This R34 FOA solicits applications that offer a limited scope of aims and an approach that will establish feasibility, validity, or other technically qualifying results that, if successful, would support, enable, and/or lay the groundwork for a potential, subsequent Targeted Brain Circuits Projects - TargetedBCP R01, as described in the companion FOA ( RFA-NS-18-009). Applications should be exploratory research projects that use innovative, methodologically-integrated approaches to understand how circuit activity gives rise to mental experience and behavior.

A central goal of the BRAIN Initiative is to develop new and improved perturbation technologies suitable for controlling specified cell types and circuits to modulate function in the central nervous system. This FOA seeks applications to systematically characterize, model, and validate the membrane, cellular, circuit, and adaptive-biological responses of neuronal and non-neuronal cells to various types of stimulation. Development of new technologies and therapies, as well as of disease models are outside the scope of this FOA. However, activities related to combining multiple recording modalities are allowed. As part of this program, investigators will be required to participate in a consortium to develop standards and model systems for the evaluation of current and next generation neuromodulation technologies.