Federal Grant Award Summary

Stony Brook University has been awarded $466,843 under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) administered by the National Institute of Mental Health for a three-year project period from April 1, 2026, through March 31, 2029. The award supports the development and validation of SEEME (a multimodal behavioral-electrophysiological tool), an objective, real-time detection system designed to identify voluntary motor behavior and consciousness recovery in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. The tool integrates face and hand movement measurement with neural recordings to detect low-amplitude voluntary behavior that may be undetectable through standard clinical examination methods.

The project will deliver three primary products: (1) a novel objective tool for quantitatively analyzing voluntary behavior in brain injury patients; (2) a computational framework capable of synchronizing behavioral responses with underlying brain activity patterns; and (3) a closed-loop stimulation system integrating vagus nerve stimulation synchronized to voluntary behavior, designed to support future neuromodulatory therapeutic interventions for motor recovery. The research framework will be made freely available to the broader consciousness research and neuroscience communities, advancing understanding of brain circuits supporting voluntary behavior while establishing a foundation for developing evidence-based neuromodulatory treatments for traumatic brain injury patients.