NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research

• 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.