The Dana Foundation announces a Request for Proposals for the 2012 grant program in Brain and Immuno-Imaging.
Deadline: Noon, Feb. 28, 2012. 
This will be the Foundation’s only RFP for 2012.
News

Beyond the Connectome

Brain development studies offer clues to understanding psychiatric disorders

by Kayt Sukel

Pressures on the brain as early as fetal development can alter development much later, researchers studying neural connections have found.

News

The Mystery of 'Good Prions'

by Jim Schnabel

Prion-like protein aggregates aren’t always bad—they may be the key to stabilizing our long-term memories, for example. But how firm is the dividing line between “good prions” and bad ones?

Suicide and the United States Army

Perspectives from the Former Psychiatry Consultant to the Army Surgeon General

by COL (Ret) Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, M.D., M.P.H.

Cerebrum

Cerebrum January2012_suicide - thumbnail

The suicide rate of active-duty soldiers doubled between 2003 and 2010. In response, the Department of Defense and the United States Army improved their data collection methods to better understand the causes of military suicides. As retired colonel Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie writes, unit history and the accumulation of stressors—from relationship problems to chronic pain—are significant suicide risk factors among soldiers. But, she argues, Army officials must use this knowledge to design more-effective strategies for suicide reduction, including limiting access to weapons, especially post-deployment, and better connecting soldiers with their communities.

Podcast

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning

Training executive function is a big part of why we send kids to school. But what works best? The New York Academy of Sciences invited neuroscientists and educators to meet in Aspen to hash out what we know and how schools might change to help every child succeed. (audio link)

News

Making Memory May Mean Modeling and Remodeling

by Moheb Costandi

We build on memory to predict the future, and might remember better if reality surprises us. Researchers offered these and other insights during the recent meeting of the Experimental Psychology Society in London this month.

The Power of Suggestion
Column

The Power of Suggestion

by Guy McKhann, M.D.

Brain in the News

With growing evidence regarding a placebo response, it is important to minimize the effects as much as possible.

See also

News

Wanted: Better Brain-Process Biomarkers for Drug Trials

by Jim Schnabel

Researchers seek faster, cheaper ways to evaluate potential neurodegenerative disease.

Do-It-Yourself Neuroscience
News

Do-It-Yourself Neuroscience

by Moheb Costandi

Using off-the-shelf electronics and a little ingenuity, teachers and scientists are helping kids do basic brain science—and even high-tech optogenetics.

Primer

Brain Imaging Technologies and Their Applications in Neuroscience

by Carolyn Asbury, Ph.D.

Imaging is becoming an increasingly important tool in both research and clinical care. This comprehensive report describes types of imaging and what the images can tell us about the brain. It is online in sections and also available complete as 45-page PDF. 

See also

Charlie Rose: The Brain Series
Video

Charlie Rose: The Brain Series

This month, Rose discussed neurological, psychiatric, and addictive disorders with Eric Kandel of Columbia University, Gerald Fischbach of the Simons Foundation, Cornelia Bargmann of Rockefeller University, Nora Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and Thomas Insel of the National Institute of Mental Health. The Charlie Rose Brain Series is shown on PBS stations, and then is available on the program's website.

 

NIH Announces First National Research Study Recruitment Registry 

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched ResearchMatch.org, which seeks to connect people who want to participate in clinical trials with researchers conducting the studies. The user-friendly site will cover an array of diseases.

The NIH also is sponsoring the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study. Doctors at 59 research centers are looking for people with the very earliest complaints of memory problems that affect their daily activities. See a list of locations and how to contact the researchers.  

The Alzheimer's Association hosts a more-general Find a Clinical Trial page for patients, healthy volunteers, doctors, and others.

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