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美国总统奥巴马2013年年初宣布，将汇集美国各大科研单位的力量进行一项名为"使用先进革新型神经技术的人脑研究"（Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, BRAIN）的计划，该项计划将是继克林顿时代的人类基因组计划之后在生命科学领域的又一项大手笔。根据美国政府的报告，这一计划预计耗资将超过45亿美元之多。
而就在2014年10月7日，美国国家健康中心（NIH）宣布，这一计划的首批经费共计4600万美元已经下拨，此次经费预计将资助超过100位科学家的相关课题，资助范围不仅包括美国15个州的研究人员，还包括海外的一些国家的研究人员。科学家希望引入新技术新方法来从全新角度理解人类大脑的工作进程。研究人员介绍说，科学家希望通过这一计划更好地研究人类大脑中神经元是如何相互作用的，并据此对大脑工作原理进行更深层次的阐述。而这一计划也将为未来医学工作者开发治疗如阿尔兹海默症、帕金森症等脑部疾病的有效疗法提供了最直接的帮助。
此次，Salk Institute将获得约3百万美元的资助用于研究神经元内部DNA甲基化的进程，这一过程被认为是与人脑内特定基因表达以及特定蛋白质合成有着直接联系。西弗吉尼亚大学的研究人员将获得约150万美元用于研究一种可穿戴设备，这种设备将帮助研究人员绘制大脑神经元图谱。普林斯顿大学和MIT等科研重镇也分别获得此次投资用于进行相关研究。
无独有偶，日前刚刚公布的2014年度诺贝尔医学奖也被颁发给了在神经科学领域取得重大进展的梅-布里特•莫泽（May-Britt Moser）、爱德华•莫泽（Edvard I. Moser）夫妇。这很难不令人联想到，或许生物技术引起的新一次革命即将出现。
详细英文报道：
President Obama's ambitious BRAIN Initiative--short for Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies--has awarded its first round of grants, totaling $46 million.
The grants will support the projects of more than 100 investigators in 15 states and several countries aiming to better understand the brain through new tools and technologies.
The long-term goal of the BRAIN Initiative is that by gaining new insight into the neural circuit function of the brain, researchers will be able to design more effective drugs to treat a wide range of brain disorders and diseases.
Among the recipients of this round of grants are teams from leading biomedical institutions like MIT, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University and others.
A $3 million grant to the Salk Institute will fund research on DNA methylation, which turns off genes and prevents certain proteins from being produced. The research will be used to create an epigenetic map of each cell type that can be connected with existing brain gene expression atlases and connection maps. The map is intended to serve as a reference comparison with maps for neurological disease states such as schizophrenia or Alzheimer's disease, to reveal more about neurological disease.
Another team, from West Virginia University, has received $1.5 million to develop a wearable, mobile molecular positron emission tomography imaging device capable of producing 3-D images of metabolism and other cellular processes of the brain during everyday activities, such as walking, playing a piano, or socializing. Traditional imaging techniques require a person being scanned to remain still, while this helmetlike device could be worn while in motion.
In an effort to better understand neuropsychiatric diseases, Brandeis University is using a $1.2 million grant for research on how brain cells have evolved specialized features.
Meanwhile, MIT has won more than $3 million spread out across 6 different projects, and Princeton University nabbed more than $2 million for two projects.
The grants are the first in a planned $4.5 billion investment in the BRAIN Initiative over the next 5 years.
原文地址：http://news.bioon.com/article/6659665.html
