PROJECT SUMMARY
The basic mechanisms underlying comprehension of spoken language are unknown. We are only beginning to
understand how the human brain extracts the most fundamental linguistic elements (consonants and vowels)
from a complex and highly variable acoustic signal.
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 #
TitleThe neural coding of speech across human languages
Investigator
Edward Chang
Institute
university of california, san francisco
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleThe Neuroscience of Everyday World- A novel wearable system for continuous measurement of brain function
Investigator
David A Boas, Swathi Kiran
Institute
boston university (charles river campus)
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Innovations in human neuroimaging tools have driven profound advances in our understanding
of brain function under well-controlled and constrained conditions.
TitleThe planning of new compositional action sequences guided by interpretation of ambiguous sensory data in a novel drawing task
Investigator
Lucas Y. Tian
Institute
rockefeller university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Animals exhibit a remarkable array of creative, adaptive, and flexible behaviors.
TitleTracking Changes in High-Dimensional Circuit Behaviors over Long-Term Neural Recordings
Investigator
Alexander Henry Williams
Institute
stanford university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary / Abstract
Recent breakthroughs in neural recording technologies suggest the possibility of understanding the
collective dynamics of large-scale brain circuits.
TitleTransgenic tools for revealing the contributions of electrical synapses to neural circuits
Investigator
Adam C Miller, John O'brien, Alberto E Pereda
Institute
albert einstein college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
While current efforts in the analysis of neural circuits focus on interneuronal connectivity mediated by chemical
synapses, less is known about the contribution of electrical synapses.
TitleTraveling Wave Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation for the Control of Large-Scale Brain Networks
Investigator
Alexander Opitz
Institute
university of minnesota
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Transcranial alternating current stimulation (TACS) non-invasively alters neuroelectric activity in the human
brain by applying weak, time-varying electric currents to the scalp.
TitleTwo-photon Line Excitation Array Detection (2p-LEAD) microscopy for volumetric monitoring neuronal activity at 120,000 frames per second
Investigator
Adela Ben-Yakar
Institute
university of texas at austin
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
To understand how the brain processes information and generates behaviors, we must record neural activity of
three-dimensionally distributed circuits at millisecond timescales.
TitleUltra-high resolution, multiplexed single molecule nanoscopy and functional characterization of neural circuits
Investigator
Alexander Chubykin, Fang Huang, Peng Yin
Institute
purdue university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
The complex behaviors of all vertebrates are determined by the brain where neurons are connected by
synapses. The average volume of synapses corresponds to a sphere of ~400 nm radius—a size scale that can
barely be resolved using conventional optical microscopy methods.
TitleUnderstanding Multi-Layer Learning in a Biological Circuit
Investigator
Laurence F. Abbott, Nathaniel Sawtell
Institute
columbia university health sciences
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Work on learning in neural systems has focused largely on the effects of plasticity at synapses
that provide direct input to the neurons being studied.
TitleUnderstanding overlap in resting state fMRI networks at the single cell level: a cross-species approach
Investigator
Janine Diane Bijsterbosch, Lawrence H Snyder
Institute
washington university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Understanding overlap in resting state fMRI networks at the single cell level: a cross-species
approach
Abstract
Resting state functional connectivity MRI (rsfcMRI) is a popular tool to investigate the intrinsic
functional organization of the brain into large scale networks.
TitleUsing multiple species, stimuli, and tasks to study the neural basis of visually guided behavior
Investigator
Amy Meesun Ni
Institute
university of pittsburgh at pittsburgh
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
The visual system must constantly extract behaviorally relevant stimulus information from an abundance of
irrelevant inputs from the environment, using cognitive phenomena such as attention and learning to guide this
continuously adapting process.
TitleUsing perceptual decision-making to understand the role of selective inhibitory activity in cortical computation
Investigator
James Patrick Roach
Institute
cold spring harbor laboratory
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Cortical circuits perform computations to generate appropriate behaviors based upon diverse
sensory inputs. These computations are central to an animal maintaining its health and long-
term survival.
TitleWireless Magnetomechanical Neuromodulation of Targeted Circuits
Investigator
Polina O Anikeeva
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Scalable approaches to modulate neural activity during complex behaviors are essential to basic study of normal
and aberrant brain function.
Title3D neonatal Photoacoustic Tomography (3D-nPAT) to detect Hypoxic-Ischemic brain injury in preterm neonates
Investigator
Kamran Avanaki
Institute
wayne state university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT:
Hypoxic-Ischemic brain Injury (HII) is a severe injury caused by oxygen deprivation to the brain at or near time of birth
in preterm and/or low birth weight newborns. It is very important to recognize HII as soon as possible because early
intervention improves outcomes.
Title3D Printed Multifunctional Brain Windows for Simultaneous Optical Imaging and Electrophysiology
Investigator
Suhasa B Kodandaramaiah, Michael Mcalpine
Institute
applied universal dynamics corporation
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
This proposal responds to PAR-18-870 titled “BRAIN Initiative: Development Optimization, and Validation of
Novel Tools and Technologies for Neuroscience Research (STTR).” This project is a Fast Track STTR with a
phase I and phase II.
Title4D Transcranial Acoustoelectric Imaging for High Resolution Functional Mapping of Neuronal Currents
Investigator
Russell S Witte
Institute
university of arizona
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
The overarching goal of this project is to develop, validate and implement a new modality for noninvasive
functional imaging of neural currents deep in the human brain through the skull at unprecedented spatial and
temporal resolution.
TitleA compact, modular two-photon fiber-coupled microscope for in vivo all-optical electrophysiology
Investigator
Emily Gibson, Karl Kilborn
Institute
3 i
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Good methods to interrogate, and ideally perturb, neural systems at the network level have been elusive until
recently.
TitleA Computational Miniature Mesoscope for Large-Scale Brain Mapping in Behaving Mice
Investigator
David A Boas, Ian Gordon Davison, Lei Tian
Institute
boston university (charles river campus)
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
Scale is a fundamental obstacle in linking neural activity to behavior. While perception and cognition arise
from interactions between diverse brain areas separated by long distances, neural codes and computations are
implemented at the scale of individual neurons.
TitleA data science toolbox for analysis of Human Connectome Project diffusion MRI
Investigator
Ariel Shalom Rokem
Institute
university of washington
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
The connections between different brain regions play an important role in normal brain function. This project
proposes to create an end-to-end pipeline for analysis of human white matter connections using “tractometry”
methods.
TitleA Fully Ultrasonic Approach for Combined Functional Imaging and Neuromodulation in Behaving Animals
Investigator
Charles F Caskey, Omer Oralkan, Gianmarco Pinton
Institute
univ of north carolina chapel hill
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Two very recent advancements have been transforming the field of medical ultrasound. First, the revolutionary
discovery of ultrasound neuromodulation, which non-invasively targets and modulates activity in specific regions
of the brain.