Elon Musk has a reputation as the worlds greatest doer. He can propose crazy ambitious technological projectslike reusable rockets for Mars exploration and hyperloop tunnels for transcontinental rapid transitand people just assume hell pull it off.

So his latest venture, a new company called Neuralink that will reportedly build brain implants both for medical use and to give healthy people superpowers, has gotten the public excited about a coming era of consumer-friendly neurotech.

Even neuroscientists who work in the field, who know full well how difficult it is to build working brain gear that passes muster with medical regulators, feel a sense of potential. Elon Musk is a person whos going to take risks and inject a lot of money, so it will be exciting to see what he gets up to, says Thomas Oxley, a neural engineer who has been developing a medical brain implant since 2010 (he hopes to start its first clinical trial in 2018).

Neuralink is still mysterious. An article in The Wall Street Journal announced the companys formation and first hires, while also spouting vague verbiage about cranial computers that would serve as a layer of artificial intelligence inside the brain.

So IEEE Spectrum asked the experts about whats feasible in this field, and what Musk might be planning. First, though, a little background.

Musk did give a few seemingly concrete details at a conference last year (video excerpt below). His neural lace would serve as a digital layer above the cortex, he said. Its components wouldnt necessarily require brain surgery for implantation; instead, the hardware could be injected into the jugular and travel to the brain through the bloodstream.

Neural implants are already a medical reality: Some 150,000 people with Parkinsons disease have had brain surgery to receive deep-brain stimulators, implants that send regular pulses of electricity through patches of brain tissue to control patients tremors. Researchers are now experimenting with these pacemaker-like devices to treat depression and other neuropsychiatric diseases. Some epilepsy patients also have a new type of implant that monitors their brains for signs of impending seizures and sends out stimulating pulses to head them off.

Musks neural lace would presumably be designed to treat some disease first; otherwise, its hard to imagine the technology gaining regulatory approval. But his descriptions dont make it sound like existing brain stimulators, but rather like experimental brain-computer interfaces (BCI) that record brain signals and use the information to control external devices like computer cursors and robotic arms. These BCI implants have shown great promise in giving more autonomy to people with paralysis, but none have yet been approved for clinical use.

Now, to the experts!

Mary Lou Jepsen is a Silicon Valley bigwig who recently founded the startup Openwater to develop a noninvasive BCI for imaging and telepathy (the latter could conceivably be done by reading out thought patterns in the brain). Like Musk, shes interested in both medical applications and augmenting peoples natural abilities. But she says any invasive neural technology brings medical hurdles, even if it doesnt require splitting open patients skulls.

The approach as I understand it (not much is published) involves implanting silicon particles (so called neural lace) into the bloodstream. One concern is that implanting anything in the body can cause unintended consequences, says Jepsen. For example, even red blood cells can clog capillaries in the brain when the red blood cells are made more stiff by diseases like malaria. This clogging can reduce or even cut off the flow of oxygen to the parts of the brain. Indeed, clogging of cerebral capillaries has been shown to be a major cause of Alzheimers progression. Back to neural lace: One concern I would have is whether the silicon particles could lead to any clogging.

Jepsen notes that the Wall Street Journal article lists a few neuroscientists who have reportedly been hired on for Neuralink, but says thats just the first step in a long process. Its exciting, but embryonic, she says.

Thomas Oxley is a practicing neurologist and the inventor of the stentrode, a neural probe that can be delivered to the brain through blood vesselsso he has plenty of thoughts about the technology Musk might be developing. Hes CEO of Synchron, the company thats developing the technology and planning its first clinical trial for 2018 in Australia.

Oxley came up with his stentrode as an alternative to typical electrodes that are placed directly in the brain tissue. Those standard electrodes enable high-fidelity recording from individual neurons, but the stiff silicon and metal structures cause inflammation in the brain tissue, and scar tissue often forms around them over time. The idea of moving up the blood vessel is that you avoid any direct penetration of the brain tissue, Oxley says, and thus avoid damaging it. In Oxleys system, a catheter is snaked up a vein to deliver the stentrode to one of the tiny blood vessels that nourishes the neurons. From there, they cant record neurons activity directly, but Oxley says the different type of signal can be deciphered with the right kind of signal processing.

If Musk is working on a similar delivery system for his neural lace, Oxley says, we shouldnt expect results anytime soon. The medical device pathway takes a long time, and we had to conduct a lot of science to get to the point where we are now, he says. For the past two years, his research group has been working in sheep to develop a catheter delivery system that reliably positions an operational recording system in the motor cortex region of the brain.

