# Technology Core

> **NIH NIH P50** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $143,130

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY (Technology Core)
In the Technology Core, we develop, validate, and implement (in the real-world drug abuse-relevant setting of
the Center Projects and collaborations), next-generation technologies for studying neural circuit structure-
function relationships. We pay particular attention to integrative methods for crossing spatial scales for
observation and manipulation, from single neuron-resolution during behavior, to brainwide analysis during
behavior. The central goal is synergistic with the Training core but necessarily inverted in structure; the
technologies developed and applied here, though demonstrated in the lab and standing on firm ground, are in
earlier and unpublished stages, are equipment-intensive, and cannot at present be disseminated in the short-
course Training Core model. Instead, the Technology Core staff will guide the direct local implementation of
these new technologies for Center Aims across all research projects. In Aim 1 the Technology Core staff develop
and support next-generation hydrogel-tissue chemistry including STARmap. In Aim 2 the Technology Core staff
develop and support next-generation frame-projected independent-fiber photometry (FIP); among other
applications in the Center, FIP will be used for simultaneous recording of multiple independent axonal activity
signals representing diverse projections of ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons, tracking previously
inaccessible activity relationships among these circuit elements at high speed during distinct salient sensory
experiences. In Aim 3 the Technology Core staff develop and support next-generation optoencephalography
(OEG) for truly simultaneous high-speed multi-site observation of genetically-specified neural activity traffic
across the adult mammalian brain, suitable for quantifying abused-drug experience-triggered joint activity
relationships among multiple brainwide projections and cell populations. Finally in Aim 4 the Technology Core
staff develop and support next-generation ensemble optogenetics, for true cellular-resolution imaging and control
of hundreds of individual neurons within brain volumes during behavior. These tools enable investigation of
interactions between subpopulations within and across brain regions, unbiased identification of behaviorally
relevant circuit dynamics and processing hierarchies, and (in combination with optogenetic stimulation)
systematic causal analysis in abused-drug altered states.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10494003
- **Project number:** 2P50DA042012-06
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Sean Albert Quirin
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $143,130
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2028-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10494003

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10494003, Technology Core (2P50DA042012-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10494003. Licensed CC0.

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