FY2026 – Small Grant Awardees
Nicolas Barthelemy, Neurology – “Label-free measurement of Tau half-life in Tauopathies.”
Valeria Cavalli, Neuroscience, & Stefanie Geisler, Neurology – “Targeting satellite glial cells to combat age-related peripheral neuropathy.”
Joseph Corbo, Pathology & Immunology, & Michael White, Genetics- “Using generative AI to engineer synthetic CNS-targeting promoters.”
Stefanie Geisler, Neurology – “Unraveling the role of neuroinflammation and neurofibrosis in peripheral neuropathy.”
Kevin Noguchi, Psychiatry – “Developmental neurotoxicity produced by electronic cigarette use.”
Thomas Papouin, Neuroscience, & Joseph Dougherty, Genetics – “Mapping astrocyte functional maturation during cortical postnatal development.”
Paul Shaw, Neuroscience – “Defining the molecular and genetic basis of deep sleep.”
FY2025 – Small Grant Awardees
Claudia Han, Pathology & Immunology – “Transcriptional regulation of TGF superfamily signaling in brain development.”
Yang E. Li, Neurosurgery & Genetics – “Leveraging deep learning to decipher single-cell epigenetic regulation in glioblastomas.”
Soumya Mukherjee, Neurology & Nupur Ghoshal, Neurology – “Tau kinetics in tauopathies.”
Erik Musiek, Neurology & Jennifer Strahle, Neurosurgery – “Enhancing sleep to impact cerebrospinal fluid dynamics in Alzheimer Disease.”
Philip Ruzycki, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences & Benjamin Garcia, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics – “Epigenetic effects of H3.3 depletion in the retina.”
Ananth Vellimana, Neurosurgery – “Role of skull bone marrow in neurovascular dysfunction after subarachnoid hemorrhage.”
Philip Williams, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences – “Neuromodulatory potential of primary cilia.”
Hiroko Yano, Neurosurgery – “Mechanisms of DNMT3A regulation in Huntington’s disease.”
FY2024 – Small Grant Awardees
Sarah Ackerman, Pathology & Immunology & Elizabeth Pollina, Developmental Biology – “Defining the role of the epigenome in critical period plasticity.
Aisling Chaney, Radiology & David Holtzman, Neurology – “Non-invasive PET imaging of disease-associated microglial (DAM) responses in Alzheimer’s disease”
Mai Dang, Neurology, Stephanie Perkins, Radiation Oncology, & Buck Rogers, Radiation Oncology – “Efficacy and immune response of FLASH radiotherapy for a pediatric brain tumor”
Gabor Egervari, Genetics – “The role of exogenous acetate in enhancing memory formation”
Robert Gereau, Anesthesiology – “Targeted protein degradation for the development of novel non-addictive analgesics”
Dario Maschi, Cell Biology & Physiology – “Neddylation-dependent modulation of dopamine and glutamate co-release: Implications for neurotransmission and psychiatric disorders”
FY2023 – Small Grant Awardees
Rajendra Apte, Ophthalmology – “Role of retinal microglia in mediating neuroinflammation during early-stage diabetic retinopathy”
David Butler, Pediatrics & Andrew Yoo, Developmental Biology – “Aging-associated mitochondrial dysregulation in response to hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in human neurons”
Xiaowei Li, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery & Matthew Wood, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – “Bioengineered composite to recruit stem cells for long nerve gap repair”
Laura Piccio, Neurology – “Role of MAIT cells in the gut-brain crosstalk during neuroinflammation”
Alexandra Rutz, Biomedical Engineering – “Bioprinted multielectrode arrays for high-throughput electrophysiology of 3D cellular systems”
FY2022 – Small Grant Awardees
Bruno Benitez, Psychiatry – “Restoring lysosomal dysfunction in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease with gene therapy”
Jonathan Cooper, Pediatrics Genetics & Genomics Medicine – “Exploring peripheral nervous system structure and function during CNS neurodegeneration”
John Edwards, Internal Medicine – Pharmacogenomics – “Developing single-cell approaches to determine the functional role of 5-hydroxymethylation”
Gabriel Haller, Neurosurgery – “A zebrafish screen for compounds that prevent post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus”
Nicolas Massaly, Anesthesiology – “Investigating the role for accumbal-hypothalamic dynorphin projections in pain negative affect”
Chihiro Sato, Neurology – “Tau kinetics in neurons mimicking adult brain”
James Skeath, Genetics – “Elucidating the developmental basis of behavior”
FY2021 – Small Grant Awardees
Ghazaleh Ashrafi, Cellular Biology & Physiology – “Post-translational regulation of mitochondrial metabolism at the synapse”
