Category Archives: Neuroscience

Psychiatry | Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human …

October 12, 2021 medical

The UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences is the home within theDavid Geffen School of Medicinefor faculty who are expert in the origins of and treatments for disorders of complex human behavior.

The Department is also an integral part ofThe Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLAwhich is a world leading, interdisciplinary research and education institute devoted to the understanding of complex human behaviour and the causes and consequences of neuropsychiatric disorders.

TheResnick Neuropsychiatric Hospitalis the department's flagship location for patient care at UCLA and has consistently been ranked among the top five facilities nationwide by U.S. News & World Reports.

Interim Chair: Alexander Young

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Psychiatry | Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human ...

Neuroscience

Follow the Money: CRISPR, Next-Gen Neuroscience, Protein Platforms – Bio-IT World

October 12, 2021 medical

October 11, 2021 | CRISPR unicorn, pan-coronavirus vaccine research, chemical and biological weapons protection for warfighters, new methods for live cell research, seed round for a new drug discovery platform, and more.

$195M for CRISPR Toolkit

Mammoth Biosciences has secured $195 million in financing, joining the select ranks of unicorn startups with a valuation of more than $1 billion. The funds will enable the company to broaden its toolkit of next-generation CRISPR systems with a focus on building permanent genetic cures through in vivo gene-editing therapeutics and democratizing disease detection with on-demand diagnostics. The financing comprises a $150 million Series D led by Redmile Group, with participation from Foresite Capital, Senator Investment Group, Sixth Street, Greenspring Associates, Mayfield, Decheng Capital, NFX and Plum Alley, among others. It follows a $45 million Series C in late 2020, which was led by Redmile Group and Foresite Capital, and included participation from Amazon as well as existing investors.

$124M Buyout for Protein Detection, Acquisitions

Vector Laboratories has closed a $124 million cash buyout, backed by private equity firm Thompson Street Capital Partners, to accelerate its expansion into protein detection. This new funding enables Vector Laboratories to embark upon an acquisition strategy, while also accelerating the commercialization of innovative labeling and detection technologies for immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, glycobiology, and bioconjugation. Through this buyout, Vector Laboratories has gained the flexibility of a well-funded startup combined with a market-tested product portfolio driving innovative research by academic, industrial, and clinical researchers around the world. The buyout was led by Lisa V. Sellers, Ph.D., now appointed Chief Executive Officer. Prior to taking the helm at Vector Laboratories, Dr. Sellers served as Chief Operating Officer at the company. Previously, she served as VP of Marketing at 10x Genomics, having led marketing during the company's hyper-growth phase. In addition, she has held leadership roles overseeing the global reagent and instrumentation businesses for Applied Biosystems, Life Technologies, and ThermoFisher Scientific.

$109M for COVID-19 Consumables Supply Chain

OraSure Technologies has been awarded a $109 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to build additional manufacturing capacity in the United States for InteliSwab COVID-19 rapid tests as part of the nations pandemic preparedness plan. InteliSwab is a remarkably simple test that rapidly detects active COVID-19 infection. It was granted three Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June for professional point-of-care use, prescription (Rx) home use, and over-the-counter (OTC) use. The federal funding will expand OraSures production capacity by 100 million tests annually, by March 2024. An existing OraSure location in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, will be retrofitted to accommodate increased manufacturing and an additional new facility will be added in another U.S. location to be determined. In addition to this contract, OraSure also has internally funded expansion plans to achieve 120 million tests annually by the second quarter of 2022.

$105M FDA Review Voucher Sale

Albireo Pharma has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Priority Review Voucher (PRV) for $105 million. The PRV was granted to Albireo under a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provision that encourages the development of treatments for rare pediatric diseases. The Company received the voucher with the approval of Bylvay for the treatment of pruritus in all types of progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC). Albireo will receive a payment of $105 million upon the closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur following expiration of the applicable U.S. antitrust clearance requirements.

