NEURONEX: The fabric of the primate neocortex and the origin of mental representations. From transcriptomics to single neurons and neuronal networks.

该合同为美国、加拿大和德国的15个研究团队组成的NeuroNex网络的美国部分提供支持。该联盟将研究灵长类动物工作记忆的分子、细胞和电路机制。这是抽象思维和认知能力的基础。待测试的中心假设是，在大脑的不同区域和视觉处理途径中，存在一种进化驱动的视觉连接扩展，这种连接原理在猕猴中比在狨猴中更为明显。这项研究的目标是三个区域，反映了视觉通路的三个层次。将NeuroNex网络的工作与其他BRAIN计划项目结合起来，实现新知识的获取和共享，将产生持久而深远的影响。在这里开发的知识和工具的未来应用，甚至超越了大脑，将产生解决复杂自组织系统的基本和新原理的数据。NeuroNex网络还包括培训下一代，包括通过实验室间和同事交流。这个NeuroNex网络整合了四个跨学科研究小组（irg）的团队。该方法包括表征背外侧前额叶皮层（LPFC）三个区域的神经元，并使用基因分型和转录组学分析处理阶段，然后检查与基本电生理特性的联系。这些区域也代表了沿灵长类动物皮层通路和皮层层进化的信息处理的三个阶段。据推测，这些区域的神经元的功能、解剖和分子依赖性各不相同，这种差异在猕猴中很突出，而在狨猴中则更微妙。这些数据将用于推动计算模型的发展。第一个IRG采用体内生理学方法，使用层流记录。第二个IRG涉及体外电生理和神经元电路。第三个IRG是利用转录组学和免疫电子显微镜进行分子表征。第四个IRG采用神经信息学方法，将这些数据结合起来，为模拟第一个IRG中测量的单个神经元和种群动态的皮质结构的计算模型提供信息。该IRG还将创建一个集中的资源来评估各级和IRG之间的数据。该项目由生物科学理事会的新兴前沿和先进网络基础设施办公室的新兴科学与工程研究网络基础设施（CESER）计划共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award provides support for the US component of a NeuroNex Network consisting of 15 research teams in the US, Canada, and Germany. This consortium will address the molecular, cellular, and circuit mechanisms underlying working memory in primates. This is fundamental to abstract thought and cognitive ability. The central hypothesis to be tested is that there is an evolutionarily driven expansion of visual connectivity in different regions of the brain and along the visual processing pathway, and that this connectivity principal will be more pronounced in macaques than marmosets. The research targets three regions, reflecting three levels of the visual pathway. A long-lasting, far-reaching impact involves leveraging work from this NeuroNex Network with other BRAIN Initiative projects to enable acquisition and sharing of the new knowledge. Future applications, even beyond the brain, of the knowledge and tools developed here will give rise to data that address fundamental and novel principles of complex self-organizing systems. The NeuroNex Network also involves training the next generation, including through inter-laboratory and fellow exchanges. This NeuroNex Network integrates teams of four Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs). The approach involves characterizing neurons in each of three regions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) and processing stage using genotyping and transcriptomics, and then examining linkages to basic electrophysiological properties. These areas also represent three stages of information processing along the primate cortical pathways as well as in the evolution of cortical layers. It is hypothesized that the functional, anatomical and molecular dependencies of neurons vary across these regions, and that differences are prominent in macaques, and more subtle in marmosets. The data are to be used to drive the development of computational models. The first IRG takes an in vivo physiology approach using laminar recordings. The second IRG addresses in vitro electrophysiology and neuronal circuitry. The third IRG is a molecular characterization using transcriptomics and immuno electron microscopy. The fourth IRG takes a neuroinformatics approach that combines these data to inform computational models of cortical architectures that mimic the single neurons and population dynamics measured in the first IRG. This IRG will also create a centralized resource to assess data across levels and IRGs. This project is co-funded by Emerging Frontiers in the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Cyberinfrastructure for Emerging Science and Engineering Research (CESER) program within the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.