Six NTRC Pilot Grants Awarded to Neuropsychiatry Investigators
The Neuroimaging Technology Research Center (NTRC) is pleased to announce their first pilot grantees who are leading investigations into a range of neuropsychiatric conditions.
The NTRC pilot grant supports the initial stage of new research programs that utilize the advanced imaging capabilities of the NTRC’s Cima.X scanners and pose novel applications for imaging neuropsychiatric disease. A generous anonymous donor provided funding to kickstart projects with a high likelihood of attracting additional multiyear extramural funding.
In the first funding round, the NTRC awarded $65,000 to investigators from the departments of psychiatry, radiology, and neurology. Awards range from $5,000 to $20,000. Projects include development of new sequences to measure brain oxygen extraction and mesoscale brain structure, evaluation of brain functional and network responses to focused ultrasound neuromodulation in patients with epilepsy or alcohol use disorder, and development of treatment response brain imaging markers in adolescents with anorexia nervosa.
Khaled Moussawi, MD, PhD
Neurology
Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound of the Ventral Striatum for Alcohol Use Disorder
Joline Fan, MD
Neurology and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Thalamic Transcranial Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound for Treatment Resistant Epilepsy
Sasha Gorrell, PhD
Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Using Resting State Functional Imaging to Identify Neural Correlates of Treatment Response in Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa
Yang Yang, PhD
Radiology
Mesoscale Multi-Parameter Quantitative Imaging at Cima.X
Multi-Shell Sub-Millimeter Diffusion MRI at Cima.X
Salil Soman, MD, MS
Radiology
Quantitative BOLD MRI for Brain Oxygen Extraction Fraction Mapping: Implementation and Validation on Siemens Cima.X
The NTRC accepts funding applications on a rolling basis, with the next round of awards expected in January 2026. Details are available on the application portal.
The Neuroimaging Technology Research Center (NTRC) at the UCSF Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building is dedicated to advancing state-of-the-art brain imaging and image-guided therapies for the diagnosis and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.