Neural Ensembles & Used Substances (Nexus) Collaboratory: Building a Multimodal Inventory of Cell Ensembles Encoding the Effects of Addictive Substances

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) seeks to advance its mission by supporting the expansion of the Collaboratory on Neural Ensembles & Used Substances (NExUS), an effort to build a knowledgebase of the neural cell populations and computations altered by substance-associated experiences, and underlying neurobehavioral states characteristic of addiction, or protective against it. This notice is provided to allow prospective applicants to develop applications that achieve the following goals:

1) Collect and share granular datasets descriptive of neural cell populations tuned to tractable features of substance-related experiences

2) Integrate cell-resolved readouts of ensemble activity with other granular data modalities (e.g., molecular cell identity, epigenetic state, morphology, spatial localization or connectivity)

3) Develop tools for analysis and visualization of ensemble composition and geometry, and document their scalability

4) Inform and test models for the mechanisms whereby cells or motifs are recruited into coding ensembles

5) Enable synergies among NExUS-funded projects and with other cell atlasing efforts through coordination of outreach, data standards, analytics, common spatial frameworks, and reference taxonomies

Grant Authorities that allow NIDA to forecast this opportunity are as follows: Section 301 (42 U.S.C. § 241) and Section 405 (42 U.S.C. § 284).