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The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function. The new tools and technologies should inform and/or exploit cell-type and/or circuit-level specificity. Plans for validating the utility of the tool/technology will be an essential feature of a successful application. The development of new genetic and non-genetic tools for delivering genes, proteins and chemicals to cells of interest or approaches that are expected to target specific cell types and/or circuits in the nervous system with greater precision and sensitivity than currently established methods are encouraged. Tools that can be used in a number of species/model organisms rather than those restricted to a single species are highly desired. Applications that provide approaches that break through existing technical barriers to substantially improve current capabilities are highly encouraged.

The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function. The new tools and technologies should inform and/or exploit cell-type and/or circuit-level specificity. Plans for validating the utility of the tool/technology will be an essential feature of a successful application. The development of new genetic and non-genetic tools for delivering genes, proteins and chemicals to cells of interest or approaches that are expected to target specific cell types and/or circuits in the nervous system with greater precision and sensitivity than currently established methods are encouraged. Tools that can be used in a number of species/model organisms rather than those restricted to a single species are highly desired. Applications that provide approaches that break through existing technical barriers to substantially improve current capabilities are highly encouraged.

The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative funding opportunity announcement is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis and manipulation of complex circuits in large brains. Critical advances in the treatment of brain disorders in human populations are hindered by our lack of ability to monitor and manipulate circuitry in safe, minimally-invasive ways. Clinical intervention with novel cell and circuit specific tools will require extensive focused research designed to remove barriers to delivery of gene therapies. In addition to identification and removal of barriers, the need to specifically target dysfunctional circuitry poses additional challenges. Neuroscience has experienced an impressive influx of exciting new research tools in the past decade, especially since the launch of the BRAIN Initiative. However, the majority of these cutting-edge tools have been developed for use in model organisms, primarily rodents, fish and flies. These cutting-edge tools, such as viral delivery of genetic constructs, are increasingly adaptable to larger mammalian brains and more importantly are emerging as potential human therapeutic strategies for brain disorders. A pressing need to develop tools for use in large brains or those that are more directly relevant to the human brain is the focus of this initiative. The initiative will support initial proof of principle studies aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of this approach in humans and other mammalian species (non-human primate [NHP]/sheep/pigs).

The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function. The new tools and technologies should confer a high degree of cell-type and/or circuit-level specificity. Validation of the utility of the tool/technology is an essential feature. A particular emphasis for this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is the development of new genetic and non-genetic tools for delivering genes, proteins and chemicals to cells of interest; new approaches are also expected to target specific cell types and or circuits in the nervous system with greater precision and sensitivity than currently established methods. Tools developed through this initiative that can be used in a number of species/model organisms rather than those restricted to a single species are highly desired. Applications that provide approaches that break through existing technical barriers to substantially improve current capabilities are also encouraged.

The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function. The new tools and technologies should inform and/or exploit cell-type and/or circuit-level specificity. Plans for validating the utility of the tool/technology will be an essential feature of a successful application. The development of new genetic and non-genetic tools for delivering genes, proteins and chemicals to cells of interest or approaches that are expected to target specific cell types and/or circuits in the nervous system with greater precision and sensitivity than currently established methods are encouraged. Tools that can be used in a number of species/model organisms rather than those restricted to a single species are highly desired. Applications that provide approaches that break through existing technical barriers to substantially improve current capabilities are highly encouraged.

The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function. The new tools and technologies should inform and/or exploit cell-type and/or circuit-level specificity. Plans for validating the utility of the tool/technology will be an essential feature of a successful application. The development of new genetic and non-genetic tools for delivering genes, proteins and chemicals to cells of interest or approaches that are expected to target specific cell types and/or circuits in the nervous system with greater precision and sensitivity than currently established methods are encouraged. Tools that can be used in a number of species/model organisms rather than those restricted to a single species are highly desired. Applications that provide approaches that break through existing technical barriers to substantially improve current capabilities are highly encouraged.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement [FOA] submitted through the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to stimulate the development and validation of novel tools and analytical methods to target, identify and characterize non-neuronal cells in the brain. This FOA complements previous and ongoing cell-census and tool development efforts initiated under BRAIN, RFA-MH-14-215 and RFA-MH-14-216, that have focused almost exclusively on neuronal cells. The cutting-edge tools and methods developed under this opportunity should focus specifically on providing improved points of entry into non-neuronal cell-types (glial and vascular) to enable their inventory and characterization within the CNS and help define how these cells interact among each other and with neuronal cells to impact functional circuitries. Plans for validating the utility of the tool/technology/method and demonstrating its advantage over currently available approaches will be an essential feature of a successful application. Tools that can be used in several species or model organisms rather than in a single species are especially desirable.

