PROJECT SUMMARY
A consensus has emerged in the Neurosciences over the last decade regarding the critical importance of
understanding brain function at the level of neural circuits.
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 #
TitleHead-mounted miniature microscopes for combined calcium imaging and electrophysiological measurement of neural circuit function in deep brain regions of behaving macaques
Investigator
Jonathan J Nassi
Institute
inscopix, inc.
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleHigh-density microgrid development for human neural interface devices
Investigator
Daniel R Cleary
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) offer hope to treat otherwise intractable neurological disease. However, the
current state of BCI is still short of the potential; solutions to fundamental biological and engineering problems
must be found before BCIs can be broadly used for patient care.
TitleHigh-throughput Physiological Micro-connectivity Mapping in Vivo
Investigator
Hillel Adesnik
Institute
university of california berkeley
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Mapping the synaptic connectivity of brain circuits is essential for obtaining a mechanistic understanding of the
neural basis of behavior, learning, and cognition.
TitleHighly specific control of neurons with photoswitchable bioluminescent optogenetics.
Investigator
Nathan Christopher Shaner
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Here, we will generate photoswitchable and photoactivatable bioluminescent (PS-BL and PA-BL) light
sources. These constructs will be implemented to facilitate highly selective and “reprogrammable” modulation of
neural ensembles.
TitleHighly specific, renewable, and cost-effective antibody toolbox for 3D proteomic phenotyping of the brain
Investigator
Kwanghun Chung, Daniel J Eichinger, Ignacio Pino, Heng Zhu
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
System-wide analysis of cell types in the brain is essential for understanding how complex cellular interactions
give rise to various brain functions.
TitleImaging Brain Function with Biomechanics
Investigator
Samuel Patz, Ralph Sinkus
Institute
brigham and women's hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Methods that improve upon the temporal resolution of current fMRI techniques are urgently needed to better
understand the temporal characteristics of healthy brain function and to better identify the drivers of brain
dysfunction.
TitleImplantable Microarray Probe for Real-Time Glutamate and GABA Detection
Investigator
Nicolaie Andrei Moldovan
Institute
alcorix
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
There is an enormous need for the development of a new class of neurotransmitter (NT) sensors that are versatile,
selective, sensitive and reliable to allow investigation of the neurobiological mechanisms of behavior and disease symptoms.
This STTR proposal will focus on implementin
TitleImplantable Recording and Integrated Stimulation (IRIS) device for cortical experiments
Investigator
Andrew Wilder
Institute
ripple, llc
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
We propose to build a hermetically sealed implantable stimulation and recording system to enable
closed-loop experiments while mitigating the need for percutaneous leads.
TitleIn vivo Imaging of Neuroactivity in the Deep Forward Scattering Regime Using Speckle Identification and Demixing (SPID) Microscopy
Investigator
Sylvain Gigan, Alipasha Vaziri
Institute
rockefeller university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Optical imaging of neuronal activity in the mammalian brain at depth and at high spatial and temporal resolution
remains a key challenge in neuroscience.
TitleInput-specific imaging and manipulation of synaptic plasticity underlying social memory
Investigator
Mary L Phillips
Institute
max planck florida corporation
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
Ascertaining the neural basis of behavior has been a cornerstone goal since the conception of neurobiology.
While activity recording and loss-of-function studies have shed light on brain regions involved and necessary for
the expression of certain behaviors, they are unabl
TitleIntegrated Biophysical and Neural Model of Electrical Stimulation Effects
Investigator
Maksim V Bazhenov, Eric Halgren
Institute
university of california, san diego
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Abstract
Electrical stimulation is widely used to activate and/or disrupt neuronal activity.
TitleIntercellular TWEAK/Fn14 Cytokine Signaling in Sensory-Dependent Circuit Refinement
Investigator
Lucas M Cheadle
Institute
harvard medical school
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
During postnatal brain development, newly assembled neural circuits are refined through the strengthening of a subset of synaptic connections and the concurrent elimination of others.
TitleInterneurons differentially regulate discrete pathways from ventral hippocampus
Investigator
Jennifer Donegan
Institute
university of texas hlth science center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Hippocampal microcircuits are comprised of excitatory pyramidal cells, which integrate information and innervate
downstream brain regions, and inhibitory interneurons, which function locally to regulate pyramidal cell activity
and synchronicity.
TitleInterrogating Biophysical Mechanisms of Magnetogenetic Cell Stimulation at Radio Frequencies
Investigator
Chunlei Liu
Institute
university of california berkeley
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Magnetogenetics is a recently proposed method for stimulating cells using electromagnetic fields. In one
approach, radio-frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields are applied to stimulate membrane channel proteins such
as TRPV1 and TRPV4 that are attached to ferritins.
TitleInvestigating the molecular, cellular and circuit effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation
Investigator
Arnaud Y Falchier, Alexander Opitz, Andreas Vlachos
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation method which can alter brain
activity in humans in a safe manner.
TitleInvestigating the response of CNS neurons to electric and magnetic stimulation
Investigator
Shelley Fried
Institute
massachusetts general hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Our long-term goals are to better understand the response of neurons to artificial stimulation, and, to use this
knowledge to develop new and more effective strategies for stimulating non- or improperly-functioning neurons
of the CNS.
TitleLensless, high-speed and multi-region volumetric Ca2+ imaging of up to 1cm2 brain surface across model animals
Investigator
Jacob T. Robinson, Alipasha Vaziri
Institute
rockefeller university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
To understand the highly integrated cognitive processes in the mammalian brain, and the neuronal basis of com-
plex and ethologically relevant behavior, one requires fast, depth-penetrating and volumetric imaging techniques
that are compatible with free behavior such as du
TitleLeveraging ethical dissension among capacity, beneficence and justice in clinical trials of neurotherapeutics in the severely disabled: lessons from schizophrenia
Investigator
Rachel A Davis, Judith Morse Gault, Elyn R. Saks
Institute
university of colorado denver
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Ethical concerns raised from both current and historically controversial psychosurgeries are driving disparities in
accessibility to emerging BRAIN Initiative technology for those with severe, disabling, chronic mental illness like
individuals with treatment-refractory schiz
TitleMapping cerebellar granule cell function with novel genetic and optical tools
Investigator
Gerard Joey Broussard
Institute
princeton university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Recent evidence from multiple laboratories in both human and animal models supports a role for the granule cell (GrC)
pathway of the cerebellum in representing a wide range of sensory, motor, and internal information.
TitleMapping Developmental Lineage Relationships in the Cerebral Cortex
Investigator
Tomasz Nowakowski
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary/Abstract
The cerebral cortex contains an astonishing diversity of neuronal cell types distributed across dozens of
functional areas, which emerge during early development for an apparently uniform neuroepithelium, and the
radial glia cells, which act as neural stem cells.