Celebrities needed to promote brain research in Europe?

According to a recent report, around a third of all European disability-adjusted life years—one way of quantifying the
burden of disease—are lost due to disorders of the nervous system (Eur J Neurol 2003; 10: 471–77). With the population
getting older, this proportion is likely to increase as neurodegenerative diseases become more prevalent. However,
European neuroscience research projects are a long way from receiving a third of all health research spending: only 8%
of the European Union's (EU) Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) budget for health projects has been allocated to brain
research. Why do European funding bodies not consider brain research to be a high priority and what can be done to
improve the situation?

A good start was made in June this year with the formation of the European Brain Council, a pan-European network that
brings together societies representing neuroscientists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, patients, and
industrialists. The idea is a simple one: to lobby the European Parliament, with one loud voice rather than many quiet
ones, to convince its members that more needs to be done to help the millions of people living with brain disorders in
Europe. The first step towards this goal was taken on Sept 18 when 250 people with an interest in brain research met
with EU politicians to discuss the future of brain research in Europe, and in particular how FP6 will fund neuroscience
projects.

FP6 is the EU's main mechanism for funding research in Europe. The overall budget for health-related research in the 4
year period 2003–2006 is €2·225 billion. In the first of four rounds of funding, 12 neuroscience projects will receive
a total of €46 million. Each of these projects are large-scale collaborations of researchers from many countries, which
aim to reduce redundancy of effort. Descriptions of two projects that were funded in FP5, together with a discussion of
the aims and scope of FP6, are contained in a forum article in this issue of the journal (pages 702–706).

On the other side of the Atlantic, funding for brain research is much better. Story Landis, the new Director of the
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), oversees an annual budget of US$1·5 billion (see page
653 for a profile of Landis), 6% of the total NIH budget. But NINDS is only one of 11 NIH institutes that funds
neuroscience research, so the total neuroscience spend is nearer US$4·6 billion, 17% of the NIH budget. Why is it that
US researchers receive a greater proportion of the health-research spend than their European counterparts?

The answer lies to some degree in the successful lobbying by patient groups and charities—many of which are headed by
celebrities such as Michael J Fox, Julia Roberts, and Christopher Reeve—for more neuroscience funding. Awareness of
brain disorders in the USA is much higher than in Europe because of their efforts, which undoubtedly affect the
distribution of federal funds, as well as donations to neuroscience charities. For example, research into Parkinson's
disease received an estimated US$215 million in 2003 after Michael J Fox and Muhammad Ali testified before Congress.
And research into Rett's syndrome received an undoubted boost when Julia Roberts spoke at one of the best-attended
appropriations subcommittee hearings that the US House of Representatives has ever hosted. A similar approach may not
be feasible in culturally and linguistically diverse Europe, but European neuroscience advocates, led by the European
Brain Council, need to think seriously about how awareness of brain diseases can be brought firmly into the public
agenda.

This is important because politicians are only really interested in pleasing one group of people—the electorate. As a
result, unless the public puts pressure on politicians to increase funding for brain research, both at the EU level and
within individual nation states, nothing will change. Importantly, however, only the neuroscience community has the
credibility to convey to the public why it should be unhappy with how neuroscience is currently funded. The media has a
crucial part to play in this endeavour, and brain researchers at all levels need to develop the skills to interact with
them successfully. European neuroscience institutes would do well to follow the model of US academic institutions by
setting up press offices. These teams of trained writers undoubtedly influence which science and medicine stories are
picked up by the media.

But perhaps most importantly, brain researchers need to be proactive in engaging with their local community. Visitors
to the Cold Spring Harbor laboratories, for example, have been known to be invited to local residents’ homes for
dinner. What better way could there be to explain to the people whose taxes fund your work that their money is being
well spent?

SOURCE: The Lancet Neurology
http://neurology.thelancet.com/journal/journal.isa

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Reference:

Last month in Seattle....

