Wednesday, October 1, 2025 10/1/2025

Sensory Motor Transformations in Human Cortex

Award Number: U01NS123127
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/15/2021
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2026

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Sensory Motor Transformations in Human Cortex - Abstract: The long-term objective of this application is to understand cortical processing of sensory to motor transformations within the human cerebral cortex. A vast number of computations must be performed to achieve sensory-guided motor control. Standing out among these computations, visual information of the goals of action must be transformed from the coordinates of the retina to the coordinates of effectors used for movement, for instance limb coordinates for reaching under visual guidance and to world coordinates for interactions in the environment. Once an object is grasped, somatosensory signals from the hand are required for dexterous manipulation of grasped objects. Internal models within the sensory motor pathway are essential for estimating the current state of the body and the external environment, accounting for lags in sensory feedback, and calibrating the body to the environment. We will use the rare opportunity of being able to record from populations of single neurons in a clinical study designed to develop neural prosthetics for tetraplegic participants paralyzed by spinal cord injuries. Cortical implants of microelectrode arrays will be made within three key locations in the sensorimotor system: primary motor cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, and posterior parietal cortex. These microelectrode arrays enable both recording and intracortical microstimulation. We will test the hypothesis that somatosensory and motor cortex represent imagined reaches in hand coordinates, but posterior parietal cortex is task dependent, and its population neural activity can flexibly change coordinate frames to enable encoding of the spatial relations within the body (arm and eyes), between the body and world (arm and reach targets; objects relative to self), and within the world (relative position of objects in the world) as required by task demands. Percepts evoked by intracortical microstimulation and imagined sensations will be used to understand the representation of cutaneous and proprioceptive information within primary somatosensory cortex and posterior parietal cortex. The hypothesis to be tested is that imagined sensation and electrically evoked sensations are highly overlapping—not just in primary somatosensory cortex but also in posterior parietal cortex. Lastly, we hypothesize that the posterior parietal cortex contains in humans an internal model of state estimation that shows plasticity for both natural and brain-control behaviors and transfers this learning to motor cortex. These studies will not only greatly advance our understanding of the human sensorimotor cortical circuit, but also will provide basic knowledge for the design of future neural prosthetics.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $772,333 )
2025	2025	CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	1200 E CALIFORNIA BLVD	PASADENA	CA	91125	LOS ANGELES	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	000	5	8/19/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$772,333
														Subtotal = $772,333

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $792,629 )
2024	2024	CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	1200 E CALIFORNIA BLVD	PASADENA	CA	91125	LOS ANGELES	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	000	4	7/8/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$792,629
														Subtotal = $792,629

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $985,068 )
2023	2023	CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	1200 E CALIFORNIA BLVD	PASADENA	CA	91125	LOS ANGELES	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	001	3	8/4/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$985,068
2023	2022	CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	1200 E CALIFORNIA BLVD	PASADENA	CA	91125	LOS ANGELES	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	000	2	4/17/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $985,068

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $940,532 )
2022	2022	CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	1200 E CALIFORNIA BLVD	PASADENA	CA	91125	LOS ANGELES	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	000	2	8/30/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$940,532
														Subtotal = $940,532

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $1,082,090 )
2021	2021	CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	1200 E CALIFORNIA BLVD	PASADENA	CA	91125	LOS ANGELES	USA	Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders	000	1	8/3/2021	NEW	$1,082,090
														Subtotal = $1,082,090

Grand Total All Awards = $4,572,652

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Sensory Motor Transformations in Human Cortex

Award Number: U01NS123127

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/15/2021

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2026

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