The NIH BRAIN Initiative has revolutionized neuroscience since 2014, when we funded our first set of research projects. Only 10 years later, we now have a trove of new knowledge about cells and circuits, hundreds of open source neurotechnologies, and a new culture that embraces the power and creativity of team science.
The BRAIN Blog
From the BRAIN Director: Funding neuroscience in an uncertain budget climate
A message to the community from Dr. John Ngai, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) BRAIN Initiative.
When the first grants from the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® Initiative, or The BRAIN Initiative®, were issued in 2014, the entire neuroscience field came alive with this new, innovative way to advance cutting-edge science and novel neurotechnologies.
- Neuroscience Grants and Funding
- Neuroscience News
- Neuroscience Research and Technology
From the BRAIN Director: Human-Centered BRAIN Neurotechnology Gives Patients a Voice
Late in 2023, two research groups accomplished an amazing feat. Using a brain–computer interface, they provided speech to two individuals who had lost the ability to communicate due to paralysis or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Both studies described “brain-to-speech” neuroprostheses capable of converting a person’s thoughts into speech at over 60 words per minute with an error rate of 25%, albeit with vocabularies of limited sizes.
- Neuroscience Research and Technology
From the BRAIN Director: Expanding the impact of neuroscience research
The BRAIN Initiative continues to fund cross-cutting and accelerated discovery in neuroscience across a diverse network of institutions and organizations, laboratories, researcher fields, and geographic locations.
- Neuroscience Grants and Funding
- Neuroscience Research and Technology
From the BRAIN Director: Personalized Cures on the Horizon - A Fresh Take on Established Technologies
Technology is the backbone of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® Initiative, or The BRAIN Initiative®. In a virtuous cycle of technology and knowledge, new tools open doors for discovery, which in turn drive the design of new and better tools.
- Neuroscience Research and Technology
From the BRAIN Director: Q&A With Dr. John Ngai and Dr. Rebecca Baker - Discovery of Brain Biomarkers for Pain and Beyond
The human brain has been intensely studied by scientists for decades. This research has taught us that some health conditions share underlying biology – for example, pain, addiction, and mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
- Neuroscience Research and Technology
From the BRAIN Director: The Value of Model Organisms for Understanding the Human Brain
Humans are complex beings, but our inner workings operate using basic biological processes shaped and repurposed over hundreds of millions of years of evolution. By providing critical insights into these processes, decades of research using model organisms has been central to progress toward understanding and treating a range of human diseases – including neurologic, psychiatric, and neurodegenerative conditions.
- Neuroscience Research and Technology
From the BRAIN Director: Looking Back and Looking Ahead
In years past, attending the annual late-fall meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) was a busy and at times tedious ritual. Months after submitting abstracts comes the frenzied work of putting together posters and slides and leaving our homes and labs for several days. Upon arrival, though, my mood quickly shifts to anticipation and excitement as new results are shared, new collaborations are hatched, and long-distance friendships are renewed or made anew.
- Neuroscience Research and Technology
From the BRAIN Director: Sizing Up Science
In my daily discussions with the BRAIN community, I hear the tension between small and big science: a proxy argument for exploring biology versus building tools. Individual labs do creative biology, so why fund large teams that churn out lots of data but aren’t testing hypotheses?
My answer is simple: Diseases don’t care about funding mechanisms.
- Neuroscience Research and Technology
From the BRAIN Director: What’s the Payoff?
Last week marked my second anniversary as BRAIN Director, an amazing opportunity and challenge for which I am deeply grateful. Over the past two years, I’ve strived to maintain perspective about all that we do, and to be guided by others’ views and critiques. People often ask me, “What’s the payoff, and when will we see it?” These questions are important, considering the magnitude of BRAIN investments and the promises we’ve made to better understand neural circuit function and develop new cures.
- Neuroscience Research and Technology