The BRAIN Blog

Advances in neurotechnology are aimed at helping us better understand normal brain function and how to treat dysfunction associated with brain disorders. These technological advances carry potentially profound ethical implications. A set of recently published articles highlight how the NIH BRAIN Initiative is working to integrate neuroethics in neurotechnology research and development.

Despite being a relatively new effort, research funded under the NIH BRAIN Initiative already is producing new technologies and methods

The 2016 BRAIN Initiative Principal Investigators Meeting will occur December 12-14 in Bethesda, Maryland…

NIH announces three new Requests for Applications (RFAs) for interdisciplinary projects using advanced and innovative technologies to address overarching principles of circuit function in the context of specific brain systems and behaviors. Funding from these new RFAs will enable investigators to unlock the mystery of how complex patterns of neural activity give rise to our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and will lay the groundwork for understanding circuit dysfunctions in brain diseases.

Demonstration of the feasibility of using a fiberless optoelectrode for activating and recording from neurons… New insights into the mechanisms of neurovascular coupling… Chronic in vivo recordings with carbon fiber microelectrodes… In vivo subcellular imaging of voltage and calcium signals…

Newly designed fiberless multi-color optoelectrode for in vivo use

The NIH recently announced the 108 newly funded awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 for the NIH BRAIN Initiative®. The NIH will highlight these funded awards, funding opportunities, and other BRAIN-related endeavors, such as The BRAIN Initiative Alliance, at the upcoming, annual Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego, CA (Nov. 12^th-16^th, 2016).

With four new Requests for Applications (RFAs), NIH announces the formation of the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN), a resource to be used widely by the neuroscience community supporting a center or centers and specialized collaboratories for a mouse brain atlas, collaboratories for human and non-human primate brains, and a data center.

NIH recently issued two new Request for Applications (RFAs) to support next generation tools and technologies for non-invasive imaging of human brains. The first supports proof-of-concept projects based on exceptionally innovative, original or untested concepts, while the second calls for projects that are ready for full-scale development.

Novel technologies for understanding the brain and treating brain disorders are expected to give rise to new and complex social and ethical questions that warrant focused attention and investigation. With this new Request for Applications (RFA), NIH solicits research proposals to address core ethical issues associated with human brain research and/or developments resulting from emerging technologies and research advances of the types supported by the BRAIN Initiative.

NIH has issued two new Requests for Applications (RFAs) for the BRAIN Initiative® to support critical research training needs of the Initiative, including a fellowship opportunity for early-stage postdoctorates, as well as a career enhancement opportunity for independent investigators…

NIH recently re-issued seven notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs) for fiscal year 2017 to support neural recording and modulation technologies for the BRAIN Initiative. Three of the NOFOs call for large-scale recording and modulation of dynamic activity of neural circuits, supporting new experimental capabilities in animal models or humans. Four of the NOFOs support development of next generation invasive recording and/or stimulating devices to treat central nervous system disorders and thereby better understand the human brain….