Synchrons upcoming clinical trial will test the stentrode as a BCI for people with paralyzed or missing limbs, who will use the recorded neural signals to control exoskeletons and robotic prosthetics. Oxley says theres a big potential market for such devices, including people who have suffered strokes, spinal cord injuries, ALS, muscular dystrophy, and amputations. He notes that a McKinsey Global Institute report from 2013 estimated that 50 million people in advanced economies could benefit from such robotic human augmentation. So if Musks Neuralink is following a similar technological path to Synchron, hell be able to make a sound business case.

As for clotting concerns, Oxley says neurologists routinely use permanent stents in patients brains to keep blood vessels open. They act like scaffolds that push against the walls of the blood vessel. We understand how to manage patients with medication to ensure those stents dont close over, he says.

Charles Lieber and Guosong Hong offer another possibility for delicately inserting a BCI into the brain. Lieber, a Harvard professor of chemistry and engineering, and Hong, one of his postdocs, are developing an electronic mesh that is injected by syringe into the brain tissue, where it unfurls to make contact with many neurons.

The mesh electronics can be precisely targeted to any brain region by syringe injection and forms a seamless and stable interface with neural tissuebecause it behaves very much like the brain tissue we seek to study, Lieber says. Mesh electronics cause negligible damage or chronic immune response. His group has shown that the mesh is stable in the brain and can record from individual neurons over many months.

Hong adds that the mesh electronics can both record from and stimulate neurons, opening up a variety of medical applications. It will provide transformative capabilities for treatment of neurological and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsons and Alzheimers diseases via deep-brain stimulation, he says, as well as providing next-generation brain computer interfaces.

Although Musk made reference to the neural lace acting as a digital layer above the cortex, these researchers dont think its likely that Musks technology will resemble their unfurling electronic mesh. Hong notes that the three neuroscientists mentioned as Neuralinks first hires work on very different kinds of brain implants.

Vanessa Tolosa of Lawrence Livermore National Lab has been working on flexible polymer probes that look like little dipsticks; Philip Sabes of University of California, San Francisco has experimented with a micro-ECoG array that drapes over the outer surface of the brain; and Timothy Gardner of Boston University works on carbon fiber electrodes that look like bundles of threads.

While Musks description of a neural lace layer makes Sabess superficial array sound like the winning contender, such a device couldnt be injected through the jugular and travel through blood vessels to reach the upper surface of the brain. Its possible that we shouldnt take his works literallyMusk may have been speaking metaphorically about technology that would add a new layer of intelligence to the human brain.

Michel Maharbiz, an electrical engineering professor at UC Berkeley, is working on tiny electrodes called neural dust. These sound like something that Musk would take an interest in; the idea is that tiny wireless electrodes could be scattered through the nervous system, acting together to record signals.

The teams current version of this tech is a device that measures 2.4 cubic millimeters, and theyre working to scale it down much furtherfirst to 1mm3, and eventually down to 50mm3. Recently, Maharbiz and his colleagues demonstrated that their current mote of neural dust could record from a nerve while wirelessly receiving power and sending out data.

While Maharbiz couldnt say whether neural lace and neural dust might have some similarities, he knows that scaling down his own tech to make it small enough to work in the brain is a big challenge. The obstacles are a combination of circuit design, materials, communication schemes, and power, he says, noting that his teams work on miniaturization is a difficult, multi-year endeavor which will happen in phases.

To make a BCI work inside the brains tiny blood vessels, Maharbiz says, it would have to either place electrodes measuring about 100 microns inside the vessels, or use long microwires that connect to a larger piece of electronics sited elsewhere in the vascular system.

Musks Neuralink team clearly has plenty of technical challenges ahead in miniaturizing a device, enabling its safe delivery and positioning in the brain, and figuring out how to use it to treat a serious medical disorder. Once Musk figures all that outand he will, of course, because hes a doerhe can move on to neurotech for the general public. Then we can all get BCIs that channel our thoughts and commands directly to our smartphones and computers, increasing our efficiency and opening up brave new worlds.

Oxley, the stentrode inventor, doesnt expect to see miracles from the Neuralink team anytime soon. But hes excited anyway, saying that Musks willingness to tackle the big technical challenges of neural engineering shows the maturity of the field. Its a huge validating moment, he says. The field of brain-computer interfaces is now taking center stage in Silicon Valley, and being recognized as one of the next great endeavors.

IEEE Spectrums biomedical blog, featuring the wearable sensors, big data analytics, and implanted devices that enable new ventures in personalized medicine.

Sign up for The Human OS newsletter and get biweekly news about how technology is making healthcare smarter.

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5 Neuroscience Experts Weigh in on Elon Musk's Mysterious "Neural Lace" Company - IEEE Spectrum

John Christianson, a neuroscientist and the Gianinno Family Sesquicentennial Assistant Professor of Psychology at Boston College, emailed a brief survey to psychology students on Monday, March 27, and received roughly 250 responses out of the nearly 1,000 students emailed.

