Neural Ensembles & Used Substances (NExUS) Collaboratory: Building a Multimodal Inventory of Cell Ensembles Encoding the Effects of Addictive Substances
This grant supports building a comprehensive database of brain cell groups altered by addictive substances, integrating diverse data types to better understand addiction and promote collaboration in neuroscience research.
Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates: February 8, 2027 (Applications)
Funding Amounts: $4,000,000 estimated total program funding; 4 expected awards
Summary: Supports systematic, scalable research to map neural ensembles responding to addictive substances and connect their activity to substance-use behavioral states.
Key Information: Clinical trials are not allowed; applications involving foreign subawards or subcontracts will not be considered for funding.
Description
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, invites applications to renew and expand the Collaboratory on Neural Ensembles and Used Substances (NExUS). This collaborative research program aims to decode how substance-use experiences and addictive neurobehavioral states are represented in the brain at the level of cell populations.
The opportunity supports systematic and scalable methods to identify, map, and analyze groups of neurons that respond to used substances. Its goal is to create a comprehensive, multimodal database and use it to test hypotheses linking specific neural population activity patterns to behavioral states associated with substance use and substance use disorders, including intoxication, craving, and dependence. Funding is offered through the U01 cooperative agreement mechanism, with clinical trials not allowed.
