There is a new Rutgers institute in town – and it is called the Brain Health Institute. Their mission seems to be primarily to bring neuroscience labs across all Rutgers campuses together to share findings, exchange ideas and find collaborators. The BHI hosted a symposium on Monday, October 26 (that is to become the first of many, on an annual basis). While the BHI has no faculty under its own personal roof at the moment, it is giving out pilot grants and will be looking to hire assistant professors soon. Their finances indicate a ~$200, 000 gap between what they spend annually on salaries, events and grants, and what they are making. However, as Director Dr. Gary Aston-Jones pointed out, as soon as new faculty are hired to the institute, their grants should even out the gap. Until then, it seems the BHI has plenty of start-up grant money awarded to its conception to keep it going.
At Monday’s symposium, some 200 Rutgers neuroscientists (faculty, postdocs and graduate students) received an intro to the BHI and its purpose. To the delight of many in the room, the Director emphasized the need for both basic and translational science and hoped that both would flourish through the BHI. I later confirmed that both research areas are heavily featured on the BHI website, which you can check out here. We listened to several 30-minute talks by current faculty members, including one on autism research by Busch campus’ very own Dr Emanuel DiCicco-Bloom. The keynote speaker was Dr Pat Levitt, currently from USC, but who had done research at Rutgers in the past. His talk addressed the problem of variation in neuroscience research, in particular with regard to autism. A brief Q&A session was conducted after lunch, where students and postdocs had the opportunity to ask questions to faculty of their choice. The Bioengineering Department had prepared their own 30-minute session where they introduced some truly astounding devices and techniques that they have in the works. The day-long event concluded with a 90-minute poster session where I had the chance to present a poster of my work, along with other graduate students, postdocs and some faculty from neuroscience labs all across Rutgers. A brief wine and cheese reception provided a last chance for networking before we all headed home.
What were my overall impressions? It was pleasant. Actually, it was great, coming on the heels of the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting I just came back from, which always surprises me with the overwhelming number of attendees. The BHI felt much closer to home, and more intimate. The talks were interesting, even ones that were completely removed from my research area. I met several new people, and I know many more managed to open a line of communication with new acquaintances that may lead to collaborative efforts in the future. Neuroscience graduate students/postdocs of Rutgers, keep an eye out! While each lab was limited to 1 poster submission, it was a really good experience if you happened to be the one your PI selected to present at the symposium. It remains to be seen whether the BHI will flourish or wilt – but it is a very good idea in theory, and I hope it develops as planned!