The survey asked students to rate their agreement or disagreement with various statements, such as, A minor in neuroscience would satisfy my academic goals, and, Assuming I would still graduate on time, if BC offered a neuroscience B.S., I would change to that major today.

For now, Christianson wont share results of his survey, which was sent to psychology majors and any student who has taken a psychology class.

The goal of the survey was to quantify the opinions of our current students so that we can use that as part of a comprehensive self-study, Christianson said in an interview. After a satisfactory response rate, the survey was closed on Tuesday, April 4.

That self-study, which is an attempt to examine how a neuroscience program at BC might best be created, if at all, is still ongoing. At some point, survey results will be made public, and may be featured, sometime in the near future, in a white paper or an executive summary of the self-study linked to the psychology departments website.

Were also evaluating our department from the faculty levelwhat areas we want to strengthen, how these align with trends in the field, and how what we could do as a neuroscience program compares to what other excellent neuroscience programs are doing [at other universities], Christianson said.

Among the 40 highest-ranked national universities in the United States, Boston College is ranked 31st. Of those 40 institutions, 18 offer a major in neuroscience, according to U.S. News and World Report.

What we cant assess is how many people didnt come to BC because we dont have a major in neuroscience, Christianson cautioned.

Neuroscience, an interdisciplinary field which consists of the study of the nervous system, is a field in which BCs department of psychology, which studies the human mind and its intersection with human behavior, has considerable academic strength.

Approximately seven years ago, a group of faculty from various disciplines gave a presentation to the BC administration concerning the possibility of launching a new, interdisciplinary neuroscience major. Despite the presentations positive reception, the major was not created.

Instead, a B.S. in psychology was created and first awarded in 2012. It features largely the same curriculum that was contained in the 2010 presentation, though it lacks some courses from other disciplines, such as biology, chemistry, and physics, which are often part of neuroscience programs.

At the time, some felt that BC had insufficient resources to offer a competitive neuroscience programonly seven professors in the psychology department were neuroscientists. Since then, efforts toward creating a neuroscience major have languished due to a lack of momentum.

Since then, BC has hired 25 new professors, across several departments, with interests in neuroscienceas a result of this recent growth, a larger variety of neuroscience courses and research opportunities are now available, and the B.S. track has become even stronger in neuroscience. Some of those hires were replacements to professors who departed, but most are additional positions.

We have what feels [to students] like a disconnect between what we offer in the psychology department, in terms of courses, and what we call it, Christianson said.

The psychology department offers two degreesa Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Sciencein psychology. The B.A. track gives students extensive choice in what they can study, and a breadth of exposure to a wide range of topics, while the B.S. track emphasizes upper-level courses on behavioral and cognitive neuroscienceit was intended to enable students to go on to work successfully in the neuroscience field.

Today, 11 of the 24 psychology faculty members at BC are neuroscientists, who publish their research in neuroscience journals and teach a number of classes in the field. The course load required for a psychology B.S. is roughly comparable to that of a neuroscience major at many universities with prestigious programs in that field.

We could do something right now, which would be just to change the name [of the B.S. track to a major in neuroscience], and really do nothing elseand that would really be in line with a lot of whats out therebut that might not be the best thing for BC, Christianson said.

Christiansons self-study aims to answer difficult questions about a possible neuroscience program and its place at BChow to provide recognition to students earning the B.S. degree for their neuroscience-heavy coursework, how to shape a program that fits within the Universitys mission to approach curricula holistically, how it might interlock with the Core Curriculum, and how such a program might compare to those of other universities.

The breadth of the field of neuroscience is such that having a psychology degree is not unusual among those working in the field.

We may put too much stock in the name of our undergraduate degrees, Christianson said. For example, English or economics majors can go to graduate school in neuroscience if theyve taken the right set of background courses.

Since neuroscience is an interdisciplinary fielddrawing upon psychology, biology, and computer science, among other disciplinesextensive collaboration among BC departments would be needed to create such a program, and BCs lack of a medical school or an engineering program poses a challenge.

Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley said in an email that new interdisciplinary majors require a high level of support from existing departments.

The primary costs [of a new major] are faculty to teach in the program and administrative support for students and faculty, Quigley said. Additional costs include research expenses as well as funds directed toward lectures and seminars by visiting scholars.

Neuroscience research, in particular, requires expensive instruments, extensive work space, and intensive collaboration among faculty working in close proximity to one another, and, ideally, a wet lab allowing students to engage in hands-on study and faculty to conduct research. Currently, the psychology department does not have such a laboratory.