$45M Series B for Virtual Care

eVisit, the leading Virtual Care platform for large healthcare providers, has closed a $45 million Series B financing round led by the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs), with participation from Texas Health Resources, Tom Burton and Steve Barlow (Co-founders of Health Catalyst), and existing insiders. eVisit will invest the capital to drive growth by building out its Virtual Care platform and scaling up its sales and marketing efforts. The fundraise comes in the midst of eVisits rapid operational growth and staff expansion, driven by enterprise demand for its Virtual Care capabilities from large-scale Healthcare Organization (HCO) customers including Banner Health, Texas Health Resources Group, and Concentra.

$40M for Diversity in Decentralized Clinical Trials

Lightship has raised $40 million to create access to clinical research for all patients, and improving diversity among patient groups taking part in clinical trials around the world. The funding round has been led by Define Ventures and Brook Byers, with participation from Khosla Ventures, McKesson Ventures and Marc Benioffs TIME Ventures. The new funds will be used to help drive the firms expansion, including internationally, with a new office opening in the Fall in London, United Kingdom. With its end-to-end model, Lightship brings operational excellence to running decentralized clinical trials at scale. Founded in 2018, the firm is continuing to add new pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to its client base, in new therapeutic areas, and has continued to expand with the addition of over 100 new employees so far in 2021. To underpin the continued expansion of the firm, Lightship has bolstered its senior team with several senior hires. This includes the appointment of Robert P. Jones as Chief Financial Officer following nearly 14 years with Goldman Sachs as a Managing Director leading the firm's coverage of Healthcare Services & Technology within Global Investment Research.

$36.3M for Pan-Coronavirus Vaccines

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded approximately $36.3 million to three academic institutions to conduct research to develop vaccines to protect against multiple types of coronaviruses and viral variants. The awards are intended to fuel vaccine research for a diverse family of coronaviruses, with a primary focus on potential pandemic-causing coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. The awards are designed to fund multidisciplinary teams at University of Wisconsin, Madison; Brigham and Womens Hospital, Boston; and Duke University, Durham, North Carolina to conduct research focused on incorporating understanding of coronavirus virology and immunology, immunogen design, and innovative vaccine and adjuvant platforms and technologies to discover, design, and develop pan-coronavirus vaccine candidates that provide broad protective immunity to multiple coronavirus strains.

$22.8M Series A for Next-Gen Neuroscience

Rune Labs, a brain data company empowering the development and delivery of precision neuroscience therapeutics, has announced a $22.8 million Series A financing led by Eclipse Ventures with participation from current investors including DigiTx and Moment Ventures. Justin Butler, Partner at Eclipse, will join the Rune Labs Board of Directors. Rune Labs was founded to fill the gap in software and data support for next-generation neuroscience therapeutics, and to expand the benefits of precision medicine to the millions of patients with neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. Runes first-in-class precision brain data software platform integrates electrophysiology, brain imaging, and device data together with wearable data and clinical labels. The combination will provide researchers, drug developers, and clinicians with the tools to guide treatment, uncover hidden disease phenotypes, and design better-targeted therapies.

$22M Series C, Acquisition for Imaging Data Management, Analytics

Flywheel has announced a $22 million Series C funding round and a subsequent acquisition. The funding round is being led by 8VC, which is focused on building technology platforms that create long-term economic and societal value. Other investors include iSelect, Argonautic Ventures, Beringea, DrX/Novartis, HPE Pathfinder, Spike Ventures, Key Investments, Seraph, Great North Labs and others. The acquisition is of St. Louis-based Radiologics. The two organizations combined capabilities in imaging research data management and analytics provide the medical research community unrivaled end-to-end research workflow solutionsfrom open source to global enterprise. Together, the two companies, now operating as Flywheel, offer the only biomedical research platform that can connect any organization or data set across academia, life sciences, clinical, and medical AI.

$20M Series A for Protein-Protein Interactions

A-Alpha Bio has closed a $20M Series A Financing Round to dramatically expand capabilities and throughput. The round was led by Madrona Venture Group with participation from Perceptive Advisors Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund (PXV Fund) and Lux Capital. Madrona Venture Groups Matt McIlwain and Xontogenys Ben Askew, Ph.D. have joined A-Alpha Bios Board of Directors as part of the financing. A-Alpha Bio is building a high-resolution model of biology by measuring millions of protein-protein interactions, leveraging the intersection of synthetic biology, protein engineering, and machine learning. Compared to traditional technologies for screening protein interactions, including biophysical and display platforms, A-Alpha Bios proprietary AlphaSeq platform can measure protein interactions at a scale and to a degree of precision that is otherwise inaccessible. The quantity and quality of AlphaSeq data is ideal for drug discovery and also critical for training highly predictive ML-models for protein-protein binding.

