Team Grant : Next Generation Networks for Neuroscience (NeuroNex)

CIHR and FRQ have decided to support Canadian investigators on a large-scale, interdisciplinary, international brain research initiative. Understanding how behavior emerges from the dynamic patterns of electrical and chemical activity of brain circuits is universally recognized as one of the great, unsolved mysteries of science. Advances in recent decades have elucidated how individual elements of the nervous system and brain relate to specific behaviors and cognitive processes. However, there remains much to discover to attain a comprehensive understanding of how the healthy brain functions, specifically, the general principles underlying how cognition and behavior relate to the brain’s structural organization and dynamic activities, how the brain interacts with its environment, and how brains maintain their functionality over time.

As part of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative in the United States, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) has developed the Next Generation Networks for Neuroscience (NeuroNex). The objective of the NeuroNex program is the establishment of distributed, international research networks that build on existing global investments in neurotechnologies to address overarching questions in neuroscience. The creation of such global research networks of excellence will foster international cooperation by seeding close interactions between a wide array of organizations across the world, as well as creating links and articulating alliances between multiple recently launched international brain projects. Canadian researchers are well placed to provide a leadership role within NeuroNex networks.

The goal of the NeuroNex Technology-enabled, Team-based Neuroscience solicitation is to support collaborative networks comprised of international teams of disciplinarily-diverse researchers working on a common foundational question in neuroscience. Each network will be organized around a central theme identified by the participants. Individual networks will be composed of 2 to 4 interdisciplinary research groups (IRGs), each consisting of about 3 to 6 investigators. Each IRG will have a defined intellectual role that fits within the overall research goal of the network. It is envisaged that the composition of each IRG may cut across organizations and countries, as appropriate. Through this funding opportunity, CIHR and FRQ will support Canadian investigators on NeuroNex IRGs.

Research Areas

A Network must be composed of international teams (IRGs) that include disciplinarily-diverse experimentalists and theorists working to obtain mechanistic insights into foundational questions in neuroscience. These networks must incorporate:

• Strong integration across levels of study within an organism
• Comparative analysis of neural underpinnings of behavior in naturalistic settings
• Predictive theory and modeling to guide research and uncover general principles
• Global partnerships