By consistently hiring neuroscientists over the past decade, the psychology departmentand ultimately the University, which approves new hireshas demonstrated a commitment to growing the psychology departments strength in neuroscience, but commitments by other departments are also critical.

Those other departments, such as biology, chemistry, physics, and computer science, do not have a significant neuroscience presenceBCs relatively smaller size, compared to universities of comparable prestige, has led these departments to specialize in subject areas in which they have considerable expertise. Those areas, generally, have not included neuroscience.

In addition, the sub-fields of molecular, developmental, and computational neuroscience, which are critical components of a strong neuroscience program, require strength in biology and computer science. Many of the relevant computer science classes at BC are currently operating at close to full capacity.

When asked if students prospects in employment or acceptance to graduate schools were harmed by not having a neuroscience major on their resumes, Christianson was skeptical.

I think [students] think it does, [but] Im not surehaving a degree from Boston College means a ton, and the name of the university carries, probably, more clout than the name of the department, Christianson said. I think if [students] are really interested in neuroscience, they have to explain themselves [to potential employers].

Grace Elliott, MCAS 18, who is currently pursuing a B.S. in psychology, agrees.

I have found that I have to qualify my psych degree by explaining that I have a focus in neuroscience and take a lot of bio-heavy classes, Elliott said. It would be helpful to specify what exactly I try to study.

While Christianson is still currently in what he called an early plan-generation phase of self-study, when asked what hed like to see in five years, he expressed a personal hope that BC will offer a major in neuroscience, and that there would be a commitment for the University to become a leader in the field.

If students who are are reading this [article], or faculty, or anyone want to weigh in on this [question], now is the time to have their voice heard, Christianson said. We want to be as inclusive as possible to students, faculty, or any other interested parties.

Featured Image Courtesy of the Association for Talent Developement

Original post:
Professor Sends Out Survey to Gauge Interest in Neuroscience ... - The Heights

In our week-end roundup of neuroscience news covering various developments in brain science, we look at electrical spinal cord stimulation, deconstructing behavioral neuropharmacology, and other areas.

Earlier in the week, Mayo Clinic researchers reported they used electrical stimulation on the spinal cord and intense physical therapy to help a man intentionally move his paralyzed legs, stand and make steplike motions for the first time in three years.

The patient underwent surgery to implant an electrode in the epidural space near the spinal cord below the injured area. The electrode is connected to a computer-controlled device under the skin in the patients abdomen. This device, for which Mayo Clinic received permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for off-label use, sends electrical current to the spinal cord, enabling the patient to create movement. (Peter J. Grahn et al. Enabling Task-Specific Volitional Motor Functions via Spinal Cord Neuromodulation in a Human With Paraplegia, Mayo Clinic Proceedings)

Researchers at Duke University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have developed a way to deliver drugs to specific types of neurons in the brain.

The approach could eventually provide a platform whereby the mechanism of action for widely psychiatric prescribed drugs can be examined with cellular specificity in animal models of several disorders. Such studies could inform new translational strategies by advancing non-obvious drug combinations. (New Method Targets Neuropsychiatric Drugs To Genetically Specified Cells)

In more neurostimulation news, thalamic deep brain stimulation, a surgical technique that sends electrical impulses to a specific area of the brain, reduces the tics experienced by young adults with severe cases of Tourette syndrome, according to a new study from NYU Langone Medical Center published April 7 in the Journal of Neurosurgery.

The deep brain stimulation involves a multi-stage procedure. First, two electrodes are inserted the medial thalamus, part of the brain circuit that functions abnormally in Tourettes. During a second surgery the following day or a few days later, a pacemaker-like device called a neurostimulator is connected to the electrodes to emit electrical impulses into the medial thalamus. These impulses are adjusted during a series of follow-up outpatient visits to find the combination of settings that best control symptoms.

To determine the effectiveness of the procedure, the researchers measured the severity of tics before and after surgery in 13 patients. They found that the severity of tics decreased on average 37 percent from the time of the operations to the first follow-up visit. At their latest visit, patients tic scores decreased by an average of 50 percent.

University of Michigan researchers used PET scans of the brain in a small study to demonstrate that dopamine falls and fluctuates at different times during migraine headaches. During an attack, the 8 migraine patients studied showed dopamine levels that fell significantly, they found.

Migraine was also the subject of focus in a study from researchers at the University of Toronto who found that generalized anxiety disorder is much more common among adults who have migraines than those without migraine.

An earlier study in 2008 made a link between social anxiety disorder and altered dopamine uptake activity in the striatum. Another 2008 study in Nature Neuroscience linked anxiety, emotional processing in the amygdala, and dopamine storage capacity.

