Neural Engineering Center Seed Grants

The Neural Engineering Center has funded seed grants for the past three years to increase research activity and industry relations in all areas of Neuroscience at Georgia Tech. These are short-term exploratory projects intended to test new ideas and generate preliminary data. New collaborations were especially encouraged.

Eligibility: Proposals were submitted by tenure-track faculty members who have a primary appointment in a Georgia Tech School (including BME primary faculty) who are eligible to submit proposals for extramural funding as a PI. 

Budgetary Guidelines: Project budgets were limited to 5K, typically for materials and supplies to pursue new ideas. Proposals for shared equipment are also considered, and may consider larger budgets

Review Criteria:

  • Supports new collaborations and/or brings new faculty into the center
  • Results will clearly lead to a next step (e.g. preliminary data for proposal)
  • Proposed research is likely to lead to growth of neuroscience research at GT, and is not incremental progress on an existing funded project. De novo projects are preferred.
  • Quality of experimental design and outcomes
  • Milestones define measurable research products within funding period
  • Budget is appropriate for the duration and size of the proposed project

Previously funded projects:

On-demand Neuromodulation to Study the Role of Sensory Feedback in Locomotion

PI: Young-Hui Chang

Co-PI: Robert Butera

Long-Term Upper Limb Tremor Measurement and Activity Recognition for Patients with Essential Tremor

PI: Steve Deweerth

Co-PI: Thomas Wichmann

An in vitro Platform for Assessing Compressive Loading Effects on Neurons

PI: Ross Ethier

Co-PI: Robert Butera

A Robotic System for Autonomous, Sequential Patch-clamp Recording in Brain Slices

PI: Craig Forest

Can Luminopsin be Used to Protect Neurons from 6-OHDA Injury?

PI: Robert Gross

Co-PI: Garrett Stanley

Effect of Dehydration on Cognitive Performanceand Neuroanatomy

PI: Michelle LaPlaca

Co-PI: Mindy Millard-Stafford

Robotic Induction of Neuromodulation in Human Motor System

PI: Minoru Shinohara

Co-PI: Jun Udea

Two-photon imaging of cell-type specific voltage responses in S1 barrel cortex

PI: Garrett Stanley

Measuring and Manipulating Cortical Brain Activity for Human Balance

PI: Lena Ting

Co-PI's: Eric Schumacher & Minoru Shinohara