BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN): Coordinating Unit for Biostatistics, Informatics, and Engagement (CUBIE) (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

The BRAIN 2025 Report envisioned a systematic census of neuronal and glial cell types in multiple mammalian species. The NIH BRAIN Initiative has implemented this vision by successfully completing a 3-year pilot phase (2014-2017), followed by launching a 5-year phase 2 (2017-2022) BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN) with an emphasis on the mouse brain. The BICCN has applied a set of advanced single-cell approaches to characterizing molecular signatures, anatomical phenotypes, and functional properties of brain cell types, and rapidly disseminated the cell census data to the public. The BICCN is on track to complete a comprehensive cell census spanning the entire adult mouse brain, as well as to set the stage for large-scale cell atlas research in human and non-human primate (NHP) brains. Advances in single-cell transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling, anatomical mapping at cellular resolution, and other approaches have proven to be powerful and scalable. At this time, the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Program is looking to establish the BICAN to broaden and deepen the systematic cell census and atlas efforts with a new emphasis on human brain. This FOA and the companion announcements intend to establish a network of projects that will work cooperatively to:

• generate comprehensive and high-resolution brain cell atlases that encompass molecular, anatomical, and functional annotations of brain cell types (neurons, glia, and other non-neuronal cells) across the lifespan in human and other species, thereby providing a framework to enable both basic neuroscience and brain disorders-focused research;

• develop and use leading-edge scalable technologies and multi-modal assays to enhance the capability and capacity of large-scale brain cell atlas research;

• coordinate and collaborate across and beyond the BRAIN Initiative toward establishing a broadly accessible data ecosystem for brain cell types and circuits.