Interestingly, the University of Michigan study found that men with migraine had almost double the odds of generalized anxiety disorder compared with women with migraine.

This was a surprising finding because in the general population, women are more likely than men to develop generalized anxiety disorder. Our results may be due to the fact that men are less likely than women to take medication to treat their migraine and therefore the disorder may be more painful and less controllable, which could result in anxiety

said co-author Senyo Agbeyaka, a recently graduated MSW student.

Whats more, migraineurs who did not have a confidant had five times the odds of generalized anxiety disorder compared to those with at least one person to confide in; with social support being shown to play an important protective role in the mental health consequences of other chronic pain disorders.

Elsewhere, researchers warned regulators of the need to monitor and control the use of ketamine for the treatment of depression. In the study, published in Lancet Psychiatry, Oxford University specialists said patients treatment should be in specialist centers and formally tracked in national or international registries. Johnson & Johnson is currently developing an intranasal form of the drug, esketamine. Early results have been promising enough for Food and Drug Administration officials to award esketamine breakthrough status to speed its progress through regulatory hurdles.

Image: Mayo Clinic

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This Week in Neuroscience News - 4/7/17 - ReliaWire

WADE MORRIS

The Whig-Standard

KINGSTON - Queen's University neuroscience student Victoria Donovan will represent the university at a provincial competition after being declared the winner of Queen's fifth annual 3 Minute Thesis contest last week.

Donovan and 10 other Queen's students competed against each other, giving presentations of their thesis projects in less than three minutes, with only one slide and no props.

The judging criteria was based on comprehension, engagement and communication.

The panel of judges -- Queen's principal Daniel Woolf, chancellor Jim Leech, CEO of 8020Info Robert Wood, media coach J.C. Kenny and fundraiser Denise Cumming -- selected Donovan's presentation, titled "Lie Low, Stay Alive," as the winner based on that criteria.

Donovan's presentation explored how she was aiming to understand traumatic brain injuries from an evolutionary perspective.

"Doing so could not only improve future treatment for patients but also minimize the number of mammals required for TBI research," Donovan said.

Donovan could not use props, but thought of a different way to captivate the audience: she asked everyone to make a fist with their hand, putting their thumb on the inside of their fist.

The thumb, she explained, represented the evolutionary old part of a brain that is present in most organisms. The fingers wrapped around the thumb represented the evolutionary part of the brain present only in higher-order organisms as it functions in cognition, language skills and fine motor skills.

"A big difference between the two regions is that the higher brain is less resilient to trauma," Donovan explained.

After Donovan was awarded first place -- with a $1,000 cheque attached -- she thanked those who supported her, including her family, friends and even her cats.

"Despite the fact that they don't have a long attention span, I really appreciate their support," she joked.

Host Bill Welychka said after her presentation that she'd used her cats as an audience in front of which she practised. Her next audience will perhaps be more intimidating: Donovan will represent Queen's at the provincial edition of 3 Minute Thesis, where winners from different schools in the province will compete against each other. If Donovan wins, she'll then compete in a national 3 Minute Thesis competition.

"I'm excited to represent Queen's," Donovan said. "I've been at Queen's for going on six years now and I definitely don't regret a minute of it."

Donovan also won People's Choice, which was chosen by the audience.

Queen's computing student Amani Ibrahim was the runner-up, receiving $500 for her presentation titled "Moving Surgical Design Outside the Operating Room."

Queen's has a history of making its mark at the provincial and national levels of the competition.

In 2015, Chenman Yin of Queen's won People's Choice at the national level, and last year Anastasia Shavrova of Queen's placed third at the provincial level.

Donovan will compete against other 3 Minute Thesis winners from the province on April 12 at the University of Waterloo.

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Neuroscience student wins thesis contest - The Kingston Whig-Standard

To design the five-level, $75 million HealthPartners Neuroscience Center opening Monday at 295 Phalen Boulevard, directors traveled as far as the Spaulding Rehabilitation Center in Cambridge, Mass., for ideas on how tokeep the atmosphere patient-friendly and aggressively state-of-the-art.

A recent tour of the facility illustrates that approach.

Inside the 130,000-square-foot facility, video cameras linked to two underwater treadmills record and analyze the gait of stroke victims in a climate-controlled therapy pool. A floor below, 16 privately-funded researchers surrounded by beakers, microscopesand hypersensitive digital scales search for cures to dementia and Alzheimers disease.

A floor above, images displayed on large flat-screen wall monitors will show patients the interior of their own tumors, spines and frontal lobes, a visual road map to complicatedmedical conditions. Clinical trials, physical rehab, patient diagnosis and lab work will all happen in the same building.

It was a really long journey making sure every aspect of the building was patient-centric, said Marny Farrell, the centers director of rehabilitation for outpatient services.

