Below is last week's Dana news email blast. You can sign up to receive this (and other Dana email alerts and/or print publications) by going here.
Brain Awareness Week
The global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research is now through March 18. Visit the BAW Homepage to view upcoming events around the globe and follow the fun via Facebook or Twitter (#brainweek).
Rae Nishi: What Partners Do
Dana Alliance member Rae Nishi, Ph.D., talks about her Brain Awareness Week outreach to rural Vermont schools, and how to keep the attention of elementary school students.
Brain Experiment Competition Winner
After months of deliberation, Dana staff and guest judge Eric Chudler have selected the winner of the Dana Foundation's Design a Brain Experiment Competition. The challenge asked United States high school students to design an original brain-related experiment. The winning experiment, designed by Michaela Ennis, a senior at the Pingry School in New Jersey, proposes an examination of the effects of social defeat on anxious behavior, pinpointing the molecular mechanisms for that behavior.
BAW Across the Continents
Brain Awareness Week underway, here's a look at exciting events taking place all over the globe, starting with Africa.
From the Dana blog.
Vulnerabilities and Opportunities: New Insights Into the Adolescent Brain
"We see that explosive growth and the gawkiness on the outside -- kids shooting up with long, clumsy arms and legs," says one researcher. "But there's that same gawkiness in the brain, too. Everything is changing and it's changing really, really fast."
Deep Brain Stimulation for Severe Depression
Helen Mayberg, M.D., pioneered the use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease. In the latest Dana grantee Q&A, she discusses her investigation into the use of DBS to treat severe, treatment-resistant depression, explaining its encouraging results and the next steps.
