Neuroscientist receives NIH Director’s New Innovator Award

Indiana University School of Medicine researcher Amol Yadav, PhD, was recently named a 2023 recipient of the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. The award, established in 2007, supports unusually innovative research from early career investigators who are within 10 years of their final degree or clinical residency and have not yet received an NIH R01 or equivalent grant.

Yadav, an assistant professor of neurological surgery and investigator in the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute at the IU School of Medicine, was awarded a $2.33 million grant from the NIH Director’s Common Fund, which will support his lab for the next five years. He said the grant funding will allow his team to undertake “high-risk, high-reward ideas” that push the boundaries of brain-machine interface and neuroprosthetics research.

“I am honored to be included in the list of innovative and creative early career researchers,” Yadav said. “My lab was founded on the core values of innovation, creativity, humility, and integrity. It is encouraging to be selected as a New Innovator awardee because it means that my team is on the right track as we work to create novel treatment options for neurological disorders and illnesses.”

Yadav said his research team plans to develop a spinal cord neuroprosthetic interface that will enable them to not only restore sensory function lost due to neurological injury or illness but to augment and modulate these functions using cutting-edge neural engineering technologies.

“Our project will help patients who have lost sensorimotor function due to stroke, amputations, spinal cord injury, and traumatic brain injuries," he said. "This award also helps us get one step closer to answering fundamental questions such as, 'What are the limits of human perception?'”