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

该奖项为NeuroNex网络的美国部分提供支持，该网络由美国，加拿大和德国的15个研究团队组成。 该联盟将致力于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。 有待检验的中心假设是，在大脑的不同区域和沿着视觉处理通路中，存在着一种进化驱动的视觉连通性扩张，而且这种连通性原则在猕猴中比在绒猴中更为明显。本研究针对三个区域，反映了视觉通路的三个层次。一个持久的，深远的影响涉及利用这个NeuroNex网络与其他BRAIN倡议项目的工作，使新知识的获取和共享。未来的应用，甚至超越大脑，这里开发的知识和工具将产生解决复杂自组织系统的基本和新颖原理的数据。NeuroNex网络还涉及培训下一代，包括通过实验室间和研究员交流。这个NeuroNex网络整合了四个跨学科研究小组（IRG）的团队。 该方法涉及表征神经元的背外侧前额叶皮层（LPFC）的三个区域中的每一个和处理阶段使用基因分型和转录组学，然后检查链接到基本的电生理特性。 这些区域也代表了信息处理的三个阶段，沿着灵长类动物的皮质通路，以及在皮质层的进化。据推测，神经元的功能，解剖和分子依赖性在这些区域中各不相同，并且在猕猴中差异突出，而在绒猴中则更为微妙。 这些数据将用于推动计算模型的发展。第一个IRG采用层流记录的体内生理学方法。第二IRG地址在体外电生理学和神经元回路。 第三个IRG是使用转录组学和免疫电子显微镜的分子表征。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群体动态的皮质架构的计算模型提供信息。 该IRG还将创建一个集中资源，以评估各个级别和IRG的数据。该项目由生物科学理事会的新兴前沿和高级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NSF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.