Project Summary
Astrocytes are evolutionarily conserved and constitute a substantial proportion of the cells in the brain, yet our
understanding of their identities and functions is far less comprehensive than for neurons.
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 #
Title
Genetic mechanisms specifying astrocyte functional diversity and their role in sleep
Investigator
Margaret Ho
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Title
Genetic-assisted, full brain scale integrated activity mapping with MRI
Investigator
Mazahir T. Hasan
Institute
achucarro basque center for neuroscience
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
To understand the cellular basis of cognition, behavior and pathology, it is necessary to map the different
participating brain regions and circuits that participate during the different biological processes and do so I the
same animals.
Title
Graspy: A python package for rigorous statistical analysis of populations of attributed connectomes
Investigator
Carey Priebe, Joshua T Vogelstein
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Overview: We will extend and develop implementations of foundational methods for analyzing populations of
attributed connectomes.
Title
Head-mounted Photoacoustic Imaging of Deep-brain Neural Activities in Freely Behaving Animals
Investigator
Vladislav Verkhusha, Junjie Yao
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
To capture the normal brain functions, it is critically important to record the neural activities in freely-behaving
animals, with high resolution, high speed, and high throughput.
Title
High throughput assaying of circuit activity and connectivity in brain organoids
Investigator
Paola Arlotta, Edward S. Boyden, Jennifer A. Lewis
Institute
harvard university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Experimental models of the human developing brain are needed to investigate human-specific aspects of
brain development, evolution, and neurological disease.
Title
High-throughput approaches to local and long-range synaptic connectivity
Investigator
Edward S. Boyden, Anthony M Zador
Institute
cold spring harbor laboratory
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
The overarching objective of this proposal is to develop a robust approach to map the brain's connections
quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively.
Title
Highly Portable and Cloud-Enabled Neuroimaging Research: Confronting Ethics Challenges in Field Research with New Populations
Investigator
Frances Patricia Lawrenz, Francis X Shen, Susan M. Wolf
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
This 4-year Neuroethics R01 based at the University of Minnesota (UMN) will convene a national
Working Group of top neuroethics, neurolaw, and neuroscience experts to conduct empirical research and
generate evidence-based consensus recommendations for the ethical conduct
Title
Hormonal regulation of value-based decision-making
Investigator
Carla Golden
Institute
new york university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Individuals decide between alternatives based on their perceived value of the reward associated with each
option.
Title
How do parvalbumin interneuron-generated gamma oscillations organize prefrontal networks to promote behavioral adaptation?
Investigator
Vikaas Singh Sohal
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Rhythmic fluctuations of electrical activity in the brain are frequently observed during cognitive tasks. In many
cases these oscillations are synchronized across brain regions.
Title
Identifying mediators of sex hormone uptake and signaling
Investigator
Nicole Yishi Leung
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Sex hormones are critical for sexual differentiation of the brain and body and diverse physiological processes
across our lifespan.
Title
Improving Brain Organoid Models by Mediating Metabolic Dysregulation
Investigator
Madeline Andrews
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
There is currently an unmet need for accurate model systems of the human brain to study its cellular and
molecular features.
Title
Innovative biostatistical approaches to network level analyses of connectome-behavior relationships
Investigator
Muriah D Wheelock
Institute
washington university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Determining the mechanisms by which the human brain generates cognition, perception, and emotion hinges
upon quantifying the relationships between coordinated brain activity and behavior.
Title
Integrative labeling, imaging, and reconstruction tools for high-throughput inhibitory microconnectivity analysis in the mouse brain
Investigator
Dawen Cai, Yan Yan
Institute
university of michigan at ann arbor
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Neural circuits composed of interconnected neurons with distinct properties lay the physical foundation
of any brain function. Identifying connections between individual neurons is central to understand how
information is processed and propagated in the brain.
Title
Inter-System Closed-Loop Control of Locomotor and Bladder Function in Individuals with Acute Spinal Cord Injury
Investigator
Claudia Angeli, Maxwell Boakye
Institute
university of louisville
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY ABSTRACT
More than 1.2 million people in the United States have a spinal cord injury (SCI), and each year there are 10,000
new cases.
Title
Investigation of the Cortical Communication (CORTICOM) System
Investigator
Nathan E Crone, Nicolas Franciscus Ramsey
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
For many years brain-computer interfaces (BCI's) have been explored as a means of restoring communication
to patients with Locked-In Syndrome (LIS), a devastating and often irreversible neurological condition in which
cognition is intact but nearly all motor output from the brain is interrupted, eff
Title
kHz frequency Spinal Cord Stimulation: Novel Temperature-Based Mechanisms of Action
Investigator
Marom Bikson
Institute
city college of new york
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project(Summary(/(Abstract!
There is a need to understand the mechanisms of neural stimulation technologies (RFA-NS-18-018). The impact
of such research increases with both the clinical relevance of a neuromodulation technology and the extent
mechanisms are unknown.
Title
Large-field-of-view high-throughput two-photon endoscope to image neuronal activity
Investigator
Weijian Yang
Institute
university of california at davis
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Large-field-of-view high-throughput two-photon endoscope to image neuronal activity
Development of miniaturized optical endoscopes have enabled visualization and recording of neural activity
in freely-behaving animals.
Title
Large-scale monitoring of circuits for adaptation and novelty detection in primary visual cortex
Investigator
Jordan Marie Ross
Institute
georgia state university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
In a world filled with sensory information, the ability to filter out repetitive or redundant stimuli while still
maintaining the ability to detect change in the environment is critical to biological success.
Title
Large-scale recordings in Primate Prefrontal Cortex: Mechanisms of Value and Attention
Investigator
Tirin Moore, Krishna V Shenoy, Joni D Wallis
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is critical for a range of high-level cognitive functions, such as attention and decision-
making. Studying these processes is difficult, since they are covert, dynamic and under the control of the
subject, rather than the experimenter.
Title
Lateral habenula circuit in reward/conflict mediation
Investigator
Christian Emmanuell Bravo-Rivera
Institute
cold spring harbor laboratory
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Reward is often present in risky environments, requiring individuals to weigh the benefits of rewards against
the associated risks. There are several psychiatric disorders in which patients are unable to choose an
appropriate response during risky reward opportunities.