Synopsis
The
BRAIN Initiative targets a wide range of tools for sensing, tagging, and
manipulation of multiple electrical, molecular/chemical, and connectivity
parameters in the working brain. Combining these tools with fMRI measurements
may accelerate our progress towards understanding the brain function in health
and disease, open new avenues to guide the development of treatments, and build
a stronger physiological foundation for human noninvasive imaging.
GOALS FOR MICRO- AND NANOSCALE NEUROTECHNOLOGIES
- Sensing: Use genetic engineering and synthetic chemistry to develop novel
reporters/indicators to probe directly and quantitatively the ground-level
biophysical and physiological parameters
-
Manipulation: Develop high-specificity, high-precision tools to control the activity of cells and
circuits
- Detection: Improve imaging/recording instrumentation to increase sensitivity,
depth penetration, spatial and temporal resolution, and efficient sampling
-
Miniaturization: Nanofabricate optical and electrical instrumentation for use in awake
behaving animals
- Understanding
the measurements: Develop computational tools and theoretical
frameworks to link the experimental observables to the underlying biophysical and physiological parameters
-
Integration: Build computational
bridges between different levels of description across scales and measurement
modalities
TARGET AUDIENCE
Anyone
interested to learn about state-of-the-art optical, chemical and electrical
tools for probing and manipulation of concrete microscopic physiological
parameters; MR physicists, MDs, and neuroscientists using fMRI as a tool for
animal research and interested in multimodal integration.OUTCOME/OBJECTIVES
- Learn about state-of-the-art optical,
chemical and electrical tools for probing and manipulation of brain function on
microscopic scale emerging from the BRAIN Initiative.
- Learn how (at least
some of) these tools can be combined with fMRI to achieve better understanding
of brain function.
PURPOSE
What
exactly do we need to measure in order to understand what the brain is doing? One
obvious target is spikes. In addition, many neuronal processes, which are often
altered in brain disease, involve a range of non-spike parameters, including
regulation of the membrane excitability by integration of signals across
neurotransmitter systems and interaction with non-excitable brain cells – glia.
To this end, the BRAIN Initiative targets a wide range of tools for sensing,
tagging, and manipulation of multiple electrical, molecular/chemical, and
connectivity parameters in the working brain. Combining these tools with fMRI
measurements may accelerate our progress towards understanding the brain
function in health and disease, open new avenues to guide the development of
treatments, and build a stronger physiological foundation for human noninvasive
imaging.Acknowledgements
- NIH BRAIN Initiative grants U01 NS094232 and R01MH111359
- NIH Grants NS057198 and EB00790
References
The challenge of connecting the dots in the B.R.A.I.N. Devor A, Bandettini PA, Boas DA, Bower JM, Buxton RB, Cohen LB, Dale AM, Einevoll GT, Fox PT, Franceschini MA, Friston KJ, Fujimoto JG, Geyer MA, Greenberg JH, Halgren E, Hämäläinen MS, Helmchen F, Hyman BT, Jasanoff A, Jernigan TL, Judd LL, Kim SG, Kleinfeld D, Kopell NJ, Kutas M, Kwong KK, Larkum ME, Lo EH, Magistretti PJ, Mandeville JB, Masliah E, Mitra PP, Mobley WC, Moskowitz MA, Nimmerjahn A, Reynolds JH, Rosen BR, Salzberg BM, Schaffer CB, Silva GA, So PT, Spitzer NC, Tootell RB, Van Essen DC, Vanduffel W, Vinogradov SA, Wald LL, Wang LV, Weber B, Yodh AG. Neuron. 2013 Oct 16;80(2):270-4. PMID: 24139032