Discovering the Brain (1992) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
9 Sizing Up the Promise
9 Sizing Up the Promise
Pages 145-158
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From page 145... ...
The needs are great: with some form of brain illness or mental disorder likely to strike one in every eight Americans, and with as many as 1,000 different dysfunctions of the brain thought to be determined at least in part by genetic makeup, it is clear that this field of knowledge holds great potential to alleviate illness and suffering, through the clinical tools of diagnosis and treatment and through genetic analysis. The imperative to use our cur145
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From page 146... ...
(Many more than this are of excellent quality and are actually approved, but simply do not rank high enough on the list to receive funding in a time of limited resources.)
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From page 147... ...
In this connection, it is clear that curtailing the macrobiological studies, under pressure from nonscientists to abandon animal testing, works to the detriment of the whole enterprise; for without behavioral studies as a way of checking theories in the "real worm," cellular or molecular explanations of how the brain works can advance only a short way before sinking into conjecture. Likewise, in the examination of the human brain, the loop between research and clinical practice means that each side provides the other with the tools to proceed further.
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From page 148... ...
Because neuroscience spans so many fields of investigation, the funding for such research must also be broadly based. In the United States, the federal government disburses about $S billion annually to support biomedical research, largely through the Public Health Service of the Department of Health and Human Services, which comprises the various National Institutes of Health and the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Ad ministration.
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From page 149... ...
. Frederick Goodwin, of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration, speaks of "frayed edges around what we used to call scholarship": the production of data has taken researchers' time away from reaching out to maintain the public understanding of science, from making the best information available to those who teach science in the primary and sec
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From page 150... ...
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AS SPONSOR OF RESEARCH Of all the institutions dedicated to seeing the Decade of the Brain fulfill its promise, the federal government—as befits the
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From page 151... ...
The Public Health Service is considering incentives for schools and research centers to recruit bright students into the field, and new ways to increase the overall scientific literacy of the public. lames Mason, in the Department of Health and Human Services, urges scientists to use the Decade of the Brain to its fullest potential in this regard.
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From page 152... ...
The group also includes representatives from the departments of commerce, education, and state, because the implications from brain research touch on so many areas, even those as far afield as technology transfer, international efforts to promote science, and global competitiveness. A 10-year national research plan for neuroscience would lay the groundwork for the federal government's organization of research funding well into the future.
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From page 153... ...
Clearly, it cannot compete with the federal government in funding worthy projects, nor can it necessarily command the expertise
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From page 154... ...
The Pew Trusts have also awarded grants to laboratories for the development of cell lines of neural tissue an emerging need among research departments of medical institutions. The cross-clisciplinary initiative, the McDonell-Pew Cognitive Neuroscience Program, focuses on research and training, awarding funds to research centers at several institutions and also disbursing a number of smaller grants each year.
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From page 155... ...
Despite its limited resources, the alliance is clearly meeting a need: its small-grants program attracts between 600 and 700 applications per year. A foundation oriented toward public relations, such as the David Mahoney Institute for the Decade of the Brain, may favor a broader approach.
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From page 156... ...
It's the not doing that's agony." Huda Akil, of the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan, suggests that research groups or "teams" may offer young researchers some protection against too-early exposure to the fierce struggle for funds. With a senior scientist navigating the grant application process, young researchers are free to concentrate on their work.
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From page 157... ...
in a society struggling with a weak domestic economy, a decline in public education, the deterioration of cities, and a staggering one-fifth of the population living in poverty, science must make the broadest possible case for what it can contribute toward healing these ills. Public support for brain research in the near future may depend on the success with which the scientific and health care communities, and other parties sympathetic to their aims, can convey the excitement, the fascination, and above all the public value of neuroscience.
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