Funded Projects

The intricate workings of signaling pathways are well-established with regard to neurodevelopment. Yet, the implications of these pathways for sustaining brain health and resilience during the aging process are not clear.

This team is working on understanding which patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) will best benefit from cognitive training. They are researching a multimodal approach to understand this question and will use their Koret pilot grant award to evaluate high-density EEG biomarkers for successful cognitive training in MCI. 

This project's goal is to enhance brain resilience by promoting vascular brain health during aging. The research team's overarching hypothesis is that many people experience cognitive decline and dementia due to pathological aging.

This team is developing new transcranial magnetic stimulation methods that optimize neuromodulation effects using music-induced brain state dynamics.

This team is developing a small molecule that targets a voltage-gated ion channel within the inner ear for the symptomatic relief of peripheral vertigo attacks. They will use their Neuroscience:Translate award to further develop this molecule to restore normal function and improve activities of daily living for patients experiencing peripheral vertigo.

This team recently discovered that a small molecule they had originally developed to treat Parkinson’s disease can also reduce the volume of glioblastoma tumors – the most common form of aggressive brain tumor — by targeting the mitochondrial protein Miro1. They will use their Neuroscience:Translate award to study the mechanisms of the compound’s anti-tumor action and prepare to apply for investigational-new-drug status to move this discovery toward the clinic.

Fang Wang has been developing novel steady-state EEG techniques to reveal the underlying neural dynamics involved in the acquisition of reading skills in children. She will use the Koret award to extend her findings in typically developing children to children with dyslexia, illustrating how cortical challenges in the temporal dynamics of visual processing can contribute to dyslexia.

More and more studies suggest that infections may be an important cause of dementia and possibly brain aging more generally. The most convincing evidence exists for herpesviruses, which “hibernate” in the nervous system. Recently,  an innovative causal approach in data from the United Kingdom has been used to suggest that shingles (herpes zoster) vaccination prevents or delays dementia.

Normal aging and neurodegenerative disease are typically characterized by accumulation of waste products inside the brain and in particular by aggregation of various types of proteins like Amyloid-beta outside of cells or the proteins Tau, alpha-synuclein, and TDP-43 inside cells.

Current treatments for neurodegenerative disorders (proteinopathies) offer limited efficacy and typically target specific genetic forms. The goal of this research project is to discover targets shared across proteinopathies and advance the development of early diagnostic/prognostic tools and disease-modifying pan-proteinopathy approaches.

Psychedelics profoundly alter human consciousness through activation of 5-HT2A receptor proteins in the brain. This team aims to develop a molecular probe to permanently illuminate 5-HT2A receptors without modifying their function or expression, allowing scientists to better study the effects of psychedelics on these receptors.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and there is a tremendous need for improved therapeutic strategies to treat this prevalent neurodegenerative disease. A devastating symptom of AD is progressive memory loss; this particular disease feature has proven difficult to treat. However, research has begun to unravel novel drivers of AD, including the important role the body’s immune system plays in promoting memory loss. 

It has been appreciated for decades that cognitive decline and dementia are frequently accompanied by changes that cause proteins within brain cells to clump abnormally into structures called neurofibrillary tangles. Resilient brains are better able to resist this process but the underlying mechanisms for why individuals’ brains are either more or less resilient are not fully understood.

The medial entorhinal cortex (MEC), the brain’s “inner GPS”, contains an internal map of external space. Rather than representing a static spatial map, however, MEC neurons can spontaneously switch between multiple maps (Low et al., 2021). In this project, we will investigate if spontaneous map switches reflect changes in an animal’s latent internal state.

Constipation and diarrhea, caused by aberrant water absorption in the colon, impose substantial health burdens. The enteric nervous system (ENS) harbors a specialized circuit for water absorption, the secretomotor/vasodilator circuit, but its role in the proximal colon remains poorly understood.

Understanding representational drift—the brain’s evolving representation of its environment—is pivotal to gaining insights into neural computation. Despite its significance, the study of representational drift has been constrained by the scarcity of suitable datasets and methods.

This team aims to understand differences in language processing between bilingual and monolingual speakers and how these differences contribute to neuroplasticity. Their Koret project will use EEG to discover how semantic predictions are formed and whether knowledge of multiple languages influences these predictions.

In this highly interdisciplinary project, PhD candidate Alberto Tono is pursuing the novel application of combined EEG and immersive reality to streamline workflows in building design and construction.

The causes of neurodegenerative disorders like multiple sclerosis or Alzheimer’s disease are incompletely understood, hindering our ability to gain precise diagnoses and design effective therapeutics. Understanding how the circadian rhythms regulate myelin-forming precursors will impart unique insights into normal and aberrant myelination and will have a positive impact on developing therapeutic strategies to restructure myelin.

This team will use their Neuroscience:Translate award to develop the first wearable ultrasound (US) device for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

People with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) have different types of bacteria in their guts compared to people without neurological diseases. We will study which gut bacteria in people with PD to gain a better understanding of how gut bacteria contribute to inflammation in the body and in the brain of people with this condition. 

With an aging population, neurodegenerative disorders contribute increasingly to our global health burden with no cure or effective treatments. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are two neurodegenerative disorders that are distinct in clinical presentation (ALS impairs movement/breathing, whereas FTD impairs behavior/cognition).

This team will use their Neuroscience:Translate award to develop a large-scale bi-directional neural interface that will restore high-fidelity vision to people blinded by retinal degeneration.