March 21, 2014 - This Week's Consolidation of Advocacy News
News
Brain-Mapping Projects to Join Forces
March 19, 2014 | Scientific American
The European Union's Human Brain Project and the United States' Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative will launch a collaboration later this year. BRAIN Initiative private partners are already collaborating. For example, a project that will create a computer framework for researchers to deposit their data, called Neurodata Without Borders, is being developed by the Kavli Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Allen Institute.
- Read the Q&A with Cornelia Bargmann and William T. Newsome about the NIH part of the BRAIN Initiative
Picking the Brain of a Noted UA Neurobiologist
March 18, 2014 | Arizona Daily Star
SfN member John Hildebrand was recently elected foreign secretary of the National Academy of Sciences. In this interview, he makes his case for public funding of scientific discovery.
Billionaires with Big Ideas are Privatizing American Science
March 15, 2014 | New York Times
While federal budgets for science funding are being cut, private investments from wealthy individuals are on the rise. The result is a new calculus of influence and priorities that the scientific community seems to view with a mix of gratitude and trepidation.
- Get more details about the President’s FY2015 budget proposal.
Policy
House Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Meeting
March 26, 2014, 10:00 a.m. | HELP Committee Meeting
The HELP Appropriations subcommittee will hold a meeting to discuss the future of biomedical research. Witnesses will include NIH Director Francis Collins, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Director Story Landis, and other institute directors.
- Act now! Speak out in support of biomedical research funding to your members of Congress using SfN’s simple tools.
Articles of Interest
Neuroscience: Tuning the Brain
March 19, 2014 | Nature
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has shown promise in treating neurological diseases that seem to be the result of brain network dysfunction, like Parkinson's disease and epilepsy. This article discusses some of the emerging technologies that are improving outcome for patients treated with DBS, and also references how Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is hoping to adapt the technologies as part of their effort in the BRAIN Initiative.
- Find more information for the public with an interest in the use of DBS in Parkinson’s disease at BrainFacts.org.
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