Project Grant R01MH145508
- The National Institute of Mental Health awarded $452,386 to President and Fellows of Harvard College on September 1, 2026, to study the plasticity of synaptic cotransmission in the mouse lateral habenula under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242). The research investigates how changes in the valence of learned associations induce synaptic plasticity in the lateral habenula—a brain structure implicated in mood disorders—and subsequently alter downstream dopamine signaling....
- The National Institute of Mental Health awarded Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) $803,849 on June 3, 2026, as a Project Grant under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to conduct brain-wide analysis of input/output relationships in the reward system. MIT will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques to study integrated input/output relationships between brain regions involved in reward-related tasks. The research centers on a novel genetically...
- The National Institute of Mental Health awarded Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary $666,010 on September 1, 2026, under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to study co-transmission of GABA and glutamate in cortical circuits and the role of neuromodulatory inputs in adult cortical plasticity. The recipient will employ anatomical circuit tracing, whole-cell electrophysiology, and in vivo two-photon imaging in mouse cortex to investigate how cholinergic and serotonergic...
- The National Institute of Mental Health awarded Massachusetts Institute of Technology $443,575 on September 1, 2026, under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to investigate how maternal immune activation alters dopamine circuit function and development. The project examines the structural and functional impact of in utero immune activation on the striosome-dendron bouquet, a striatal circuit that directly controls dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Aim 1...
- The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) awarded a $1,737,000 Project Grant under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to Max Planck Florida Corp, doing business as Max Planck Florida Institute For Neuroscience. The 3-year project, starting September 1, 2024, aims to systematically investigate the synaptic energy logistics that enable the brain to process and store information. Specifically, the research will discover novel regulators that dictate the flexibility of...
- The National Institute of Mental Health awarded The Leland Stanford Junior University $426,991 under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) on August 3, 2026, to support research decoding medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) plasticity across developmental life stages. The recipient is investigating critical periods of synaptic plasticity in the MPFC using high-throughput assays measuring long-term potentiation in mouse brain slices via multielectrode recording arrays. Aim 1 maps...
- The National Institute of Mental Health awarded Massachusetts Institute of Technology $805,382 on September 1, 2026, under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to study social perception and cognition in a marmoset model of Phelan-McDermid Syndrome. The award funds research into neural impairments in social perception and cognition caused by SHANK3 gene mutations, with investigation of whether gene therapy can correct those impairments. MIT will implant electrocorticography...
- The National Institute of Mental Health awarded Scripps Research Institute $878,601 on April 1, 2026, under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to support structural remodeling of neural circuits via multisynaptic boutons. The research uses three-dimensional electron microscopy at nanometer resolution to reconstruct neuronal connectomes, individual synapses, and glia in the mammalian brain. The work combines 3D-EM with chemogenetic techniques for labeling cellular ensembles...
- The National Institute of Mental Health awarded $182,916 to Trustees of Tufts College, doing business as Tufts University School of Medicine, on October 17, 2025, under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to conduct research evaluating cell type-specific mechanisms of glutamatergic synapse function and organization in interneurons. The research uses molecular biology, proteomic analysis, live cellular imaging, and electrophysiology to investigate how the protein BTBD11...
- The National Institute of Mental Health awarded Northeastern University $157,500 on September 1, 2026, under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to explore the role of microglia in developmental effects of early life adversity on prefrontal cortex glutamate receptor development. The research investigates how microglia, resident immune cells of the brain, drive changes in NMDA receptor expression in adolescents exposed to early life adversity such as maternal separation. Prior...
The National Institute of Mental Health awarded Massachusetts Institute of Technology $543,711 on August 20, 2026, under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242, Assistance Listing R01MH145508) to investigate endocannabinoid-mediated inhibitory synaptic mechanisms of hippocampal plasticity using all-optical physiology. The research employs simultaneous patterned optogenetic stimulation and genetically targeted voltage imaging to track synaptic plasticity with millisecond and millivolt precision in awake animals. MIT will optically induce hippocampal behavioral timescale plasticity in mice navigating virtual-reality environments and quantify modulation of inhibitory synaptic transmission during behavioral timescale plasticity. The work includes optical monitoring of endocannabinoid dynamics using a genetically encoded endocannabinoid reporter and assessment of cell type-specific cannabinoid type-1 receptor deletion impacts on behavioral timescale plasticity. Performance occurs in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with an ultimate completion date of June 30, 2031. The project supports NIMH's mission to transform understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research by clarifying how endocannabinoid-mediated suppression of neurotransmission manifests in behaving mammals and contributes to behavioral timescale plasticity and learning—questions that have remained largely unknown due to difficulty in monitoring synaptic plasticity and endocannabinoid dynamics during behavior.
Mod # | Description | ReasonForModification | Federal Obligation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $543.7k | 8/24/26 |