Press Release

For Release 9:00 a.m. PST
September 16, 2003

PAUL G. ALLEN COMMITS $100 MILLION TO BRAIN RESEARCH
Seed Money Creates Allen Institute for Brain Science and Unprecedented Brain Atlas Project

SEATTLE – SEPT. 16, 2003 – Investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen today announced a commitment of $100 million in
seed money dedicated to brain research and unveiled the creation of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle.
Founded as an innovative and unprecedented resource for neuroscientists around the world, the nonprofit Allen
Institute—and its inaugural project the Allen Brain Atlas—will combine the disciplines of neuroscience and genomics to
create a map of the mammalian brain at the cellular level. Through a collection of gene expression maps, brain
circuitry and cell location, the Atlas will illustrate the functional anatomy of the brain. Building a publicly-
accessible research tool that overlays structural imagery of the brain with specific details about the locations and
functions of active genes will be carried out on an unprecedented scale, representing an immense advance in brain
science. Long-term, the research will contribute to the work of scientists, medical researchers and educators around
the world, supporting the development of new insights into normal brain function, as well as fundamental clues about
the development and treatment of brain-related disorders, emotion, cognition, learning and memory. The findings will
also provide valuable support for third-party research into the treatment and prevention of diseases such as
Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, clinical depression, autism, addiction disorders and more.

In addition to Allen’s significant investment of seed money, other sources of private and government funding are being
explored. The 501(c)(3) Allen Institute for Brain Science is a private nonprofit organization.

“Over the last decade I have become increasingly interested in the fields of genomics and neuroscience, and their
important role in human development, behavior, and health—and ultimately, understanding more about how the brain
actually works,” said Paul G. Allen. “It’s awe-inspiring how a genome with only 30,000 genes can create the brain—a
highly complex system of an estimated trillion nerve cells linked in an extraordinarily intricate network. We conceived
the Institute and Atlas projects with a group of eminent neuroscience and genetics researchers, and are funding much-
needed research efforts that will have a positive and lasting impact on all areas of brain science. By making the Atlas
data accessible in the public domain, and by collaborating with scientific experts around the world, we believe this is
a historic opportunity to unite the genome and the brain – and use the data and technology to tackle the challenges of
neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative and psychiatric disease.”

“This is yet another creative masterstroke by Paul Allen, who once again has thought up an unconventional but valuable
outlet for his philanthropy,” said Dr. Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and an
advisor to the Allen Institute. “Paul asked the experts a simple question - how can a smallish genome build a complex
brain? - and discovered that the answer required a new synthesis between neuroscience, genomics, and psychology that is
unlikely to take place without a strategic nudge. The Allen Institute is like nothing else out there, and it could help
to give rise to a whole new field of human knowledge.”

The Allen Institute for Brain Science
Based in Seattle, the Allen Institute for Brain Science is being founded to identify and address key issues in
neuroscience, specifically those that can ultimately advance the study of human behavior. Through strategic
partnerships and collaborations, the Institute will focus its efforts and resources on multidisciplinary research and
development projects in neuroscience, psychology and behavioral studies, with an emphasis on understanding cognition,
language, emotion and memory.

The Allen Brain Atlas
The first endeavor of the Allen Institute for Brain Science is the Allen Brain Atlas project, the planning for which
has been underway for two years. For decades, scientists have been eager for an intense, focused effort to develop a
compendium of information that could serve as a foundation for general brain research. Instead of researching genes one
at a time, the Allen Brain Atlas project will give scientists an unprecedented view of that portion of the genome that
is active in the brain. This comprehensive view will help scientists quickly, cheaply and effectively translate the
burgeoning knowledge of the human and other genomes into much-needed biological and medical advances. Completion of the
Atlas project is anticipated to take approximately five years, with the first release of data scheduled for the first
quarter of 2004.