This FOA solicits new theories, computational models, and statistical tools to derive understanding of brain function from complex neuroscience data. Proposed tools could include the creation of new theories, ideas, and conceptual frameworks to organize/unify data and infer general principles of brain function; new computational models to develop testable hypotheses and design/drive experiments; and new mathematical and statistical methods to support or refute a stated hypothesis about brain function, and/or assist in detecting dynamical features and patterns in complex brain data. It is expected that the tools developed under this FOA will be made widely available to the neuroscience research community for their use and modification. Investigative studies should be limited to validity testing of the tools being developed.

This FOA solicits new theories, computational models, and statistical tools to derive understanding of brain function from complex neuroscience data. Proposed tools could include the creation of new theories, ideas, and conceptual frameworks to organize/unify data and infer general principles of brain function; new computational models to develop testable hypotheses and design/drive experiments; and new mathematical and statistical methods to support or refute a stated hypothesis about brain function, and/or assist in detecting dynamical features and patterns in complex brain data. It is expected that the tools developed under this FOA will be made widely available to the neuroscience research community for their use and modification. Investigative studies should be limited to validity testing of the tools being developed.

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support the development of novel tools and technologies through the through the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program to advance the field of neuroscience research, including 1) tools to facilitate the detailed analysis of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function, 2) proof-of-concept testing and development of new technologies and novel approaches for large scale recording and manipulation of neural activity, at or near cellular resolution, at multiple spatial and/or temporal scales, in any region and throughout the entire depth of the brain, and 3) iterative refinement of such tools and technologies with the end-user community with an end-goal of scaling manufacture towards reliable, broad, sustainable dissemination and incorporation into regular neuroscience practice.     

The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis and manipulation of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function. Critical advances in the treatment of brain disorders in human populations are hindered by our lack of ability to monitor and manipulate circuitry in safe, minimally-invasive ways. Clinical intervention with novel cell and circuit specific tools will require extensive focused research designed to remove barriers to delivery of gene therapies. In addition to identification and removal of barriers, the need to specifically target dysfunctional circuitry poses additional challenges. Neuroscience has experienced an impressive influx of exciting new research tools in the past decade, especially since the launch of the BRAIN Initiative.

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to encourage research grant applications that propose to develop or substantially modify existing cutting-edge tools that will advance prenatal and/or pediatric hydrocephalus research. The primary objective of this FOA is to remove barriers to hydrocephalus research that are due to scarcity of tools to investigate both the disease mechanisms and alternative therapies (non-shunt) in a rigorous manner. Applications should aim to transform the field of prenatal and/or pediatric hydrocephalus research by generating tools including animal and cell models, novel methods and innovative technologies that will be widely used throughout the neuroscience community to understand disease mechanisms and/or developing therapeutics.

The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function. The new tools and technologies should inform and/or exploit cell-type and/or circuit-level specificity. 

