The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that the new round of awards for its Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative will exceed $220 million.
The BRAIN initiative is managed by 10 NIH institutes and aims to accelerate neuroscience research by equipping researchers with the necessary tools for understanding the brain. With this new round of awards, total funding in 2018 has hit $400 million -- already 50% more than the amount awarded in 2017, according to the NIH.
Thus far, more than 100 research institutions have received awards for their projects. Examples include the following:
- A wireless optical tomography cap for scanning human brain activity
- A noninvasive brain-computer interface system for paralysis patients
- Noninvasive brain stimulation devices for treating brain disease such as schizophrenia
Recently, the BRAIN initiative sought out research projects that would use imaging and neurotechnologies to discover new nonaddictive treatments for pain, in collaboration with the NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-Term (HEAL) project.