Thomas Papouin, Neuroscience – “Cholinergic signaling in astrocytes and implications to cognitive therapies”
Rithwick Rajagopal, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences – “Synaptic lipid reconfiguration in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy”
Lavina Sheets, Otolaryngology – “Development of an in vivo model system for the study of sensory afferent regeneration”
Michael Wong, Neurology – “Vascular mechanisms of epileptogenesis in a mouse model of a genetic epilepsy”
FY2020 – Small Grant Awardees
Joseph Corbo, Pathology & Immunology – “Evaluating the differentiation potential of naive human pluripotent stem cells and their suitability for testing a re-programming-based therapy for blindness”
Sonika Dahiya, Pathology & Immunology – “Molecular characterization of adolescent diffuse gilomas”
Rafael Galindo, Neurology – “Neurofunctional effects of NMNAT overexpression and SARM depletion in newborn hypoxia-ischemia”
Angela Hirbe, Medical Oncology – “The role of ASCT2 as a diagnostic marker and target in malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors”
Sebla Kutluay, Molecular Microbiology – “Innate immune responses against HIV-1 infection in human stem cell-derived microglia”
Mayssa Mokalled, Developmental Biology – “Mechanisms of adult neurogenesis during spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish”
Philip Williams, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences – “In vivo biosensor imaging of neuronal response to trauma in the mouse retina”
Wayne Yokoyama, Rheumatology – “Mechanistic insights into the pathogenesis of neurosarcoidosis”
FY2019 – Small Grant Awardees
Umeshkumar Athiraman, Anesthesiology – “Isoflurane conditioning for SAH-induced delayed cerebral ischemia: role of nitric oxide synthase”
Valeria Cavalli, Neuroscience – “Defining the transcriptional profile and functional role of mouse and human satellite glial cells”
Albert Davis, Neurology – “Measuring alpha-synuclein in brain interstitial fluid in models of synucleinopathy”
Oscar Harari, Psychiatry – “Characterization of the brain cellular population structure altered in Alzheimer’s disease”
Terrance Kummer, Neurology – “Synaptic mechanisms of circuit dysfunction in traumatic brain injury”
Durga Mohapatra, Anesthesiology – “Neurobiology of bone cancer pain via tumor-nerve redox crosstalk involving TRPA-1 and Nav channels”
Matthew Wood, Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery – “Dissecting the regulation of IL-4 production during nerve regeneration across scaffolds”
Hiroko Yano, Neurosurgery – “Role of DNA methyltransferases in Huntington’s disease pathogenesis”
FY2018 – Small Grant Awardees
Rajendra Apte, Ophthalmology – “MicroRNA driven cell fate programming in retinal degeneration”
Robert Gereau, Anesthesiology – “Regulation of somatosensory connectivity by trans-synaptic interactions between neurexins and neuroligins”
Lawrence Snyder, Neuroscience – “The neural origins of correlated oxygen fluctuations in cortex”
Lila Solnica-Krezel, Developmental Biology – “Functions of dachsous and fat atypical cadherins in telencephalic neuronal migration”
Paul Taghert, Neuroscience – “Genetic analysis of GPCR signaling controlling circadian time measurement in Drosophila”
FY2017 – Small Grant Awardees
Milan Chheda, Molecular Oncology – “Developing an in vivo RNAi screening system for transcriptional regulators of glioblastoma”
Joseph Culver, Radiology – “Wide-field two-photon microscopy for mapping functional connectivity in mice”
Gilbert Gallardo, Neurology – “Engineering anti-tau single-chain fragment variables to investigate tau pathogenesis and for an immunotherapeutic approach in Alzheimer’s disease”
Phyllis Hanson, Cell Biology – “Trafficking itineraries leading to Abeta generation”
Kristen Kroll, Developmental Biology – “Dysregulation of the cortical interneuron transcriptome in epileptic encephalopathies”
Kelly Monk, Developmental Biology – “Elucidating the role of neuronal mtor in Schwann cell development”
Jose Moron-Concepcion, Anesthesiology – “Dissecting the neural circuits involved in the effects of pain on opioid addiction”
FY2016 – Small Grant Awardees
Joseph Ackerman, Radiology – “Quantitative MRI mapping of brain tissue oxygen”
Celeste Karch, Psychiatry – “The role of MAPT mutations on tau kinetics in a human neuronal model of frontotemporal dementia”
Liviu Mirica, Chemistry – Novel radioimaging agents for amyloid beta peptide aggregation in Alzheimer’s disease”
