Dhananjay Huilgol, a Senior Research Associate at Duke University, United States of America (USA) has completed his Integrated PhD with Shubha Tole, Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai on identifying neuronal migrations in the mouse olfactory system. He later joined Z Josh Huang’s laboratory for postdoctoral training at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), USA to study the progenitor basis of neuronal diversification in the mammalian brain. In this article, he shares his story of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) Young Investigator Grant.

The motivation

Many PhD students in India strive for a postdoctoral training abroad to expand their horizons. However, there are limited fellowship/​grant opportunities for Indian nationals doing their postdoc internationally, particularly in the United States (US). Even fewer fellowships are available beyond the first couple of years post-PhD. The Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) Young Investigator Grant (formerly, National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (NARSAD) grant) provides a launchpad for early career neurobiologists and psychiatrists to obtain preliminary results for a larger grant in their independent position. 

I was in the fourth year of my postdoctoral research in Huang lab, at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) when my previous fellowship had ended, and I had acquired preliminary data to understand the role of progenitors in the generation of excitatory neuronal diversity in the cerebral cortex. Cerebral cortex is the largest, most complex and evolutionarily recent region of our brains that has particularly expanded in mammals. Incidentally, this expansion is correlated with the increase of a new progenitor type, namely intermediate progenitors. 

I wanted to study the role of intermediate progenitors in the amplification and diversification of neuronal types in the cerebral cortex. Josh Huang is an experienced and skilled geneticist, and we had developed a set of mouse lines targeting cortical progenitors and mature excitatory neurons using the gene knock-in strategy. This developmental genetic approach enabled me to perform fate mapping and begin to understand the relationship between progenitors and neuronal diversity. 

The challenges

Despite the focus of BBRF Young Investigator Grants on mental health disorders, a considerable number of grants were awarded to scientists from basic research background. There were two challenges I faced while articulating my ideas:

1. Identifying a neurological or psychiatric disorder that has neurodevelopmental origins based on my expertise in fundamental research. This required a longer time investment and background reading. Based on my preliminary data, I decided to propose two aims on a condition with roots in cortical progenitors and fate specification, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Literature survey and preliminary data are essential for any proposal; however, a lot of targeted discussions were essential to formulate my ideas. Therefore, I approached previous BBRF awardees and faculty with focus on neurodevelopmental disorders that helped me crystallise my thoughts.

2. Fitting a well written two-year proposal along with future goals in a two-page proposal. This part is more of an execution of a well-planned proposal on paper, and therefore required lesser time. The application process also required a scientific summary, lay abstract and biodata curated for understanding neurodevelopmental disorders. It required a logical flow between my basic research and my long-term goal of understanding the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. 

While the funding from the BBRF grant paid only partially for my postdoctoral salary, it bolstered my network in both fundamental neuroscience as well as application-based research. 

I was privileged to be a part of the network of scientists funded by BBRF and it increased the visibility of my work among my peers internationally. 

I am currently in the job market for faculty positions and my work on this grant helped me lay the foundation for ideas for my own research program. 

Tips for a successful BBRF proposal

The awardees of the BBRF grant must be senior early career researchers working in a US lab. The proposal for the BBRF young investigator grant must be relevant to a mental health disorder, a list of which is provided by the foundation. If your experience is limited to fundamental research, it requires a few years of preliminary data and reading that makes a proposal relevant to a neuroscience or psychiatric disorder. 

The proposed project needs to be ambitious, novel and/​or must use unique technical approaches that can highlight the suitability of your application for a mental health grant.