Recent meetings of the NIH BRAIN Initiative Neuroethics Working Group (NEWG) and Multi-Council Working Group (MCWG) provided considerations of the neuroethical implications of sharing brain research data, an update from the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD) BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0, and updates on BRAIN’s scientific progress.
On February 11th, 2019, the Neuroethics Working Group (NEWG) to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative® held its seventh meeting. The NEWG helps ensure that neuroethics is fully integrated into the BRAIN Initiative. Participants at the meeting discussed the current state of the BRAIN Initiative and ethical considerations for the sharing of brain research data. To provide insight on the latter topic, the NEWG heard from Dr. Arthur Toga (University of Southern California), who described three different platforms that have been developed for neural data sharing purposes: ENIGMA, GAAIN, and DABI (Data Archive for the BRAIN Initiative) and shared some lessons learned. The group also heard from Dr. Nita Farahany (Duke University), who presented the results of her study looking at the public’s perceptions of brain privacy. In hearing the valuable perspectives, the group agreed that data sharing is necessary. In addition, it is important to understand peoples’ motivations for participating in research and what their expectations are around privacy.
For more information, please view the NEWG meeting summary and the archived videocast of the meeting.
The following day, on February 12th, the NIH BRAIN Initiative Multi-Council Working Group (MCWG) convened to discuss the current state of the BRAIN Initiative and its future. The group includes a liaison to the Advisory Council of each of the 10 Institutes and Centers that contribute to the NIH BRAIN Initiative, with additional at-large members appointed to supplement the working group’s expertise. In addition, the working group includes ex officio members from DARPA, FDA, IARPA, and NSF—four of NIH’s federal partners involved in the BRAIN Initiative.
Drs. Walter Koroshetz (NINDS) and Joshua Gordon (NIMH) began the meeting by providing an overview of the current state of the NIH BRAIN Initiative, including recent scientific advances, recent leadership changes, and current global BRAIN Initiative efforts. Dr. John Maunsell, co-chair of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD) NIH BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0, then presented an interim update of the group’s efforts. They will present their findings for consideration by the ACD in June 2019. Finally, Dr. Greg Farber (NIMH) presented MCWG members with an overview of the FY18 funding portfolio, as well as BRAIN Data Infrastructure and Data Sharing efforts, which aim to manage and store the massive amount of data being collected by BRAIN Initiative researchers.
For more information, please view the MCWG meeting summary(pdf, 97 KB) and the archived videocast of the meeting.