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(EMAILWIRE.COM, May 31, 2011 ) Denver, CO -- Former Congressman, Patrick Kennedy, made an announcement this week that more funding should go into neuroscience research. Kennedy made this goal analogous to the space race in the 1960s that put a man on the moon. Just like his uncle, former United States President John F. Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy wants to reach an ambitious goal of creating a detailed map of the human brain and curing brain disease within the next decade. This research might include more research into the long and short-term affects of traumatic brain injury.
Kennedy explains that that this is a race to inner space and that it is not the technical know-how that our country lacks to accomplish this goal; it's the will. He says that many people in our country still hold a stigma around mental illness. If someone has diabetes and needs insulin which is a chemical imbalance of the human body, no one asks questions, but when a depressed individual has a chemical imbalance of too little serotonin- a neurotransmitter- people look at him or her as if there is something wrong with them, he says.
The challenge of mapping the human brain is as challenging as racing to the moon two generations ago – maybe more so because the brain is an extremely complex organ. The thousands of different cells communicate with one another to form an estimated 100 billion possible connections. No understanding in scientific history has ever been so complex.
However, there may be cause for encouragement as scientists have made stunning advances in understanding the brain's circuitry. Also, new technologies like genomics and magnetic resonance imaging are enabling new discoveries.
Kennedy's announcement comes when brain research funding has been in decline, leading to fewer experimental treatments for many brain diseases.
A private-public partnership of universities, government, advocacy groups, industry and private citizens has already begun on this ambitious quest. This organization called One Mind has drafted a 10-year plan to complete a coordinated scientific roadmap for all brain disorders. Priorities will include genetics, large-scale data gathering, mapping the circuitry of the brain and clinical applications.
This research could help many populations such as those in the military, athletes who play high-contact sports, or those who have sustained brain injuries due to automobile accidents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.7 people sustain a brain injury each year. Of those, 52,000 die and 275,000 are hospitalized.
Kennedy says it's important to think of neuroscience research as the new frontier just as the space race made Americans think of space as the new frontier. The moon race taught us that no challenge is beyond America's reach, says Kennedy.
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