This sounds like a wonderful organization. Some of their work below.
http://www.dana.org/danaalliances/about/ourvision.aspx
Decrease the incidence of stroke and improve post-stroke therapies.
Heart disease and stroke can be strikingly reduced when people stop smoking, keep their cholesterol levels low, and maintain normal weight by diet and exercise, and detect and treat any occurrence of diabetes. For those with strokes, rapid evaluation and treatment can lead to dramatic improvement and less disability. New treatments will be developed to further reduce the acute impact of stroke on normal brain cells. New rehabilitation techniques, based on understanding how the brain adjusts itself following injury, will result in further improvement.
The Strategy
Take advantage of the findings of genomic research.
The complete sequence of all the genes that comprise the human genome will soon be available. This means that we will be able, within the next 10 to 15 years, to determine which genes are active in each region of the brain under different functional states, and at every stage in life - from early embryonic life, through infancy, adolescence, and throughout adulthood. It will be possible to identify which genes are altered so that their protein products are either missing or functioning abnormally in a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Already this approach has enabled scientists to establish the genetic basis of such disorders as Huntington's disease, the spinocerebellar ataxias, muscular dystrophy, and fragile-x mental retardation.
The whole process of gene discovery and its use in clinical diagnosis promises to transform neurology and psychiatry and represents one of the greatest challenges to neuroscience. Fortunately the availability of microarrays or "gene chips" should greatly accelerate this endeavor and provide a powerful new tool both for diagnosis and for the design of new therapies.
Apply what we know about how the brain develops.
The brain passes through specific stages of development from conception until death, and through different stages and areas of vulnerability and growth that can either be enhanced or impaired. To improve treatment for developmental disorders such as autism, attention deficit disorder, and learning disabilities, neuroscience will build a more detailed picture of brain development. Because the brain also has unique problems associated with other stages of development such as adolescence and aging, understanding how the brain changes during these periods will enable us to develop innovative treatments.
Harness the immense potential of the plasticity of the brain.
By harnessing the power of neuroplasticity - the ability of the brain to remodel and adjust itself - neuroscientists will advance treatments for degenerative neurological diseases and offer ways to improve brain function in both healthy and disease states. In the next ten years, cell replacement therapies and the promotion of new brain cell formation will lead to new treatments for stroke, spinal cord injury, and Parkinson's disease.
Expand our understanding of what makes us uniquely human.
How does the brain work? Neuroscientists are at the point where they can ask - and begin to answer - the big questions. What are the mechanisms and underlying neural circuits that allow us to form memories, pay attention, feel and express our emotions, make decisions, use language, and foster creativity? Efforts to develop a "unified field theory" of the brain will offer great opportunities to maximize human potential.
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