Grants

Scientists want to know whether our aging fat cells are important to the onset and progression of Alzheimer's. They have evidence that as we age, our fat becomes less efficient at producing a hormone that helps support the growth and survival of neurons and helps regulate their activity. The result can be neurons in areas of the brain important to learning and memory become dysfunctional, degenerate and we develop Alzheimer's.

A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University is starting a project to design and implement a noninvasive neural interface that can be used as a wearable device. This neural interface will be capable of both recording and stimulating the brain's dynamic activity with high temporal and spatial resolution.

Backed by a five-year, $6.7 million National Institutes of Health grant, the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health today announced that it plans to lead a culture shift in data-sharing rippling through scientific fields and harness it to improve global knowledge of infectious diseases.

The effort, known as the MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator, will leverage the expertise and resources of MIT and the Air Force to conduct fundamental research directed at enabling rapid prototyping, scaling, and application of AI algorithms and systems. The Air Force plans to invest approximately $15 million per year as it builds upon its five-decade relationship with MIT.

No tests currently are available to evaluate risk for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, an adverse reaction to the drug that can result in catastrophic, life-threatening complications in patients with cardiovascular disease.

How did post-war non-fiction films -- newsreels and documentaries -- represent wartime deconstruction and reconstruction efforts? How did these films influence the formation of European post-war societies? These issues are the focus of a research project in film studies at Goethe University in cooperation with colleagues in Italy, France and the Czech Republic, due to launch next week. The project is being funded at approximately € 1 million within the framework of the European HERA programme.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved the establishment of the 'GenEvo - Gene Regulation in Evolution: From Molecular to Extended Phenotypes' Research Training Group (RTG) at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany with effect from July 2019. This RTG will offer a structured, high-caliber research and training program enabling its PhD students to acquire interdisciplinary qualifications and obtain autonomy at an early stage of their scientific careers.

New funding is enabling Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers to develop new approaches to potentially help people with Prader-Willi syndrome, a devastating and incurable genetic condition. Research grants from the Prader-Willi Research Foundation of Australia and the US Foundation for Prader-Willi Research will enable Associate Professor Marnie Blewitt to investigate whether awakening 'sleeping' genes could overcome some of the genetic errors underlying Prader-Willi syndrome, and reduce the severity of some of its symptoms.

An Oregon State University researcher is part of a $1.94 million grant to look for possible connections between the human microbiome and autism spectrum disorder.