Cooperative Agreements

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Neuronal circuits in the brainstem control life-sustaining functions, in addition to driving and gating active sensation through taste, smell, and touch. We propose to exploit the advent of molecular and genetic tools to undertake cell lineage marking, cell phenotyping, molecular connectomics, and methods from machine learning and image processing to construct an integrated anatomical and functional atlas of the brainstem. This will enable us to generate anatomical wiring diagrams for the brainstem circuits that control or facial actions.

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Attaining effective genetically encoded optical voltage-indicators has been a longstanding goal in neuroscience research and is a key near-term aim of the BRAIN Initiative.

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching goal of this proposal is to push the depth penetration of multiphoton microscopy targeting neuroscience applications in need of large-scale recording of cortical activity where high resolution requirement (in the order of singl microns) cannot be relaxed.

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The brains of mammals contain an extraordinarily large number of neurons whose activity and interconnections determine the function of circuits that monitor our sensory environment, dictate our motor choices, form memories, and guide all behavior. However we do not understand how the activity of these circuits governs brain activity.

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Behaviors are sequences of actions that are executed in the proper order and correct setting to achieve a goal. Action sequences and their association with the specific environmental contexts in which they are beneficial can be hardwired, as in the case of innate behaviors, or learned and flexible, as in the case of adaptive responses to changing surroundings.

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to design and build a device that will push the boundaries of existing technology for imaging the activity of large-scale neuronal networks at high speed and single cell resolution. This will be done by using a Multiplexed Scanned Temporal Focusing (MuST) strategy in combination with laser systems with optimized pulse characteristics. Our approach will enable unbiased calcium imaging of unprecedentedly large V-FOVs (500x500x500um at 20Hz, or 1x1x0.7mm at 3Hz) at multi-hertz time resolution.

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Northern Lights collaboration for better 2-photon probes will combine the expertise of four very different investigators and laboratories from Montana and Canada with complementary interests and skills to tackle a fundamental problem in imaging of the activity of the living brain. It is now well agreed that genetically encoded, fluorescent biosensors are uniquely suited to provide the specificity and versatility necessary to image the activity of defined cells in the brain.

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Two primary modes of chemical communication occur between neurons in the brain: fast synaptic transmission, such as that mediated by glutamate and GABA, which directly control the electrical activities of neurons, and slow synaptic transmission, such as that mediated by norepinephrine and dopamine, which regulate subcellular signaling events that cannot be measured directly from neuronal electrical activities.

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Current scaling behavior in electrical recording is dominated by the difficulty of fabricating systems with many high bandwidth channels. The objective of our research is a radically new and innovative approach of fabricating massive scale electrical recording setups. In our approach, a polished bundle of insulated metal wires (that act as recording electrodes) are pushed mechanically on the surface of a commercial amplifier chip used for high-speed infrared imaging. This allows us to tie into the massive progress happening in the imaging field.

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The brain evolved complex recurrent networks to enable flexible behavior in a dynamic and uncertain world, but its computational strategies and underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We propose to uncover the network basis of neural computations in foraging, an ethologically relevant behavioral task that involves sensory integration, spatial navigation, memory, and complex decision-making.