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) intends to accelerate the integration and use of scalable technologies and tools to enhance and reinvigorate brain cell census research, including the development of technology platforms and/or resources that will enable a swift and comprehensive survey of brain cell types and circuits. Of particular interest are those that will (a) improve technology and resource platforms to remove limitations and bottlenecks in the current pipeline of brain cell census data generation; (b) integrate experimental and computational methods to enhance capabilities of cell census data generation and analysis and to reduce barriers to hypothesis-driven research; (c) generate a substantial amount of spatiotemporal cell census data and/or resources to demonstrate the utility of the improved technology and resource platforms; and (d) conduct comparative studies by using proper criteria to evaluate and benchmark quality of biospecimen, performance of cell census tools/technologies, and effectiveness of computational approaches. The projects funded under this FOA will align with the overarching goals of the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN) and are expected to generate a substantial amount of cell census data using the proposed technologies or via collaboration with the BICCN.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) intends to accelerate the integration and use of scalable technologies and tools to enhance brain cell census research, including the development of technology platforms and/or resources that will enable a swift and comprehensive survey of brain cell types and circuits. Applications are expected to address limitations and gaps of existing technologies/tools as a benchmark against which the improvements or competitive advantages of the proposed ones will be measured.

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support the development of novel tools and technologies through the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program to advance the field of neuroscience research. This FOA specifically supports the development of novel neurotechnologies as well as the translation of technologies developed through the BRAIN initiative or through other funding programs, towards commercialization. Funding can support the iterative refinement of these tools and technologies with the end-user community, with an end-goal of scaling manufacture towards reliable, broad, sustainable dissemination and incorporation into regular neuroscience practice.

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support the development of novel tools and technologies through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to advance the field of neuroscience research. This FOA specifically supports the development of novel neurotechnologies as well as the translation of technologies developed through the BRAIN initiative or through other funding programs, towards commercialization. Funding can support the iterative refinement of these tools and technologies with the end-user community, with an end-goal of scaling manufacture towards reliable, broad, sustainable dissemination and incorporation into regular neuroscience research.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) intends to accelerate the use of scalable technologies and tools to enhance brain cell census research, including the development of technology platforms and/or resources and the generation of spatiotemporal cell census data and/or resources. Applications are expected to address limitations and gaps of existing technologies/tools as a benchmark against which the improvements or competitive advantages of the proposed ones will be measured. The improvements include throughput, sensitivity, selectivity, scalability, spatiotemporal resolution and reproducibility in cell atlas analyses. The projects funded under this FOA will align with the overarching goals of the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN) and are expected to enable the generation of a large amount of cell census data using the proposed technologies or via collaboration with the BICCN.

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support and promote broad applications of optogenetic tools for research on normal and/or pathological aging of neural systems including sensory, motor, cognitive, emotional, autonomic, sleep, and neurovascular, or Alzheimer's disease (AD), as well as to encourage additional development of aging and AD specific optogenetic tools.

Professional services are required to develop and evaluate techniques for analyzing anatomical and functional brain data using deformable shape and appearance volume models (Metamorphs/Active Volume Models), stretching open active contours (SOAX), and advanced classification methods, including deep learning.  These methods will be investigated and state-of-the-art tools developed for the segmentation of brain MRI and diffusion imaging data and the analysis of fMRI data, with the aim of supporting research into understanding functional brain circuits and their anatomical correlations. Functional-anatomical atlases will be developed to facilitate comparisons across individuals and for statistical modeling.  The required work is projected to be a multi-year effort, with the first year concentrating on feasibility and prototype development.  Subsequent two-year work, if justified by first-year results, will concentrate on the  development and further evaluation of the prototypes as mature tools that contribute to the wider national research initiative to accurately model functioning of the human brain.

Through the program, grants of up to $200,000 will be awarded to pilot studies that propose new analytical approaches and/or tools to modeling seizure propagation in a brain network. The foundation invites proposals that seek to test novel, unconventional hypotheses or that pursue major methodological or technical challenges in network modeling for epilepsy. The institute is especially interested in funding innovative multi-scale approaches to brain mapping and therefore encourages proposals that can begin to correlate standard measures of macro-network activity (i.e., EEG and/or fMRI) with micro-physiological mechanisms (such as oxygen, microdialysis of extracellular fluids, local field potentials, etc). Through this initiative, the foundation seeks to support interdisciplinary approaches involving clinicians, neuroscientists, computer scientists, and mathematicians able to facilitate different perspectives and supports the development of preliminary data visualization tools for clinicians that enable them to better understand different types of seizure propagation networks and better tailor care to the individual in the future.