Image
Seed Grants catalyze collaborations between researchers from across the university for innovative, collaborative research projects in the neurosciences.
Funded Seed Grant projects
Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
Seed Grant
2021
Inflammation, Major Histocompatibility Class I and human brain development
Maternal infection is linked to increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. This proposal examines how virus-associated cytokines, specifically interferons, affect human neurons modeled in brain organoids or studied directly in fetal brain samples.
Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
Seed Grant
2017
The impact of early medial temporal lobe Tau in human cognitive aging
By measuring the aggregation of Tau protein in healthy older adults as well as those with Alzheimer's disease dementia using positron emission tomography imaging combined with high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging, this team hopes to predict who is at most risk for dementia in the future.
Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
Seed Grant
2019
Investigating the role of a human-specific repeat element in neuropsychiatric disease risk and cerebellar function
We will combine the genetics expertise of the Kingsley lab and the neuroscience expertise of the Raymond lab to characterize molecular, cellular, neurophysiological, and behavioral defects in mice engineered to model the risk or protective variants in the human calcium channel gene.
Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
Seed Grant
2015
A novel PET radioligand to identify microglial inflammation in Alzheimer's disease
This project will develop PET ligands to image where and when the earliest microglial changes occur in Alzheimer's Disease to aid in early detection of the disease and development of new therapeutics.
Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
Seed Grant
2021
Magnetic Recording and Stimulation of Neural Tissue
We propose a new magnetic sensor that is sensitive to picoTesla-scale fields, a localized magnetic stimulator with small form-factor, and a seamless integration of both systems for applications in experimental and clinical neuroscience.