NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research

• This RFA announced an adjunct program to the Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network that will focus on developing therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. The program responds to the recommendations of the May 2012 NIH Alzheimer’s Disease Research Summit.

• Projects supported through this RFA will support the development of new tools to aid in the comprehensive identification of genes, proteins and other biochemical components that contribute to synaptic structure and function.

• This RFA solicited proposals to invent and improve state-of-the-art technologies for studying glial cell diversity, development and/or function in the central and peripheral nervous systems.

• This RFA solicited applications for highly collaborative, multidisciplinary research projects focused on understanding the maladaptive changes that occur during the transition from acute to chronic pain.

• This initiative solicited proposals for an intensive course that would teach researchers about the strategies, step-by-step processes and challenges of developing new drugs for neurological disorders.
• The course would complement the Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network by giving neuroscientists the knowledge and skills they need to conduct drug discovery and development research.

• These awards support the development of innovative neuroscience education programs for K-12 students and their teachers.
• The goal is to raise neuroscience literacy and to inspire future generations of neuroscientists so that the U.S. remains a world leader in the field.

• This initiative will set up a pipeline to move candidate drugs for neurological disorders through preclinical development into early clinical trials. For more information, visit the Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network home page.

• These supplements will support the development of K-12 neuroscience education activities under existing NIH science education grants, such as the Science Education Drug Abuse Partnership Award (SEDAPA) and Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA).

• This program aims to raise interest and opportunities in neuroscience research for individuals who are typically underrepresented in the field.
• The program funds several undergraduate training programs to help prepare individuals from diverse groups for doctoral studies in neuroscience. For more information, visit the Blueprint ENDURE home page.

• This Request for Proposals seeks a contractor to develop a short-term, intensive course on best practices in neuropathic pain research. The course will include instruction on rodent models of neuropathic pain and on methods for measuring pain.

• This program will support partnerships between scientists from the pain and neuroplasticity fields in order to gain insights into the neuroplastic changes that occur during the transition from acute to chronic pain.
• Support is available through competitive revisions that add a collaborative, one year pilot study or a new specific aim to an active NIH grant.

• This RFA offered support for a large-scale project to map the structural and functional connections within the healthy adult human brain. Read the award announcement here.

• This program funds the development of probes, instrumentation, and other tools for understanding, monitoring, and manipulating neural plasticity.
• Funded projects have the potential to develop new reporters of neural plasticity, methods for manipulating cell and circuit function associated with plasticity, and optical or electrophysiological methods for monitoring neural plasticity.

• These initiatives are supporting the construction of a primate gene expression map, the production and distribution of high quality monoclonal antibodies for neurodevelopment research, and new approaches to study the formation of neural circuits.

• This program enhances the Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse (NITRC) by supporting investigators to make existing tools and resources in this field usable by a wider community.
• Interested parties may still be eligible for an administrative revision or a small research grant (R03) under this program.
  

• These four RFAs supported the development of biomarkers for neurodegeneration, development of novel techniques to deliver therapeutics to the nervous system, and opportunities for postdoctoral fellows and established investigators to receive training in neurodegeneration research.

• Turner Consulting Group (TCG) of Washington, D.C. is under contract to develop a web-based clearinghouse for neuroimaging tools, vocabularies, and databases, with an initial focus on functional MRI.

• There is little uniformity among measures used to assess quality of life in patients with neurological disease, making it difficult to compare or compile data across studies.
• Dr. Richard Gershon of Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute is under contract to lead the development of a "toolbox" of measures for assessing cognitive, sensory, and motor functions.

• Supports the development of programs to provide comprehensive training in basic neuroscience, the physical and biological bases of neuroimaging, and the application of in vivo neuroimaging techniques.
• Each program has: (1) a pre-doctoral training program and (2) a short-term research education program for scientists at all career stages.

• Supports new training programs in computational neuroscience for undergraduates and (optionally) predoctoral students.
• Recipient institutions may also develop short courses open to scientists at all stages of their careers.

• Helps train scientists to move results from basic studies into clinical research, and to appreciate how findings in clinical research can inform basic research.
• Supports training of both basic and clinical researchers, with information flow in both directions.

• Supports development and expansion of graduate courses on the neurobiology of disease. Each course is expected to cover a broad spectrum of neurological disorders, with emphasis on common themes.
• Course materials developed under the awards must be disseminated.

• Supports the development of mice carrying recombinase genes that can be used to drive tissue-specific or time-specific expression of target genes in the nervous system.

• Each Blueprint core facility provides scientists pursuing research on the nervous system with a hub of expertise, resources and opportunities for cross-disciplinary work.

• Addresses the need to visualize neural activity with higher spatial and temporal resolution than is currently possible.

• Supports the creation of a publicly accessible online inventory of data, resources and tools for neuroscientists. A beta version of the inventory is accessible from the project website.
• Investigators at the University of California, San Diego are leading the current phase of NIF development.