Joshua Rubin, Pediatrics Hematology/Oncology – “Role of fetal-in-maternal microchimeric cells in glioblastoma biology”
Mark Rutherford, Otolaryngology – “Effects of agin and noise exposure on the molecular anatomy of synaptic transmission and spike generation in the mammalian cochlea”
Gregory Zipfel, Neurosurgery – “Role of MMP-9 in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage-induced delayed cerebral ischemia”
FY2022 – Post-Doctoral Fellowship Awardees
Jiyeon Lee, Neurology – “Sex-specific effects of REV-ERBα on microglia activation and tauopathy”
Nikhil Lokesh, Biology – “Elucidating the role of circadian rhythms and glucocorticoid signaling in the mouse neocortex in seasonal adaptation”
Nicole McKay, Radiology – “Investigating a novel white matter biomarker of Alzheimer Disease”
Hemanth Nelvagal, Pediatrics – “Characterizing regional microglial changes in a neurodegenerative lysosomal disease”
Yvan Vachez, Anesthesiology – “Alcohol Use Disorders -Investigating the implication of the ventral pallido-subthalamic pathway in compulsive decision making”
Pranav Vemula, Neurology – “Understanding tau pathology reversal following lowering tau protein levelsin a mouse model of tauopathy”
Chanung Wang, Neurology – “Identifying interactions between sleep, APOE genotype, and neuritic plaque tau pathology”
FY2021 – Post-Doctoral Fellowship Awardees
Nicole Leitner, Biology – “The neurogenetics of a polymorphic neural circuit”
Gerardo Malagon, Cell Biology & Physiology – “Spatiotemporal properties of asynchronous release in a CNS synapse”
Bridget Matikainen-Ankney, Psychiatry – “Understanding the neurobiological basis for why weight loss increases food motivation is critical for achieving lasting weight loss”
Mohini Sengupta, Neuroscience – “Gain control in motor circuits: The curious case of coincident inhibition”
Lu Zhao, Biomedical Engineering – “The mechanism of Sonogentics-mediated neuromodulation through the activating of mechanosensitive ion channels”
FY2020 – Post-Doctoral Fellowship Awardees
Oshri Avraham, Neuroscience – “Fatty acid synthesis in satellite glial cell promotes regenerative growth in sensory neurons”
Fabia Filipello, Neurology – “IPSCs-derived human microglia to study the role of TREM2 in neurodegenerative diseases”
Maud Gratuze, Neurology – “Impact of TREM2 variant on Tau pathology and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease”
Marcos Matamoros Campos, Cell Biology and Physiology – “Molecular mechanisms of ion selectivity and drug binding in potassium channels”
Chi Sun, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences – “Development of a therapeutic strategy for genetic disorders in retinal neurons”
FY2019 – Post-Doctoral Fellowship Awardees
Hong Jun Cho, Chemistry – “Bifunctional chelators as theranostic tools for metal ion-amyloid beta species interactions in Alzheimer’s disease”
Zengqin Deng, Cell Biology and Physiology – “Structure and mechanism of the transient receptor potential vanilloid 3 channel”
Ning Shen, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences – “Control of plasticity in retinal bipolar cells”
FY2018 – Post-Doctoral Fellowship Awardees
Antonietta Franco, Pharmocogenomics – “Small molecules for therapeutic targeting of mitofusins in neurodegenerative disease”
FY2017 – Post-Doctoral Fellowship Awardees
Alexis Hill, Biology – “The role of KCNH2 in modulating neuronal excitability and seizure susceptibility”
Aaron Mickle, Anesthesiology – “Wireless monitoring and optogenetic modulation of bladder function”
Yuan Pan, Neurology – “Defining the mechanisms underlying CCL5 regulation of glioblastoma growth”
Darshan Sapkota, Genetics – “The regulation and significance of translational readthrough in the brain”
FY2016 – Post-Doctoral Fellowship Awardees
Ju Huang, Anatomy and Neurobiology – “Regulation of synaptic plasticity by a novel Cdh1-APC/FMRP ubiquitin pathway”
Dario Maschi, Cell Biology and Physiology – “Nanoscale resolution analysis of synaptic vesicle dysfunction in fragile X syndrome”
Debajit Saha, Biomedical Engineering – “The mechanisms and roles of functional changes in a sensory pathway due to nanoparticle interactions”
Jung Shin, Developmental Biology – “Studies on novel regulatory genes for axon regeneration”
Min-Yu Sun, Psychiatry – “Insights into the nature of a novel endogenous neuromodulator, and may spur oxysterol-related therapeutic drug development”
Matthew Toomey, Pathology and Immunology – “The optimization of color vision through selective carotenoid metabolism”