BRAIN Initiative Request for Public Input
Policy
The working group of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD) shared initial thoughts for guiding the next stage of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. They are now requesting public input from all interested stakeholders to revise their findings as appropriate before finalizing a plan for ACD consideration in June 2019. Topics for input include research priorities, training and dissemination, data sharing, neuroethics, and any other feedback.
April 18, 2019 | Nature
Research is becoming increasingly embroiled in ongoing political tensions between the United States and China. In the latest twist, several US universities are expected this month to announce the actions they have taken against foreign scientists caught breaking rules concerning National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, according to comments made by agency director Francis Collins to the Senate Appropriations Committee last week.
April 18, 2019 | National Institutes of Health
As part of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar’s cross-cutting Department initiatives to address the opioid epidemic, the National Institutes of Health today selected four research sites for the HEALing Communities Study in four states hard hit by the opioid crisis. This ambitious study aims to reduce overdose deaths by 40 percent over three years in selected communities by testing a set of proven prevention and treatment interventions.
Science in the News
April 17, 2019 | National Institutes of Health
Researchers have developed a high-tech support system that can keep a large mammalian brain from rapidly decomposing in the hours after death, enabling study of certain molecular and cellular functions. With funding through the National Institutes of Health BRAIN Initiative, researchers developed a way to deliver an artificial blood supply to the isolated postmortem brain of a pig, preventing the degradation that would otherwise destroy many cellular and molecular functions and render it unsuitable for study.
April 16, 2019 | Science
The machines that scan our brains are usually monstrous contraptions, locked away in high-end research centers. But smaller, cheaper technologies may soon enter the field, like an MRI scanner built for the battlefield and a lightweight, wearable magnetoencephalography system that records magnetic fields generated by the brains of people in motion.
April 15, 2019 | Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
Biomedical scientists at Duke University say they have developed an automated process that can trace the shapes of active neurons as accurately as human researchers can, but in a fraction of the time. This new technique, based on using artificial intelligence to interpret video images, addresses a critical roadblock in neuron analysis, allowing researchers to rapidly gather and process neuronal signals for real-time behavioral studies.
April 15, 2019 | Tech Times
Paul Greengard, a neurobiologist whose work has led to the advancement of treatment of neurological and psychological diseases, passed away on Saturday, April 13, in Manhattan. The news was confirmed by the Rockefeller University, where the distinguished scientist worked for several decades. He was 93 years old.
