PROJECT SUMMARY
A fundamental challenge in neuroscience is in understanding which circuits and cells in the brain contribute to
specific behaviors, perceptions, and functions.
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 #
TitleLight-Induced Targeted Recombination Strategies For Genetic Access to Recently Active Neurons
Investigator
Aaron J Norris, Chandra L Tucker
Institute
washington university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleLinking Hippocampal Replay Content to Learning and Decision-Making
Investigator
Michael Edward Coulter
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Memory is an integral component of human cognition, and when memory processes go awry, the result is
devastating neurological disorders of memory loss including Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.
One essential role of normal memory processes is to use previou
TitleLinking interneuron-mediated circuit regulation with sleep-dependent plasticity and memory storage in the hippocampus
Investigator
Sara J Aton
Institute
university of michigan at ann arbor
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project summary: Synaptic plasticity in brain structures like the hippocampus has been hypothesized to
underlie an essential brain function - consolidating transient experiences into long-lasting memories.
TitleLinking molecular and anatomical features of brain cell identity through computational data integration
Investigator
Joshua Welch
Institute
university of michigan at ann arbor
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Linking molecular and anatomical features of brain cell identity through computational data integration
Abstract
The brain contains diverse cell types that vary widely in characteristic properties and function in complex,
interconnected circuits.
TitleMagnetic Particle Imaging for High-Resolution Functional Brain Imaging
Investigator
Steven M Conolly
Institute
university of california berkeley
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) is a novel tomographic imaging modality, with unprecedented contrast,
depth of penetration and sensitivity (1 micromolar sensitivity today; 100 nM soon).
TitleMapping human brain perivascular space in lifespan using human connectome project data
Investigator
Jeiran Choupan
Institute
university of southern california
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Perivascular spaces are a critical component of the glia-lymphatic circuit, facilitating the clearance of soluble
waste.
TitleMapping the neural circuitry underlying walking
Investigator
Sumaira Zamurrad
Institute
columbia university health sciences
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Walking is an essential and conserved behavior across the animal kingdom.
TitleMarkerless Tracking of 3D Posture to Reveal the Sensory Origins of Body Schema
Investigator
Kyle Scott Severson
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The goal of this proposed research is to reveal the sensory origins underlying the body schema
representation. Body schema is the brain's internal model of the body's spatial configuration.
TitleMassively parallel high-speed 3D functional photoacoustic computed tomography of the adult human brain
Investigator
Danny Jj Wang, Lihong Wang
Institute
california institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT (30 Lines)
The BRAIN initiative (RFA-EB-19-002) has called for the development of entirely new or next-generation
noninvasive human brain imaging tools and methods that will lead to transformative advances in our
understanding of the human brain.
TitleMaximizing flexibility: Optimized neural probes and electronics for long term, high bandwidth recordings
Investigator
Loren M Frank, Chong Xie
Institute
rice university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The brain is a massively interconnected network of specialized circuits.
TitleMeasuring Electrical Activity from the Human Brain to Predict Memory Formation and Behavior Across the Lifespan
Investigator
Elizabeth Johnson
Institute
university of california berkeley
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Memory is core to human cognition, undergoes protracted developmental maturation and age-related decline,
and is disrupted in numerous neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.
TitleMetastable dynamics in cortical circuits
Investigator
Braden Brinkman, Alfredo Fontanini, Giancarlo La Camera, Arianna Maffei, Il Memming Park, Jin Wang
Institute
state university new york stony brook
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Cortical circuits generate dynamic patterns of activity. One of the great challenges of modern neuroscience is to
determine the circuit architectures that generate such dynamics patterns, and understand their genesis and functional
significance.
TitleMetasurface-Dressed Nanophotonic Neural Interfaces for Multipoint Concurrent Optogenetic Modulation and Calcium Mapping
Investigator
Xingjie Ni
Institute
pennsylvania state university, the
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Metasurface-Dressed Nanophotonic Neural Interfaces for Multipoint Concurrent Optogenetic
Modulation and Calcium Mapping
Large-scale recording of neural activity while manipulating arbitrary neurons in freely behaving animals are
important for answering many key questions in neuroscience.
TitleModeling developmental gradients and supportive tissue signaling networks using iPSC-derived forebrain organoids embedded in fluidic hydrogels
Investigator
Leon Marcel Bellan, Vivian Gama
Institute
vanderbilt university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Understanding of many aspects of the human brain is currently limited due to the lack of appropriate model
systems that recapitulate the heterogenous nature of the human brain and the ethical and practical limitations
of working with human brain tissue from patients.
TitleModeling the structure-function relation in a reconstructed cortical tissue
Investigator
Anton Arkhipov, Stefan Mihalas
Institute
allen institute
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
How is connectivity between neurons related to patterns of activity exhibited by these neurons in vivo? This
question of structure-function relations in brain circuits is of fundamental importance.
TitleMolecular Engineering of Natural Light-Gated Chloride Channels for Optogenetic Inhibition
Investigator
John Lee Spudich, Francois St-Pierre, Mingshan Xue
Institute
baylor college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Targeted modulation of neural activity is an essential approach in basic and clinical neuroscience research.
Optogenetic proteins, such as light-activated ion channels or pumps, enable optical control of neuronal activity
with exquisite spatiotemporal precision.
TitleMolecular MRI of Brain Metabolism Enabled by Long-Lived Spin States
Investigator
Thomas Theis
Institute
north carolina state university raleigh
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Molecular MRI of Brain Metabolism enabled by Long-Lived Spin States
Abstract:
Brain function is regulated by molecular signaling and metabolism, however our ability to track metabolic
transformations of individual metabolites deep in the brain pales compared to their central relevance to life.
TitleMolecular Multi-Species Approach for Trans-Synaptic Labeling of Neural Circuits
Investigator
Gilad Barnea, Marnie E Halpern, Jennifer Mengbo Li, Drew Robson
Institute
dartmouth college
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
It is estimated that the human brain contains an overwhelming 1015 synapses, structures essential for the normal
functioning of neural circuits.
TitleMoving MRI: Imaging a Moving Body with a Moving MRI Magnet
Investigator
Jerome L Ackerman
Institute
massachusetts general hospital
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
In response to BRAIN RFA-EB-19-001 we propose to demonstrate a novel noninvasive brain imaging method,
Moving MRI (mMRI). In mMRI, a high resolution, high field, superconducting MRI magnet moves such that the
subject's head and body effectively remain stationary with respect to the magnet.
TitleMPS-TMS: Modular Pulse Synthesizer for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation with Fully Adjustable Pulse Shape and SequenceTBD
Investigator
Angel V Peterchev
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
We will develop a novel technology for noninvasive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the human brain.
TMS is a standard tool in experimental brain science and is FDA cleared for treatment of depression, obsessive-
compulsive disorder, and migraine as well as pre-sur