Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The University of Utah received a $423.5K project grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242), effective March 15, 2026 through March 14, 2028. The award funds neuroscience research investigating the neural mechanisms of interval timing—the cognitive ability to estimate event durations spanning seconds to minutes—which has implications for understanding adaptive behaviors and mental health conditions. The research specifically examines the functional roles of the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) and medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) in temporal coding through an integrated circuit model using behavioral paradigms, neural recording techniques, and neural manipulation methods in mice.

The project addresses a critical gap in current neuroscience knowledge by testing a novel hypothesis that the LEC and MEC function collaboratively to encode elapsed time, with the LEC encoding event boundaries through brief phasic activity that aligns sequential time-coding dynamics in the MEC. Deliverables include empirical neural data, behavioral analyses, and mechanistic insights into how these brain regions coordinate timing behavior, which will advance understanding of the neural basis of interval timing and potentially inform treatment approaches for mental health conditions characterized by temporal processing deficits.