$20M for Personalized Medicine Plans

Tesis Labs, a leader in targeted genetic sequencing, announced $20 million of growth equity financing at a post-money valuation of $520 million. The round was led by Xcellerant 1 TLC, LLC, an investment group headed by John Shufeldt, M.D. This is the first external financing for Tesis Labs since it initiated operations in early 2020. Prior to this funding, the Company raised approximately $15 million. Tesis Labs offers healthcare providers and physicians access to unique genetic testing and precision medicine, enabling them to create personalized care plans for treating chronic diseases individually and across generations. The Tesis mission is to change medicine by providing physicians, hospitals, and researchers with treatment tools to help patients overcome major chronic conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, and cancer through advanced genetic testing.

$17.1M to Study Drugs for Pregnant Women, Children

A new, five-year $17.1 million grant awarded to The Ohio State University College of Medicine will fund the creation of a knowledge bank to support the study of drugs and medical treatments for pregnant and lactating women and children. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant to the departments of Biomedical Informatics, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics will help establish the Maternal and Pediatric Precision in Therapeutics Data, Model, Knowledge and Research Coordination Center. This newly created center will serve as a national resource for multidisciplinary expertise and knowledge in maternal and pediatric therapeutics.

$16M for Chemical, Biological Weapons Protection

Charles River Analytics announced it was awarded a contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to lead a team of research organizations seeking to develop a novel biosystem solution to protect warfighters from chemical and biological threats. The five-year, $16M contract will focus on neutralizing threats at vulnerable internal tissue barriers (including skin, airway, and ocular barriers) using a configurable biological countermeasure.Charles River Analytics will lead a team of partners as they collaborate on DARPAs Personalized Protective Biosystem (PPB) program. PPB aims to develop technology that reduces the need for burdensome protective equipment while increasing individual protection against biological attacks. The program will explore the use of new transgenic commensal organismsspecifically hookworms and schistosomesto secrete therapeutics specifically targeting chemical and biological threats, including neurotoxins (such as organophosphates) and microbial pathogens.

$13.6M for COVID-19 Testing Consumables

OraSure Technologies has announced that the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA), part of the office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will provide up to $13.6 million in funding for the Company to obtain 510(k) clearance and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) waiver for OraSures InteliSwab COVID-19 rapid test from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). InteliSwab is a simple swab, swirl, and see test that uses an integrated swab to self-collect a sample from the lower nostrils. The result appears right on the test stick within 30 minutes. It has three Emergency Use Authorizations from the Food and Drug Administration for professional point-of-care use, prescription (Rx) home use, and over-the-counter (OTC) use.

$13.5M for New Experimental Methods for Live Cell Research

A new Center for Live Cell Genomics, funded by a five-year, $13.5-million grant from the National Institutes of Health, will bring together researchers at the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute to develop new methods and experimental platforms for biomedical research using live cells and tissues. The center will deploy this new biotechnology to study neurodevelopmental diseases and cancer. UC Santa Cruz has built an international reputation as a leader in bioinformatics and genomics, working at the forefront of efforts to use genomics in precision medicine and biomedical research. With the new center, the Genomics Institute is spearheading transformational innovations in experimental platform design for large-scale, long-term genomic studies of disease processes in living cells and complex tissues. Advanced methods for growing three-dimensional cultures of human cells and tissues in the lab will be combined with lab-on-a-chip technologies and connected to the internet to create an inexpensive and scalable system with internet-based remote control and analysis capabilities.

