The BRAIN Initiative is marking a milestone—10 years of advancing neuroscience and neurotechnology research by funding innovative projects. As part of a rotating series of blog posts, the directors of the BRAIN Initiative-partnering Institutes and Centers share their voice and perspectives on the impact BRAIN has made on their respective missions—and vice versa.
By Debara L. Tucci, MD, MS, MBA, Director, NIDCD
The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) conducts and supports research on normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language. NIDCD is proud to be part of the BRAIN Initiative, a multidisciplinary collaboration that spans 10 NIH Institutes and Centers. In 10 years, this research investment has led to remarkable scientific advances in our knowledge of how the human brain functions in health and disease.
Q: How has NIDCD participated in the NIH BRAIN Initiative?
Between 2021 and 2023, the BRAIN Initiative awarded more than 75 new grants—totaling more than $91 million—within NIDCD’s mission areas. Some examples of exciting recent BRAIN projects in our mission areas include:
- Programming a voice synthesizer to mimic natural speech based on human brain signals
- Identifying brain regions associated with translating internal speech into external communications
- Mapping the brain networks that allow us to read
- Visualizing neuronal activity in the olfactory epithelium in response to odors
- Developing an intracranial auditory nerve implant similar to the cochlear implant
- Creating an innovative device to treat certain forms of tinnitus
We also support the BRAIN Initiative’s Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives to strengthen our extramural workforce and provide career development opportunities for those from underrepresented groups. In addition, NIDCD actively participates in the BRAIN Initiative’s diversity-focused funding opportunities.
Q: What major BRAIN-funded scientific advancements or conversations has NIDCD been a part of?
NIDCD supports BRAIN Initiative studies across our mission areas. In the hearing arena, BRAIN-funded researchers found that intracranial prostheses within the auditory nerve may substantially improve hearing compared to a cochlear implant. They’ve also found that some treatments for tinnitus may have applications in other areas, including some neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.
In the voice, speech, and language mission areas, research on the neural mechanisms of speech is helping us better understand communication disorders while also improving the pre-surgical clinical mapping of brain speech regions. Advances in brain–computer interfaces will one day allow easier and more fulfilling communication for those who cannot speak due to causes like brain injuries, paralysis, or diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Natural-sounding voice synthesizers are also improving the intelligibility of speech-generating devices.
BRAIN-funded researchers in our taste and smell mission areas are transforming our understanding of odor–receptor interactions using a 3D imaging technique—swept, confocally-aligned planar excitation (SCAPE) microscopy—to visualize intact neurons in the mouse olfactory epithelium. This is laying the groundwork for research to develop better tools for diagnosing smell disorders.
Q: Why do you think it’s important for NIDCD to participate in the NIH BRAIN Initiative?
The BRAIN Initiative allows us to draw from expertise in multiple scientific fields, thereby expanding the cumulative knowledge base to accelerate the development of new tools and technologies and their dissemination. For example, teams in the fields of neurosurgery, neurology, ethics, computational modeling, machine learning, engineering, and linguistics are improving our understanding of the neural mechanisms of speech, which has applications for several types of communication disorders.
Many BRAIN Initiative projects in NIDCD’s mission areas also have applications for other conditions. For example, brain–machine interfaces that translate neuronal activity into synthesized words may also control a robotic hand for those with paralysis. In addition, SCAPE imaging of olfactory epithelium can also inform techniques for in vivo imaging in humans for visualizing olfactory targets with the potential for modulating cell types involved in disorders within and outside of NIDCD’s mission areas.
Q: How has the BRAIN Initiative advanced or shaped your mission?
The BRAIN Initiative enhances efforts we outlined in our 2023–2027 Strategic Plan. Our BRAIN collaborations support our goals of advancing innovations in tools and technologies, transforming scientific advances into standards of clinical care, and training the next generation of scientists.
Researchers supported by the BRAIN Initiative have made extraordinary advances in uncovering the brain mechanisms underlying communication and other disorders. As research discoveries accelerate at unprecedented rates, our partnership with the BRAIN Initiative will help to develop and refine new technologies that keep pace with these discoveries.
Image: Debara L. Tucci, MD, MS, MBA., Director, NIDCD