Initially, the Allen Brain Atlas project will build a gene expression atlas of the brain of a mouse—an animal that has
long been a human surrogate for biomedical research and whose genome map became available just one year after the human
genome was completed. Through the process of comparative genomics, many of the findings in the mouse brain will be
transferable to humans since both have approximately 30,000 remarkably similar genes. Discovering which genes are
active in different regions of the brain is a first step toward understanding functional differences between neurons on
the cellular and molecular level, and what percentage of the human genome is involved in building and operating the
human brain. Because the brain is our most complex organ, it is estimated that up to 20,000 genes (2/3 of the entire
genome) may play a critical role in the development and functioning of a healthy human brain. With a goal to
comprehensively define the unique molecular properties of brain cells that may underlie neural functions such as
learning, memory, emotions and cognition, the Allen Brain Atlas project will also add a new dimension to classical
anatomy by defining molecular anatomy at a cellular scale of resolution and a genome scale of scope. The Atlas will
also enhance the ability of scientists to build other types of maps, including those based upon proteomics (the study
of large numbers of individual proteins) and functional imaging. Learn more about the Allen Brain Atlas online at
http://www.brainatlas.org

Project Team and Scientific Advisory Board
The Atlas project team is under the leadership of Allen Institute co-founder Jo Allen Patton and project director Dr.
Mark Boguski, a well-known researcher in bioinformatics and genomics. The team comprises a multidisciplinary group of
scientists and information technology specialists recruited from both academia and industry. Together, these experts
are designing a database and a collection of software tools that will combine state-of-the-art technologies for
information processing, storage and data mining, enabling Allen Institute researchers, and scientists everywhere, to
exploit the data in their research.

In addition to the expert project team, the Atlas project has an international and illustrious board of scientific
advisors, including: David Anderson from California Institute of Technology; Gregor Eichele from the Max Planck
Institute; Richard Gibbs of Baylor College of Medicine; Steven Paul of Lilly Research Laboratories; Gregory Schuler
from the National Center for Biotechnology Information; Joseph Takahashi of Northwestern University; Marc Tessier-
Lavigne of Genentech, Inc.; and, Arthur Toga from the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging at UCLA. In addition, James Watson
(who co-discovered the double helix structure of DNA) and Steven Pinker are advisors to the Allen Institute. Over the
next several years, staffing plans include hiring approximately 75 more scientists, technology experts and other
professionals to work on the Atlas project as well as additional initiatives of the Allen Institute for Brain Science.

About Paul G. Allen
Philanthropist and investor Paul G. Allen creates and advances world-class projects and high-impact initiatives that
change and improve the way people live, learn, work and experience the world through arts, education, entertainment,
sports, business and technology. He co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1976, remained the company’s chief
technologist until he left Microsoft in 1983, and is the founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc. and chairman of Charter
Communications (the nation’s fourth largest cable provider). In addition, Allen’s multibillion dollar investment
portfolio includes large stakes in DreamWorks SKG, Oxygen Media, Digeo, TechTV and more than 50 other technology, media
and content companies. Allen also owns the Seattle Seahawks NFL and Portland Trail Blazers NBA franchises.

Named one of the top 15 philanthropists in America, Allen gives back to the community through the six Paul G. Allen
Foundations, which strengthen communities and support vulnerable populations in the areas of arts, health and human
services, medical research and technology in education. Allen is founder of Experience Music Project, Seattle’s
critically acclaimed interactive music museum, the forthcoming Experience Science Fiction museum (opening summer 2004),
and Vulcan Productions, the independent film production company behind Todd Haynes’ critically-acclaimed Far From
Heaven, the 2001 Evolution series on PBS, and this year’s The Blues, executive produced by Martin Scorsese in
conjunction with Allen and Jody Patton. Learn more about Allen online at http://www.vulcan.com and the Paul G. Allen
Foundations at http://www.pgafoundations.com

###

For more information, press only:

Michael Nank, 206-342-2000
[log in to unmask]

Jason J. Hunke, 206-342-2000
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SOURCE: Allen Brain Atlas
http://www.brainatlas.org/content/press/news/09_16_03_PressRelease.asp

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