Project Nexus was a top-secret Starfleet program to study the energy ribbon known as the Nexus.
History and specifics[]
The Project was initiated some time after Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the USS Enterprise-D encountered the Nexus in 2371; Picard's logs and reports of the encounter were classified as part of the project. When possible, Starfleet assigned at least one starship to observe the Nexus while it was in Federation or neutral space; when the Nexus completed its cycle in intergalactic space, it was monitored by autonomous probes.
The research facility Daystrom Institute was involved in Project Nexus, which is where Kolb became aware of the program. Having lost his family during the Borg Invasion of 2381, Kolb became obsessed with entering the ribbon and spent years to get himself involved with the project and end up aboard the USS Newton. (TNG eBook: The Stuff of Dreams)