, these devices
lack a means for providing direct sensory feedback, requiring users to infer information about limb state from pressure on
the residual limb.
TitleThe Application of Generalized Linear Models to Calcium Imaging Data for Optimal High-Dimensional Receptive Field Estimation and Identification of Latent Network Dynamics
Investigator
Stephen L Keeley
Institute
princeton university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
As new recording methods emerge in neuroscience, new statistical techniques are needed to properly relate
neural activity to behavior, a given stimulus, or an internal process.
Title"Methods from Computational Topology and Geometry for Analysing Neuronal Tree and Graph Data"
Investigator
Partha Pratim Mitra, Yusu Wang
Institute
cold spring harbor laboratory
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary
Progress from description to quantification is essential as a science matures. Yet numerical analysis of the
elementary unit of brain circuitry—the individual neuron—continues to pose methodological challenges.
TitleAdaptive DBS in Non-Motor Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Regulating Limbic Circuit Imbalance
Investigator
Wayne K Goodman
Institute
baylor college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
In patients with intractable Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), ventral striatum (VS) deep brain stimulation
(DBS) effectively reduces symptom severity in about 60% of cases.
TitleBayesian estimation of network connectivity and motifs
Investigator
Dario L Ringach
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
The overarching goal of this proposal is to learn how large groups of neurons interact in a network to perform
computations that go beyond the individual ability of each cell.
TitleBeyond Diagnostic Classification of Autism: Neuroanatomical, Functional, and Behavioral Phenotypes
Investigator
Preston Thomas Fletcher
Institute
university of utah
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous disorder characterized by repetitive and stereotyped be-
havior and difficulties in communication and social interaction.
TitleBRAIN Initiative: Theories, Models and Methods for Analysis of Complex Data from the Brain
Investigator
Moo K Chung
Institute
university of wisconsin-madison
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
The twin study design in brain imaging offers a very effective way of determining heritability of the human
brain. The difference in variability between monozygotic (MZ) and same-sex dizygotic (DZ) twins can be used
in determining heritability.
TitleClosed loop deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease
Investigator
Philip Andrew Starr
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has a major role in the management of movement disorders, and is under
investigation for the treatment of disorders of mood and memory.
TitleClosing the Loop on Tremor: A Responsive Deep Brain Stimulator for the Treatment of Essential Tremor
Investigator
Kelly D Foote, Aysegul Gunduz
Institute
university of florida
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Essential tremor (ET) is an incurable, degenerative brain disorder that results in increasingly debilitating tremor, and
afflicts an estimated 7 million people in the US (2.2% of the population). While the economic impact of ET is
indeterminate, it is surely quite substantial.
TitleCombined Cortical and Subcortical Recording and Stimulation as a Circuit-Oriented Treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Investigator
Darin D Dougherty, Alik S Widge
Institute
massachusetts general hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Abstract
This project is a pilot clinical trial of a new brain stimulation treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD
is a mental illness that affects 4-7 million people in the US. Of those, 50-70% still have substantial symptoms
after being treated with medication or talk therapy.