Overview
- The Simons Collaboration on Brain Energetics launched in early November 2026 with $80 million committed over 10 years to a team of 26 investigators led by Thomas Clandinin.
- The Institute of Science and Technology Austria’s Tim Vogels received a $3 million award to build computational models that link mitochondrial energy metabolism to neuronal activity and learning.
- SCOBE will concentrate on four research areas: single‑cell energetics, energetics across circuits, neurovascular coupling, and adaptation to energy scarcity.
- Researchers will run coordinated, cross‑laboratory experiments across worms, flies, mice and humans while developing new sensors for metabolites and sharing data openly to validate models.
- Organizers expect the work to sharpen how scientists read neuroimaging signals, explain how metabolic stress affects brain function, and guide future studies of development, aging and neurological disorders.