The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) was awarded a $1,124,850 Project Grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) under the 21st Century Cures Act - Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. The grant supports the development of "photo-caged" DREADD agonist tools to enable high-precision, anatomically-targeted optical silencing of synaptic transmission in genetically-defined cell types. Through this 3-year project, the researchers will rigorously validate these novel optochemogenetic reagents using in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo experimental approaches, including fiber photometry recordings and evaluation of behavioral responses to aversive and rewarding stimuli. The goal is to provide the neuroscience community with an effective, scalable method for temporally-precise, site-specific control of neural activity for causal studies of brain function and behavior.
Generated 3/4/25, 4:23 AM