Thalamus data and analysis hub
Data and Analytical Core
This project builds tools to combine brain recordings and scans from people and primates to better understand how the thalamus supports attention and thinking.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Princeton University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Princeton, UNITED STATES) |
| Project ID | NIH-11326853 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
From my perspective, this project collects and cleans brain recordings and MRI scans from people and primates and creates openly available software to analyze them. The team will make a semi-automated pipeline that includes human review for data curation, documentation, and sharing. They will develop multivariate and machine-learning toolkits to link single-neuron signals with brain imaging and test how thalamic regions coordinate with cortex during attention and decision tasks. The shared datasets and tools are meant to help researchers compare results across tasks and species so findings can move closer to clinical uses.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are people with attention, cognitive control, or related brain disorders who might provide neuroimaging data or join future thalamus-focused studies.
Not a fit: Patients seeking immediate treatment or those without conditions involving thalamic circuits are unlikely to see direct short-term benefits from this methods-focused work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could speed discoveries about attention and other cognitive problems and support development of better diagnostics or treatments.
How similar studies have performed: Previous studies that combined human imaging and animal electrophysiology have improved understanding of thalamic circuits, but comprehensive multi-species data integration with open toolkits is still relatively new.
Where this research is happening
Princeton, UNITED STATES
- Princeton University — Princeton, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Chen, Zhe Sage — Princeton University
- Study coordinator: Chen, Zhe Sage
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.