The BRAIN Blog

Data science – the extraction of knowledge from large volumes of unstructured data – has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of health and disease. Yet biomedical science faces a shortage of skilled researchers who have facility with computational ideas and paradigms.

BRAIN Initiative grantee Dr. Carlos Brody co-authored a Nature paper that explores how distinct neural circuits contribute to the brain’s process of making decisions based on weighing evidence.

The NIH Blueprint seeks feedback from the scientific community about how to best continue to support neuroscience research over the next 10 years.

BRAIN Initiative awardee Dr. Bryan Roth recently co-authored a paper in Neuron unveiling the second generation of DREADDs (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs), tools that will allow researchers to turn neuronal activity on and off in multiple cell types simultaneously.

Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD, will receive the 2015 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, in honor of his pioneering role in the development of optogenetics, a technology for using light to control the activity of neurons, as well as for CLARITY, a method for transforming intact organs into transparent polymer gels to allow high-resolution visualization of biological structures.

The Advisory Committee to the NIH Director BRAIN Working Group recently published an article in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B that discusses how the NIH BRAIN Initiative aims to produce neurotechnologies and tools that will support giant leaps forward in neuroscience research.

The BRAIN Initiative℠ goal is to develop neurotechnologies that will enable scientists “to map the circuits of the brain, measure the fluctuating patterns of electrical and chemical activity flowing within those circuits, and understand how their interplay creates our unique cognitive and behavioral capabilities.” On March 4, 2015 the NIH BRAIN Multi-Council Working Group (MCWG) met for the second time to disc

On Wednesday, March 4, 2015, the BRAIN Multi-Council Working Group will meet at the Neuroscience Center Building (6001 Executive Boulevard Rockville, MD).