Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) awarded a $236,250 project grant to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) under the Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders (CFDA 93.853) program, effective February 3, 2026, with a completion date of January 31, 2028. The award funds research investigating deficits in behavioral time-scale plasticity (BTSP) that underlie imprecision and instability of hippocampal cognitive representations in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The research will examine mechanisms by which BTSP dysfunction contributes to cognitive disability in TLE, including the generation of imprecise place field maps and the role of paroxysmal depolarizing shifts in disrupting stable spatial representations in the hippocampal CA1 region.

The project deliverables include scientific research findings and experimental data designed to elucidate how abnormal BTSP mechanisms drive cognitive dysfunction in TLE, with potential implications for developing future treatments for cognitive difficulties associated with epilepsy. The research will utilize mouse models to investigate the relationship between plateau potentials and place-related firing, as well as explore whether BTSP dysfunction represents a general mechanism of cognitive impairment across non-spatial cognitive tasks in epilepsy. Research will be conducted at UCLA's Los Angeles, California facility through UCLA's Office of Research Administration.