The result is anoutpatient clinical, rehab and research space dedicated to virtually any kind of neurological condition, from stroke trauma to spinal injuries, and dementiato amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

More than 50,000 patients a year are expected to use the new center, which will employ some 200 physicians and staffers.

More importantly, the centercombines neuroscience specialties under one roof, allowing them room to expand. And it frees up needed space at Regions and at HealthPartners two nearby clinical centers, at 401 and 435 Phalen Boulevard, where research and medical services also are growing.

As a result, rather than travel between three or more locations for care, dementia patients will be able to schedule an X-ray or MRI and meet with nutritionists, speech pathologists and other experts on the same day and in the same facility.

Before, it was very hard for patients to know where to go, said Dr. Bret Haake, chief medical officer with Regions Hospital, who oversaw much of the centers planning. In many academic centers, sometimes theres a lot of distance between what the lab is doing and applying it to patients.

Patients will range from hospital referrals to walk-ins, and services are being scheduled around specific types of neurological conditions.

The centers second and third floors are devoted to clinical care such as pain management, neuro-psychology and clinical research.

Large sliding doors on patient care rooms have been designed with wheelchairs in mind. Services have been segregated by noise and intensity, so a Gingko Coffeehouse and gym-like rehab center on the ground level are well removed from a meditation room and quiet areas where families might await a loved ones diagnosis.

From the rehab center, glass bay windows provide a ready line-of-sight to Regions Hospital and downtown St. Paul, as well an outdoor space fashioned with wide stone steps a practice walking area designed with stroke patients in mind.

Indoors, an overhead harness system linked to a programmable robot is capable of carrying up to 95 percent of the weight of a 450-pound patient, or as little as 5 percent. Sliding levels of support are designed to help patients regaining their ambulatory skills after a stroke or injury.

In a lower-level laboratory, groups of researchers are juggling some 40 projects related to neurological disorders, about half of them dedicated to Alzheimers. Among them, theyll publish between 10 and 20 academic papers annually. Their research tends to draw more private grants and donations than government funding, allowing greater flexibility.

Our work tends to be more cutting edge, based on prevention of brain and spine disease high risk, high reward, said Leah Hanson, senior director of neuroscience research.

Phalen Boulevard has had the early makings of a modern medical corridor; in 2005, HealthPartners built the first of two specialty centers with clinics that range in focus from ears, nose and throat to hands and plastics. The specialty center at 405 Phalen Boulevard opened that year, and 435 Phalen Boulevard opened in 2007.

The new Neuroscience Centerreplaced a smaller HealthPartners physical therapy clinic, as well as a private storage facility, and could help boost the health care companys visibility.

The structure was designed by BWBR Architects and built by Kraus-Anderson Construction.

Residents will be able to examine the finished product from the inside during a community open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 13.

More here:
$75 million neuroscience center opens on Phalen Boulevard, St ... - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press

The brain wants what it wants. Neurology has mapped the mind, but continues to lag in understanding the nexus of touch and emotions. Biologist Steven Phelps, inspired by a sexual awakening, examines the science of skin and our nervous system that allows us to feel through touch, aided by uninsulated naked nerve cells long known to respond to temperature, pain, tickle and itch sensations. But only recently have researchers discovered how these sensory neurons respond to being touched, which Phelps says is still best understood by lovers and poets.

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Where Neuroscience Ends, Poetry Takes Over - OZY

To err is human, as the saying goes. And in many ways, when we learn from what goes wrong, we become better people. But, as Laurel Hamers of Science News reports, neuroscience now shows that, when you screw up, there's a right way and a wrong way to respond.

To take a hard look at how the brain reacts to mistakes, a team of researchers led by psychologist George Buzzell had 23 individuals look at concentric circles flashed briefly on a screen. In each challenge, the colors of the circles were either the same or slightly different. The participants' had to identify the sameness or difference by raising one hand or the other.

Buzzell and his team found that the individuals participating in the study typically answered the challenge following a mistake correctly if given a second or two to recoup. But they performed worse when they weren't allowed as much recovery time after a mistake, with accuracy dropping approximately 10 percent when time between an error and a new color challenge fell to 0.2 seconds. Buzzell also looked at electrical activity from the visual cortex, the part of your brain that receives and processes information from your eyes. That data showed that making a mistake negatively affected how much the participants paid attention to the next color challenge.

Buzzell's results prove that, as the brain processes a mistake, it's temporarily distracted, making it harder for you to pay attention and move on without additional errors. It explains from a scientific perspective the dreaded snowball effect of screwups, where once you've made a mistake, if you don't have any recovery time, you keep making more blunders.

