The BRAIN Blog

Latest from The BRAIN Blog

The BRAIN Blog covers updates and announcements on BRAIN Initiative research, events, and news. 

Hear from BRAIN Initiative trainees, learn about new scientific advancements, and find out about recent funding opportunities by visiting The BRAIN Blog.

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black and white image of people working on laptops at a counter height table on stools at the annual BRAIN meeting

NIH Blueprint Requests Feedback on 10-year Trans-NIH Research Plan

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

  • Neuroscience News

Designer Receptors Permit Bi-Directional Control of Neuronal Activity

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.

  • Neuroscience Research and Technology

David Tank Awarded “The Brain Prize”

BRAIN Initiative awardee and Multi-Council Working Group member, Dr. David Tank, alongside three collaborators, recently received the European Brain Research Foundation “Brain Prize” for his contributions toward the development of two-photon microscopy.

  • Neuroscience News

Karl Deisseroth wins prestigious Albany Prize

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.

  • Neuroscience News

New Article Highlights How NIH BRAIN Could Catalyze Neuroscience Discovery

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.

  • Neuroscience Research and Technology

Brain Research through Advancing Neurotechnologies: Insights from The BRAIN Initiative℠ Multi-Council Working Group

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

  • Neuroscience News

NIH Workshop Focuses on Ethical Considerations of Neuroscience Research

In 2013 President Obama asked the Presidential Commission on Bioethics to review the ethical issues associated with the conduct and implications of neuroscience research. Their report, Gray Matters: Integrative Approaches for Neuroscience, Ethics and Society, outlines many of the key areas for thought, dialog and planning. A major recommendation of the Commission was that neuroethics should be integrated into the planning and scientific activity of The BRAIN Initiative℠.

  • Neuroscience News

March 4, 2015, meeting of the BRAIN Multi-Council Working Group

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

  • Neuroscience Grants and Funding

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S 2016 BUDGET PROPOSES INCREASED FUNDING FOR THE BRAIN INITIATIVE

The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) InitiativeSM is a bold undertaking aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain. Since its inception in April of 2013, it has grown to include five Federal agencies – the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA).

  • Neuroscience News

FNIH AWARDS KARL DEISSEROTH 2015 LURIE PRIZE

The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) has awarded the 2015 Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences to Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University. Dr.

  • Neuroscience News