Funding News - Neurotechnology Research, Development, and Enhancement Sought

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) invite grant applications for studies to research and develop innovative technologies, methodologies, or instrumentation for basic and clinical studies of the brain in human or non-human animals. Also encouraged are applications to research, develop, and significantly enhance existing technologies that are important to understand the brain.*

One of the most complex systems in biomedicine is the brain. Despite this, neuroscience is rapidly advancing, with important discoveries coming to light almost daily. This program announcement seeks to advance neuroscience research through development of neurotechnologies or novel tools and approaches for the study of the brain. Such tools may include those used for clinical assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of brain disorders.

Examples of tools useful for neuroscience include but are not limited to: microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices used for monitoring neuron function in slice and culture preparations; amplifiers that are small and light enough to be worn by mice for recording neural activity from many neurons; devices for non-invasive diagnosis and precise identification of pathogens involved in central and peripheral neural infectious diseases; tools for real-time analysis of neurophysical events; telemetry devices small and light enough to be worn by mice for transmitting data; software to translate neuroimaging data from one data format into another; computational approaches to analyzing video data; and probes of brain gene expression that can be imaged non-invasively.

For more information, potential applicants should contact Repair and Plasticity Cluster, NINDS, Neuroscience Center, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 2207, Bethesda, MD 20892; telephone: 301-496-1447; fax: 301-402-1080; e-mail: funding@ninds.nih.gov.

*For a more detailed description of this program announcement, please visit the NIH web site at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-02-003.html.