Most people become at least a little self-conscious after making a mistake. We become afraid that others will judge us as being incompetent--or just generally not good enough--because of the error. And that's terrifying, because if we're not good enough, there's very little (we believe) to stop others from kicking us to the curb and forgetting us. We don't want to be alone. On some level, we don't believe we'll survive if we are. And to pour salt in the wound, the spotlight effect, which causes people to think others are noticing things about them that they probably aren't, only magnifies our fear. We have to cope with all of this on top of what's happening in the visual cortex.

The above research should make it clear that you're not doing yourself any favors if you try to rush and immediately plow through to the next thing when a mistake happens. To get back on track and reduce the odds you keep messing up:

Remember, different situations are going to require different recovery options. It's easier to doodle at your desk, for instance, than it is onstage. But the key is to find something, any positive diversion, that gives your brain the second it needs to process and reset when you goof. Experiment to find your personal go-tos, and watch how much pressure you put on yourself. You're only human, and believe it or not, people are surprisingly approving of taking the time to do things right. You don't need to rush it, and nobody expects you to be perfect. They just expect you to try.

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How to Keep Mistakes From Snowballing, According to Neuroscience - Inc.com

The best things in life often take time. Thats why Georgia Techs newest major has been in the works for years. The much-anticipated Bachelors of Science in Neuroscience is the latest addition to Georgia Techs offerings.

It is easy to forget how much behind-the-scenes hard work goes into putting something like this together and making it a beneficial and smooth addition to the campus. Many faculty including Dr. Tim Cope have tirelessly worked to create a program that is the most beneficial as possible for students that might be interested in neuroscience.

Dr. Cope is a faculty member in the School of Biological Sciences, a neuroscientist, and the new director of the Neuroscience Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. In collaboration with faculty members and administration from across the schools on campus as well as universities all over the state, Dr. Cope and his colleagues have created a program that is not only meticulously crafted, but promises to offer a student experience that no other school in the state can offer.

Georgia Tech has a long tradition in quantitative science and applied science, so neuroscience here will be more technologically oriented, Cope said. Thats the tradition and the expectation on the part of the students and faculty.

Students in neuroscience will take required classes that will bestow upon them knowledge in three main focus areas: cellular and molecular biology, systems and behavior and cognitive science. After they get the basics down, students from a wide diversity of interests and backgrounds will largely be free to explore what interests them the most about neuroscience.

In an effort to facilitate this exploration, the neuroscience major will include ten Breadth Elective Specializations, which were designed by experts in the field. These specializations are biochemistry, biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, psychology, physics, physiology and pre-med.

Cope says that this is one of the virtues of neuroscience; it is by nature multidisciplinary and multidimensional, and can be investigated by a variety of avenues. Techs program intends to utilize many of these dimensions in a unique way.

In order to understand how brain and nervous systems work, we have to understand psych, cell biology, optics, physics, computer science and mathematics, Cope said. Our students will have all of those things. Look at what a rich intellectual environment that is. We have to bring all the info together, assimilate it and use it to figure out whats going on.

It seems that neuroscience is a rapidly evolving field, and will fit right in with other advancing topics at Tech. The faculty involved are confident that graduates will have no shortage of opportunities when its time to look for a job.

There is no human activity that I can think of that doesnt absolutely include some reliance on neuroscience, said Cope. There are so many exciting technical breakthroughs right now. There is an evidence based expectation that we are beginning to see some really important discoveries.

Neuroscience at Tech has already attracted a respectable amount of attention, with close to 100 students expressing interest in the program.

Cope says that one of their biggest challenges at this time is the unpredictability of how many students will be interested, but he and his colleagues are definitely optimistic.

One student who jumped at the chance to be one of Techs first neuroscience students was Maria Krakovski, first-year BIOL.

They tailored it super well, so I didnt waste any credits, Krakovski says. I was really happy to switch to it because its basically directed toward my interests more.

Krakovskis breadth elective specialization is pre-med, and she says she is pumped to be able to take classes that help her learn about the processes and systems of the body and how the body and brain communicate.

The major is now accepting current Tech students who wish to change their major, and will soon welcome incoming freshmen.

The enthusiasm is really very strong, Cope said. We are interested in being very creative in our delivery of the courses. We are trying to develop active learning and hands on experiences.

The various faculty members, students and supporters of the neuroscience major are anxious for the upcoming semesters and are excited to see their hard work pay off.

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Tech establishes Neuroscience major - Technique

BHUBANESWAR: Care Hospitals has started a full spectrum of neurology, neurosurgery, neuroanaesthesia and neurorehabilition at its facility here. The new department of neuroscience consists of a team of highly competent neurologists, neurosurgeons and neuroanaesthetists. Speaking to mediapersons, medical director of Care Hospitals Dr Mahendra Tripathy said the department equipped with state-of-the-art technology and equipment will provide world class patient care with a human touch.

