2026 Research Grant Awards

Awarded to Professor Elizabeth Hong (BBE)
Decoding Core Olfactory Navigation Circuits in Drosophila Guided by Developmental Compression and Comparative Connectomics
Larval and adult Drosophila locally navigate to odor sources using similar behavioral subroutines, suggesting aspects of the underlying neural circuit solution may be shared despite vast differences in body form and nervous system complexity. By comparing circuits with common developmental origin in the larval and adult connectomes, Hong identified a strongly conserved lateral accessory lobe (LAL) network downstream of olfactory convergence neurons that signals to descending motor pathways. She proposes quantitative behavior, optogenetics, and functional recording experiments to test the hypothesis that this network comprises a conserved circuit solution for olfactory navigation.

Awarded to Professor Yuki Oka (BBE) and Research Professor Andrew McMahon (BBE)
Internal-state-dependent regulation of renal function through sympathetic signals
The kidney plays a central role in maintaining body fluid balance and participates in bidirectional communication with the brain to preserve homeostasis. This project aims to define how internal physiological states are translated into coordinated renal responses through the autonomic circuits. It will establish a neuron-to-renal axis linking brain state encoding to fluid regulatory function.

Awarded to Professor Marianne Bronner (BBE)
Role of Schwann cell precursors in axonal repair after spinal cord injury
Many fish and amphibians have the ability to regenerate several organs, including the spinal cord, but this ability has been lost in most mammals. To gain better understanding of the mechanisms underlying spinal cord regeneration, Bronner proposes to use zebrafish as a model system to explore the possible role of neural crest-derived Schwann cell precursors (SCPs). To this end, she will use CRISPR loss-of-function to ablate neural crest cells and/or SCP genes and assess the effects on regenerative ability using live imaging and spatial transcriptomics.

Awarded to Professor David Glover (BBE) and Professor Magda Zernicka-Goetz (BBE)
A stem cell model of neural tube closure
Neural tube formation orchestrates the development of the entire CNS and developmental defects arise when coordinated neuroepithelia dynamics fail during neural tube closure (NTC) in human development. Yet, how planar cell polarity (PCP) is established to initiate NTC, and how PCP signals are translated into 3D cytoskeletal responses that sculpt the neuroepithelium is poorly understood. Here the researchers will use stem cell-derived embryo models to determine folic acid dependent mechanisms of how PCP genes become expressed and how PCP signals centrosome positioning to facilitate the cytoskeletal remodeling that directs NTC to establish neural circuitry.

Awarded to Professor David Prober (BBE)
Mechanisms of hypothalamic neuronal circuit development in zebrafish
Research on sensory and motor systems has revealed general principles of neuronal circuit formation and maintenance, but it is unclear if these principles apply to neuronal circuits in the brain. Prober will address this question at a level of detail that is unprecedented for a vertebrate animal using zebrafish due to their conserved but small vertebrate brain, accessibility for live imaging, and amenability to optogenetic and genetic manipulations.

Awarded to Professor Joe Parker (BBE) and Professor David Anderson (BBE)
New CRISPR tools for neuroscience in emerging model species
The neurobiology of interspecies interactions is a new frontier that connects the fields of neuroscience and ecology. The researchers propose to open Dalotia coriaria, a free-living rove beetle found in leaf litter, to advance this frontier by establishing working knock-in transgenesis. Transgenic lines which afford the ability to monitor real-time neural activity by two-photon imaging in the Dalotia olfactory system will be generated. Lines obtained will be used to investigate the neural basis of interspecies coding using a "beetle-on-a-ball" setup for real-time measurement of both GCaMP and behavioral response dynamics during interactions with ecologically relevant insect stimuli.

Awarded to Professor Dean Mobbs (HSS)
Decoding Neural Dynamics of Social Connection with AI
Loneliness is associated with increased mortality, cognitive decline, and mental illness, yet neuroscience lacks a mechanistic account of how the brain transitions between states of social connection and disconnection. Mobbs will use fMRI to record brain activity while participants have one-on-one text-based conversations with AI agents designed to elicit different levels of felt social connection and apply switching linear dynamical systems (SLDS) modeling to test whether the brain encodes connection and disconnection as distinct attractor states moderated by trait loneliness.

Awarded to Professor Zhongwen Zhan (GPS) and Professor Lihong Wang (EAS)
A novel fiber-optic ultrasound sensor for functional brain imaging
The goal of this project is to develop fiber-optic ultrasound sensors that are highly sensitive, scalable, and small, enabling their massive deployment beneath the skull for whole-brain imaging. This technology could provide high bandwidth access to any brain region or the whole brain with minimal invasiveness and lead to portable brain-machine interfaces suitable for everyone.

Awarded to Assistant Professor Anqi Zhang (EAS)
Quantifying neural complexity to evaluate functional recovery after stroke
Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability, yet hundreds of therapies that showed promise in preclinical animal studies have failed in clinical trials. This research aims to bridge the translational gap by developing a new platform to monitor brain recovery through long-term single-neuron recordings. By applying information theory to neural activity, Zhang aims to generate a more precise measurement of therapeutic impact, providing direct insight into how treatments affect brain circuits.