Simons Foundation launches $80M brain energetics collaboration

The Simons Foundation launched a collaboration providing $80M over 10 years to 26 investigators studying how the brain produces, allocates and uses energy. The group brings together neuroscience, biology, engineering and theory. Researchers will examine energy needs within individual cells and across neural circuits, how neurons communicate with blood vessels, and how brains adapt to energy scarcity. They also plan to develop sensors that track energy-related molecules moving through cells. The collaboration will study worms, flies, mice and humans, with a focus on computation and data sharing. Its sensor development and cross-species findings are research objectives.