Project Summary/Abstract The BRAIN Initiative has made a significant investment in invasive human neuroscientific studies that take advantage of unique neurosurgical opportunities to study basic human neuroscience without therapeutic intent. These non-therapeutic studies are of particular ethical interes
PROJECT SUMMARY Data sharing is essential to promote equity and maximize the impact of the significant investment in the BRAIN Initiative.
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT A central goal for the second half of the BRAIN Initiative is to develop new circuit-based treatments for brain diseases.
Project Summary Neural prosthetic devices for sensorimotor and psychiatric disorders are in development as a priority area of the BRAIN Initiative yet they raise important ethical concerns about human agency.
7. PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Mental health disorders cause immense personal suffering and represent a significant societal burden. Recent research emphasizes the potential of psychiatric electroceutical interventions (PEIs) – bioelectronic treatments that employ electrical stimulation to affect and modify brain function – to effectively treat such disorders. Novel PEIs, however, also raise significant ethical concerns. Not uncommonly, they are negatively associated with historically controversial interventions such as electroconvulsive therapy and lobotomy.
Project Summary – Abstract Neuroscientists are getting close to building realistic bioengineered ex vivo human brain models by: (1) introducing perfusable vascular networks to maintain tissue viability and promote 3D brain model growth; (2) generating the full complement of currently missing cell types; (3) building particular brain regions and exploring specific input and output signals.
Abstract More than 500,000 children in the USA and Canada suffer from epilepsy today. Unmanaged, epilepsy can result in cognitive decline, social isolation and poor quality of life, and has substantial economic impact on families and society. 30% of children with epilepsy continue to have seizures while on anti-seizure medication, a condition known as drug resistant epilepsy (DRE). Properly selected, up to 70% of DRE patients become seizure-free after surgery. Nevertheless, epilepsy surgery carries with it risks proportional to its level of invasiveness.
PROJECT SUMMARY In our work with patients with neurological disorders, we often encounter patients and families who are afraid. They are afraid that due to their neurodegenerative disorder or potential treatment, such as neurosurgery, they will cease to exist – they will no longer be who they “are”. Clinicians typically refer to this construct as personality or characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
PROJECT SUMMARY Adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS) systems can record neural activity and adjust stimulation in real time. These systems have emerged as a promising alternative to address significant limitations in conventional open-loop DBS treatment of neuropsychiatric and movement disorders.
Great discoveries in neuroscience hold promise for reducing the burden of many of the most disabling conditions that threaten human health on a global scale, including mental illnesses and addictions. Increasingly, exceptionally innovative science inspires hope that these devastating brain-based disorders may be prevented, treated, and even cured but, as the
