Abstract
Short-term memory (STM) is a core cognitive function, critical for reasoning, decision-making, and flexible
behavior. Though it has been recognized as a key function of interest for many decades, the critical neural
substrate of STM is little understood.
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 #
TitleMulti-regional neural circuit dynamics underlying short-term memory
Investigator
Shaul Druckmann, Nuo Li
Institute
baylor college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleNano-switches for optogenetic control of neuronal proteins with ultra-specificity
Investigator
Lei Wang
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Summary/Abstract
The ability to control protein function with light provides excellent temporal and spatial resolution for precise
investigation in situ, and thus is having significant impact on neuroscience.
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.
TitleNeuromodulatory control of collective circuit dynamics in C. elegans
Investigator
Steven Willem Flavell
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Many animal behaviors are organized into long-lasting states, perhaps most strikingly in the sleep/wake
and emotional states that mammals display. However, the fundamental mechanisms that allow animals to
initiate, maintain and terminate these states are unknown.
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.
TitleNeuroPET HD: A low-cost high performance neuro-PET imaging system
Investigator
William Coulis Jason Hunter
Institute
pet/x, llc
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
This revised proposal is in response to PAR-15-090 "BRAIN Initiative: Development, Optimization, and
Validation of Novel Tools and Technologies for Neuroscience Research".
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 episodic memory, the ability to remember
recently experienced events, depends on the hippocampus and associated structures in the medial temporal
lobe (MTL), including entorhinal, perirhinal and parahippocam
TitleNoninvasive neuromodulation via focused ultrasonic drug uncaging
Investigator
Raag D Airan
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY .
In psychiatry, we are limited by the mismatch between the diverse heterogeneity of the brain and the tools we
have to treat it.
TitleNovel fluorescent sensors based on GPCRs for imaging neuromodulation
Investigator
Samuel Andrew Hires, Yulong Li, Li I Zhang
Institute
university of southern california
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Neuromodulators are essential signaling molecules that regulate many neural processes, including
cognition, mood, memory, and sleep, through their influence on brain circuits.
TitleNovel Neuromodulation by Transcranial Infrared Brain Stimulation with Imaging
Investigator
Francisco Gonzalez-Lima, Hanli Liu
Institute
university of texas arlington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
This project will develop a novel infrared-based neuro-stimulation tool for specifically modulating neural
circuitry. Transcranial infrared brain stimulation (TIBS) at 1064 nm will be developed as a new tool for non-
invasive neuromodulation of the human brain.
TitleOptimization of multiphoton microscopy for large scale activity mapping in adult zebrafish
Investigator
Joseph R. Fetcho, Chris Xu
Institute
cornell university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Vertebrate behaviors emerge from interactions of neurons across the brain, but the tools for revealing
neuronal structure and function at the cellular level in living animals access only small portions of the brain.
TitlePredictive models of brain dynamics during decision making and their validation using distributed optogenetic stimulation
Investigator
Bijan Pesaran
Institute
new york university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
During behavior, the oculomotor system is tasked with selecting objects from an ever-changing visual field and
guiding eye movements to these locations.
TitleProsthetic System for Large-Scale Recording and Manipulation of Neural Circuit Activity in Non-Human Primates
Investigator
Albert Baldwin Goodell
Institute
graymatter research
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The fundamental objective of the BRAIN Initiative is to understand how dynamic activity in distributed
neural circuits mediates human cognitive behavior.
TitleResolving Fine Architectures of Human Gray Matter with Ultra-High-Resolution Diffusion MRI
Investigator
Yulin Ge, Jiangyang Zhang
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract: Our brain is a complex network with multiple levels of organization in white matter (WM) and gray
matter (GM). The axonal and dendritic organizations of local GM tissue form one of the structural bases of
normal brain functions.
TitleRevealing circuit control of neuronal excitation with next-generation voltage indicators
Investigator
Thomas Robert Clandinin, Michael Z. Lin
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Recording the electrical impulses of individual neurons in intact brain circuits in real time has been a longstanding goal in
neuroscience.
TitleReversing Synchronized Brain Circuits with Targeted Auditory-Somatosensory Stimulation to Treat Phantom Percepts
Investigator
Susan E Shore
Institute
university of michigan at ann arbor
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
The dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) integrates auditory and somatosensory information through circuitry that
modulates activity of the principal output neurons of the circuit, the fusiform cells.
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.
TitleSELF-POWERED SENSING AND DATA-LOGGING FOR LARGE-SCALE IN-VIVO MONITORING OF NEURAL ENSEMBLE ACTIVITY
Investigator
Shantanu Chakrabartty
Institute
washington university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
The current state-of-the-art neural recording technology is limited by the ability to remotely and continuously
deliver power to the implanted sensors.
TitleSensorimotor processing, decision making, and internal states: towards a realistic multiscale circuit model of the larval zebrafish brain
Investigator
Florian Engert, Jeff W Lichtman, Haim Sompolinsky
Institute
harvard university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary - A realistic multiscale circuit model of the larval zebrafish brain
The working group of the BRAIN initiative (BRAIN 2025, a Scientific Vision) identified “the analysis of circuits of
interacting neurons as being particularly rich in opportunity, with potential for revolutionary adv