Weekly Advocacy News Roundup
News
NIH Takes Next Steps in Obama's Precision Medicine Plan
September 17, 2015 | Reuters
The NIH has approved a blueprint for President Barack Obama's Precision Medicine Initiative and named a NIH insider as interim director of the project. The large scale study, which will gather genetic and health data on a wide range of people so as to better understand disease risks, aims to enroll 1 million volunteers in the next few years.
- Read about new technologies to better create genetic models of disease at Neuronline.org.
Boehner Said to Propose Plan to Avoid Government Shutdown
September 24, 2015 | Bloomberg News
In order to avoid a U.S. government shutdown, House Speaker John Boehner is proposing a budget plan to rebellious Republicans while separately sending legislation defunding Planned Parenthood to the President’s desk using a reconciliation measure. Boehner is said to have just announced his retirement from Congress effective at the end of October.
- Learn more about government funding of neuroscience at SfN.org.
US National Academies Issue Call to Cut Red Tape
September 22, 2015 | Nature
According to a report from the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine, the ever-expanding list of government regulations required for federal funding is harmful to research. Scientists who work at multiple agencies must take extra time to deal with confusing rules and differing forms or guidelines.
- Find information about NIH funding opportunities at Neuronline.org.
Irish American Philanthropist Chuck Feeney To Fund Neuroscience Research at Trinity
September 18, 2015 | Irish Central
The Irish American philanthropist Chuck Feeney plans on investing in Trinity College, which will use the money to fund the Institute of Neuroscience. The institute carries out cross-disciplinary research in physiology, psychiatry and genetics.
- Read more about private and public funding of neuroscience research at BrainFacts.org.
Articles of Interest
Hidden Brain: How Miscommunications Happen
September 22, 2015 | National Public Radio
Most people assume they will be better understood by close friends or their partners than by strangers. Most people are wrong.
- Learn more about language and communication at BrainFacts.org
Cori Bargmann Puts Her Mind to How the Brain Works
September 21, 2015 | The New York Times
For a neurobiologist at Rockefeller University, a mission to help lead the president’s BRAIN Initiative starts with a search for the needed tools. Bargmann discusses her background and her research, from breast cancer genes to odor-sensing nerves in the worm C. elegans.
- Discover other important research using C. elegans at BrainFacts.org.
Opinion
The Scientist Who Taught Cookie Monster Self-Control Has A Warning For Congress
September 18, 2015 |Huffington Post
One highlight of psychological researcher Walter Mischel's career was consulting with PBS to help Sesame Street's Cookie Monster learn self-control, based on his seminal 'Marshmallow Test' studies. However, researchers worry that similar odd-sounding studies would be done today, given the modern funding climate and the potential government shutdown.
- Read about research into obesity and potentially addicting diets at BrainFacts.org.
Will Malcolm Turnbull Save Australian Science?
September 21, 2015 | The Sydney Morning Herald
The new prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, seems poised to renew federal interest in research science. Given his history of defending climate change science, researchers are hopeful that he will reverse the cuts in funding to the sciences made by his predecessor.
- Learn more about global neuroscience funding at SfN.org.