It is a centre of excellence for management of neurological disorders offering comprehensive latest care through a dedicated and coordinated approach for both children and adults. The physicians will provide cost-effective treatment under one roof, he said. Apart from medical care, the neuroscience department will actively pursue clinical care and research activities in sub-specialities like epilepsy, stroke, movement disorder, neuroimmunology and neurorehabilitation.

Dr Tripathy said neuroscience will handle both acute and chronic neurological problems. We have experience in treatment of immune medicated diseases of the nervous system and also have facilities of conducting nerve muscle biopsy for accurate diagnosis. Plasma exchange is also being done for patients with guillain barre syndrome, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and myasthenia gravis, he said. Stating that stroke is a treatable disease, Dr Siddharth Shankar Sahoo said the burden of disease is considerably increasing in the country due to lack of awareness among people. Now, more than 30 million people are affected by the disease in the country. The disease is rapidly rising in India compared to other developing countries. Stroke patients can be fully cured if they report at hospitals within four hours and 30 minutes, he said. Others in the team include Dr Pradyut Ranjan Bhuyan, Dr Subhransu Sekhar Jena, Dr Soubhagya Ranjan Tripathy, Dr Randhir Mitra and Dr Suma Rehab Ahmed.

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Neuroscience boost for Care Hospitals - The New Indian Express

Neurologists Tim Freyaldenhoven and Keith Schluterman have combined their practices into a partnership with Conway Regional Health System to form the Conway Regional Neuroscience Center.

Previously the two physicians operated Arkansas Neurology in Conway.

The Conway Regional Neuroscience Center opened Feb. 20 and is located in suite 305 on the third floor of the Conway Regional Medical Plaza at the same location as the physicians clinics. Current patients should expect few changes.

Our patients will continue to have the same physicians and same excellent staff in place, Dr. Freyaldenhoven said. A major change for us is that we will get to focus more time on clinical care and less on business operations. This partnership secures neurology coverage for Conway Regional and will enable them to recruit additional neurologists to help us accommodate the needs of Faulkner County.

This will also lessen our anxiety regarding insurance coverage and fee schedule changes as well as inflation of practice costs, Dr. Schluterman said. We believe this partnership will improve continuity of care. Medical records will become more integrated and a patients clinical care can be directly carried over to hospital admissions.

Conway Regional President and CEO Matt Troup said, We will manage the business side of the practice so Dr. Freyaldenhoven and Dr. Schluterman can focus on patient care both in the center and in the hospital.

Troup added, The creation of the Conway Regional Neuroscience Center is part of our ongoing efforts to partner with our physicians. The center provides a vehicle for us to expand neurological and sleep services to the community. By aligning with Dr. Freyaldenhoven and Dr. Schluterman, we can grow their practice. It is significant that all the neurologists in Conway are aligned with Conway Regional. This will enable us to recruit to a specialty that is experiencing a national shortage. A study published in the Neurologist, the Journal of the American Academy of Neurology, indicated that the national shortage of neurologists is expected to grow to a 19 percent shortfall by 2025.

We are excited for this partnership with Drs. Schluterman and Freyaldenhoven. Its becoming more common for hospitals outside of major metropolitan areas to struggle with a consistent neurology presence, said Rebekah Fincher, Corporate Director of Physician Relations and Business Development. This partnership ensures neurology care for the community and provides Conway Regional the ability to grow and expand the neuroscience service line.

Drs. Freyaldenhoven and Schluterman have shared the same office space since 2004 and have been friends since medical school.

Both of them received their medical degrees from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences at Little Rock.

They have provided neurological care to Faulkner and surrounding counties since 2002, when Dr. Freyaldenhoven joined the Conway Regional Medical Staff. Dr. Schluterman followed in 2004. They are both graduates of Hendrix College.

Both physicians are board certified in general neurology and sleep medicine, and the next step will be partnering with Conway Regional to open a sleep disorders center at Conway Regional Medical Center.

Neurologists are physicians who treat illnesses of the brain and neurological system, including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, migraine headaches, Parkinsons disease, Alzheimers disease, neuropathies, and sleep disorders as well as the effects of strokes.

The Conway Regional Neuroscience Center has seven staff members, all of whom work for Conway Regional. Drs. Freyaldenhoven and Schluterman are not employed by the health system.

A referral from a primary care physician is required to make an appointment with a neurologist. The phone number for the center is the same as the two neurologists offices, 501-932-0352.

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Health system, neurologists partner to form Conway Regional Neuroscience Center - Log Cabin Democrat