Funded Projects

This team recently identified a selective biomarker of inflammation-promoting immune cells in the central nervous system. They will use their Neuroscience:Translate award to develop non-invasive molecular imaging strategies to distinguish between harmful (pro-inflammatory) and helpful (anti-inflammatory) immune cells in patients with Multiple sclerosis (MS).

Recent data suggest that increased circulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to clear the brain and spinal cord of waste is associated with improved outcomes in aging and recovery from brain injury, suggesting that inducing CSF clearing could enhance brain resilience. However, a therapeutic modality for directly inducing CSF clearing has not been available.

Memories are stored at synapses and circuits, which tragically are pruned and deconstructed in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Genetic mutations including APP generate high levels of soluble oligomeric beta amyloid (oAbeta42), leading to insoluble beta amyloid plaques—hallmarks of late-stage disease. Clinical trials have designed "plaque-busting" drugs assuming that plaques cause disease.

This team has identified a promising protein-based therapeutic to improve stroke recovery.  The team will use the Neuroscience:Translate award to identify key components of this protein to maximize its therapeutic potential for stroke treatments.

Intraparenchymal transplantation of human neural stem cells (hNSCs) shows therapeutic potential for patients with chronic ischemic stroke. However, the underlying mechanisms of how hNSCs drive recovery remain elusive.

The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) influences the development, maturation, and aging of the nervous system in ways that are not fully understood. TurboID, a synthetically engineered enzyme, can label CSF proteins to track their sources and development, providing insight into the roles the CSF plays in development, health, and disease.

This project aims to identify brain-based EEG markers of self-efficacy and self-regulation, which are the two critical treatment targets for people with chronic pain and comorbid heavy alcohol use. Such objective markers will assist in accurate diagnosis and assessment of treatment responses, which may enable a precision medicine approach for chronic pain and substance use disorders. 

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex, heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorder whose prevalence is increasing rapidly. Not only do patients experience motor symptoms, but many experience debilitating nonmotor symptoms caused by peripheral degeneration in the autonomic nervous system, including atrophy of the vagus nerve, and the enteric nervous system.

RNA sensors are a cutting edge tool in synthetic biology for probing complex molecular pathways and creating “smart” molecular circuits in cells. This team leverages state-of-the-art synthetic biology tools to understand how oligodendrocytes contribute to Alzheimer’s disease and other demyelinating disorders.

A major goal in systems neuroscience is to discover how patterns of activity in neural circuits produce and regulate behavior. Using synthetic biology tools, this team aims to develop first-in-class genetically encoded voltage integrators (GEVIns) capable of sensing and responding to both activation and inhibition of neurons.

The ketogenic diet, fasting, and ketone supplements switch the body's fuel source from carbs to fats, a state known as ketosis. This switch can be good for your brain, helping to keep it healthy and resilient to damage. In ketosis, your liver makes a special fat-derived fuel called beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB).

The ability of an infant to distinguish caregivers from strangers is fundamental for survival early in life. Across many taxa, newborns use olfactory cues to recognize caregivers. Caregiver odors induce proximity-seeking behavior and alleviate stress in neonatal mammals, including humans. Since all altricial animals rely on parental care for survival and children with developmental disorders (e.g., fragile X syndrome and autism) often have deficits in the olfactory system, it is essential to understand the mechanisms for linking caregiver odors with affiliative behavior.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, characterized by progressive motor deficits such as tremor, muscle stiffness, and slowness of movement, affecting six million people worldwide. Despite ongoing efforts to discover the mechanisms underlying this disease, PD remains an incurable disorder.

Brain resilience—the ability to withstand adverse outcomes despite significant risk factors—is crucial in late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD), where the Apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) gene is a major risk factor. Carrying APOE4 increases AD risk up to 15-fold compared to the ApoE3 allele.

Brain development is a complex process where cells must self-renew and differentiate at the right place and right time. Gene regulation during development involves sequences in the genome which affect the expression of genes locally, and transcription factors, proteins that bind these sequences and activate genes throughout the genome. At active regulatory sequences and genes, DNA is accessible to these proteins, while inactive DNA is tightly compacted.

Studying the brain circuits involved in aggression will help us tackle big social issues like hate crimes, antisocial behavior, and violence. Imagine if we could better understand why some people act aggressively towards others—we could use this knowledge to protect people from harm and create a world where everyone feels safe. Chemicals in our brain, such as dopamine and serotonin, affect neural activity to modulate behavior. When we experience something rewarding, like having good food or meeting friends, dopamine is released in the brain.

Over half of pediatric stroke survivors develop cognitive impairment, limiting their educational attainment and imposing significant financial and emotional burdens on survivors and their families. However, children’s chronic cognitive symptoms are poorly explained by stroke size or location.

Commonly used measures of interoception—the brain’s perception of the body’s internal state—only subjectively capture the body’s interpretation of hunger and satiety signaling. The Coleman Lab is developing objective, noninvasive, electrophysiologic approaches to assess human hunger and satiety signaling and how external senses modulate this signaling.

This project focuses on the brain’s “glycocalyx”—a complex network of sugars on the cell surface, which plays a crucial role in many brain functions including how neurons connect and communicate and how memories are formed and stored.

In epilepsy, a disease affecting 1% of all children, brain networks undergo maladaptive change (plasticity) and become predisposed to seizures. In the 30-40% of children with epilepsy who have medication-resistant seizures, the seizures become more frequent and severe over time, with concurrent loss of cognitive ability.

This team is developing a cutting-edge mixed reality application to improve the targeted delivery of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS is increasingly being used as a treatment for psychiatric conditions, but the success of the treatment depends critically on its precise delivery.

There are over 6000 rare diseases which together affect millions of Americans. Many ultra-rare diseases are ‘orphan’ diseases, without any viable treatment strategies, one of these being human RhoBTB2 variants associated with severe developmental epileptic encephalopathy (DEE64).