Grants
Kavli's Collaboration Grant
KIFN is dedicated to funding new, innovative and collaborative science. This year (2025) we have launched the Kavli Collaboration Grant. The goal of this grant is to stimulate cross institutional collaboration among KIFN labs at UCSF and LBNL. This grant provides substantive seed funding to nucleate new research that will address fundamental questions in Neuroscience.
Saul Kato and Christoph Kirst
The Kato Kirst Goal:
The collaborative computational and experimental team is developing a novel 'object-aware’ artificial neural network for reliable, long-term, multi-object 3D tracking in order to study the neural locus and mechanism of object perception using real-time light sheet imaging of brain-wide neural activity at single-cell resolution in a freely crawling C. elegans worm. The project represents a seminal effort to study the cognitive ability of object perception in a simple animal. Additionally, the 3D tracking method should be widely applicable to other biological live imaging studies and in other model organisms.
Robert Stroud, Robert Edwards, and James Holton
Stroud, Edwards, and Holton Goal:
This Kavli award supports research on synaptic vesicle (SV) organization using cryo-electron tomography and advanced image recognition algorithms. SVs cycle through neurotransmitter packaging, membrane fusion, and re-mobilization, yet the spatial arrangement of key proteins remains unclear. Our approach integrates tagged protein labeling, sub-tomogram averaging, and high-resolution image analysis to map SV membrane protein organization. The Edwards lab contributes expertise in SV preparation, neuronal culture, and physiology; the Stroud lab specializes in membrane protein structure determination; and Holton advances quantitative alignment of tomographic and single-particle images. This work will generate a refined SV protein atlas, shedding light on their physiological roles.
