U.S. AGENCIES TO PLAN BRAIN RESEARCH AGENDA

(The Scientist, Vol:4, #21, pg. 8, October 29, 1990) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)

-------- While the neuroscience community mobilizes and plans its Decade of the Brain campaign, those involved in brain research within the federal government are doing a bit of housekeeping themselves.

The executive branch's Office of Science and Technology Policy has set up a Subcommittee on Brain and Behavioral Sciences under the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering and Technology. Chaired by Roger Porter of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the subcommittee consists of representatives from some 20 agencies that fund neuroscience research.

One of its first tasks will be to try to assess current funding levels for the field, says Alan Leshner, acting director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). By February, the committee hopes to have written a research plan...