News Release 17-069

NeuroNex projects will develop new tools, partnerships to understand the brain

August 1, 2017

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has made 17 Next Generation Networks for Neuroscience (NeuroNex) awards to aid the research community as it pursues one of its grandest challenges: understanding the brain.

These projects will support the development of innovative, accessible and shared capabilities and resources, as well as theoretical frameworks and computational modeling to advance neuroscience research.

NSF's NeuroNex awards will bring together researchers across disciplines with new technologies and approaches, yielding novel ways to tackle the mysteries of the brain. Befitting its multidisciplinary approach to research, the NeuroNex program involves participation from multiple NSF directorates. The overall goal of this activity is to establish a coherent national infrastructure to enhance our understanding of brain function across organizational levels and a diversity of species.

"Through the development of advanced instrumentation to observe and model the brain, we're closer to our goal of building a more complete knowledge base about how neural activity produces behavior," said Jim Olds, NSF assistant director for Biological Sciences. "NeuroNex seeks to take that progress forward, by creating an ecosystem of new tools, resources, and theories. Most importantly, NeuroNex aims to ensure their broad dissemination to the neuroscience community. With these awards, NSF is building a foundation for the next generation of research into the brain."

NeuroNex is one element of Understanding the Brain, NSF's multi-year effort to enable a scientific understanding of the full complexity of the brain. Through Understanding the Brain, NSF participates in the national Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, an alliance of federal agencies and other partners seeking to enhance our understanding of the brain.

Nine of the new awards are for NeuroNex Neurotechnology Hubs, which will focus on the development, refinement and dissemination of innovative neurotechnologies. These hubs will provide:

Two of the awards are for NeuroNex Theory Teams, which will advance theoretical and computational frameworks for understanding the brain. Both of the awarded teams will focus on developing novel conceptual tools to decipher how the structure and dynamics of neurons give rise to behavior. The teams will work in concert with the Neurotechnology Hubs. Each of these eleven awards is for up to $2 million per year, for up to five years.

In addition, NSF issued six smaller NeuroNex Innovation awards, focused on developing potentially revolutionary, early-stage tools that can be integrated with other NeuroNex projects. All NeuroNex awards will also support workforce training opportunities. The complementary nature of the technologies and the mutual synergies between the technologies and the theories hold the promise of ushering in new ways of conducting neuroscience research.

The award titles, principal investigators and sponsor institutions are listed below.

NeuroNex Neurotechnology Hub awards:

NeuroNex Theory Teams awards:

NeuroNex Innovation awards:

-NSF-

Media Contacts Sarah Bates, NSF, (703) 292-7738, sabates@nsf.gov Rob Margetta, NSF, (703) 292-2663, rmargett@nsf.gov

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2017, its budget is $7.5 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 48,000 competitive proposals for funding and makes about 12,000 new funding awards.

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Useful NSF Web Sites:NSF Home Page: https://www.nsf.govNSF News: https://www.nsf.gov/news/For the News Media: https://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jspScience and Engineering Statistics: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/Awards Searches: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/

Blood cell reconstructions from University of Texas at Austin researcher Kristen M. Harris.Credit and Larger Version

Cornell University's Chris Xu studies how brains produce behavior in a range of species.Credit and Larger Version

Image from the lab of Spencer Smith, who will study next-generation multiphoton neuroimaging.Credit and Larger Version

Karl Deisseroth, professor of bioengineering, in his lab at Stanford University.Credit and Larger Version

An abstract 3-D model of connected neurons, sculpted by neuroscientist Xaq Pitkow.Credit and Larger Version

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NSF issues awards to advance a national research infrastructure for ... - National Science Foundation (press release)