The BRAIN Blog

The NIH BRAIN Initiative has released three notices of funding opportunities for partnerships between clinical investigators and manufacturers of the latest-generation implantable stimulating and/or recording devices for clinical neuroscience research in humans.

A central focus of the BRAIN Initiative is development of technologies for recording and modulating neural circuits. Such technologies may be incorporated into devices to be implanted in the brain or spinal cord that can, for example, treat Parkinson’s disease or restore movement in the case of spinal cord injury.

NIH has released three new exciting Requests for Applications (RFAs) for the BRAIN Initiative, and we are encouraging researchers from across the physical and life sciences, as well as engineering and statistical disciplines, to submit applications to these and future open BRAIN Initiative funding opportunities.

Letters of Agreement pave way for collaboration between NIH BRAIN Initiative and neuroscientists in Canada and Australia.

The article outlines the benefits and challenges of classifying neurons and highlights new genetic techniques for defining cell types.

In the August 7 issue of Science, science writer Emily Underwood elegantly lays out the historical background—dating back to the research of Santiago Ramón y Cajal—underlying The BRAIN Initiative’s goal of classifying the enormous variety of cells in the brain. Underwood goes on to spotlight a handful of new genetic techniques for cataloging neuronal diversity.

A meeting of the Multi-Council Working Group for the NIH BRAIN Initiative provided insights into funding the second wave of BRAIN awardees, explored foundation efforts and potential collaborations, approved a neuroethics workgroup, and contemplated future ventures for the initiative.

NSF issues $13.1 million for 16 new multidisciplinary awards to support BRAIN Initiative

Microscope maker Inscopix receives prestigious designation by World Economic Forum

Dr. Jeff Lichtman and colleagues published a paper in Cell outlining a series of techniques for sectioning, reconstructing, and analyzing a discrete volume of mouse brain tissue with nanometer resolution. Advancing the automated collection and processing of cortical tissue at the nanometer scale, this project stems from a collaborative, six-year effort of multiple researchers currently supported by The BRAIN Initiative®.

NIH BRAIN Initiative grantee Lihong Wang receives award for the development of innovative brain imaging technology. 

Lihong Wang, biomedical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis and NIH BRAIN Initiative grantee, was awarded the 2015 Britton Chance Biomedical Optics Award earlier this year by SPIE (the international society for optics and photonics) for his pioneering work towards the development and application of new imaging techniques.

In separate publications, co-chair of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director for The BRAIN Initiative^SM, Dr. Cori Bargmann, and the current Society for Neuroscience president, Dr. Steve Hyman, outline how projects funded through the Initiative are already paying off only two years following the bold cross-disciplinary effort’s launch.