by Jessie Towns

The BRAIN Initiative

Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) was launched by President Barack Obama in 2013. It is a ten-year initiative to “accelerate the development and application of new technologies that will enable researchers to produce dynamic pictures of the brain that show how individual brain cells and complex neural circuits interact at the speed of thought.”

The initiative focuses on revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain and through funding research, seek new ways to treat, cure, and even prevent brain disorders. The first five years is primarily for technology development and the second five years focuses on integrating technologies to make fundamental new discoveries about the brain.

Radiogenetics

Sarah Stanley, a Research Associate in Rockefeller University’s Laboratory of Molecular Genetics under Jeffrey M. Friedman, is one of the first to receive funding from the BRAIN initiative. Stanley’s project seeks to develop a new way to remotely control brain cells by using radio waves or magnetic fields to turn neurons on or off. By manipulating the activity of neurons and other cell types, this technology once developed will help researchers better understand what these cells do.

Stanley’s new nanoparticle-based technique called radiogenetics, allows researchers to quickly control activity of neurons within a small area of the brain and even reach areas that are difficult to access using conventional methods. This technique could potentially be used to treat patients.

The project was awarded $1.26 million in grant funding and is one of 58 projects selected for the BRAIN initiative.

References

http://newswire.rockefeller.edu/2014/10/07/rockefeller-neurobiology-lab-is-awarded-first-round-brain-initiative-grant/

http://www.braininitiative.nih.gov/2025/index.htm

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