$10.89M Wellcome Funding For COVID-19 Therapeutics

The COVID Moonshot, a non-profit, open-science consortium of scientists from around the world dedicated to the discovery of globally affordable and easily-manufactured antiviral drugs against COVID-19 and future viral pandemics has received key funding of 8 million from Wellcome, on behalf of the Covid-19 Therapeutics Accelerator. The Moonshot started as a spontaneous virtual collaboration in March 2020. As countries locked down, a group of scientists, academics, pharmaceutical research teams and students began a worldwide, twitter-fuelled race against the clock to identify new molecules that could block SARS-CoV-2 infection and develop pills that would be readily available to the most vulnerable communities. All the generated discovery scientific data and the general learnings of the project will be put in the public domain. Moonshot data is already available online to enable others to freely build on its work the project has already generated over 50% of known structural information on the main protease, a key protein in SARS-CoV-2. The first clinical trials are expected in 2022.

$9M Seed Funding for Drug Discovery Platform

Fauna Bio, a biotechnology company leveraging animal genomics to improve human health, today announced it has raised $9 million in Seed funding led by LifeForce Capital, with participation from True Ventures, Boom Capital, Pacific 8 Ventures, BioMed Ventures, Vibe Capital and Arcadia Science. Fauna Bio will use the new funds to expand its drug discovery platform Convergence while accelerating the discovery of new therapeutic targets for human diseases across a broad range of indications. Fauna Bio harnesses the power of comparative and functional genomics to find better therapies for human disease, including neurologic, metabolic, fibrotic, and cardiovascular disorders. The initial version of Convergence uses gene expression data from hibernating mammals due to their extreme biology and their remarkable ability to reverse disease-causing traits. The platform has so far identified two compounds and four novel genetic targets currently undergoing evaluation for heart disease and related disorders. The company also collaborates with Novo Nordisk on a target discovery program for obesity. Additionally, Fauna Bio has identified seven novel genetic targets to reduce fibrosis, which is a core component of many chronic and debilitating diseases, including NASH and cardiovascular disease secondary to chronic kidney disease and diabetic cardiomyopathy.

$6.8M Swedish IPO for Simultaneous Analysis of Gut Microbiota

Microbiome DX company Genetic Analysis AS closed up 50% over the first two days of trading on the Swedish Spotlight Stock Market following completion of a share issue. The issue of units was oversubscribed to a total of approximately NOK 99 million, corresponding to a subscription ratio of approximately 165 percent, and the Company received approximately NOK 60 million before issue costs. Through the issue of units, approximately 1,200 new shareholders were added to GA including several leading Nordic and international private and institutional investors. The company now plans to use the funds to accelerate commercialization of its proprietary GA-map diagnostic platform for simultaneous analysis of gut microbiota.

$5M Seed Round for Web-Based CRISPR Data Analysis

Latch Bio, a company building data infrastructure for the biocomputing revolution, today announced the closing of a $5 million seed funding round led by Lux Capital with participation from General Catalyst, Haystack, Fifty Years, and Asimov co-founder and CEO, Alec Nielsen, Ph.D. The company has also announced the launch of its first-of-a-kind web-based platform which enables any biologist to analyze CRISPR data without any code or cloud infrastructure setup. Latch Bio was founded in 2021 by Alfredo Andere, Kyle Giffin, and Kenny Workman who met as undergraduates at the University of California, Berkeley. Using the Latch platform, any researcher can now create a centralized one-stop-shop for storing, transforming and visualizing their data without writing any code. Through the Latch plugins, users can import files from their existing data stack including Amazon S3, Benchling, and Illuminas BaseSpace. Biologists have access to dozens of popular workflows including CRISPResso, MAGeCK, CasTLE, Cas.py, MultiQC, and CasOffinder, among others. After performing a specific workflow, users can further interrogate the results using the built-in genomic visualizer and quality controls. The Latch platform is offered free to academic research users.

$4M in NIH Funding for Early Career Researchers at Mount Sinai

Two Mount Sinai cancer researchers will be awarded $4 million in total costs from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund, which supports exceptionally high-impact programs and research by junior scientists around the country. Deborah Marshall, MD, MAS, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at The Tisch Cancer Institute and The Blavatnik Family Womens Health Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Jalal Ahmed Khan, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at the Precision Immunology Institute and The Tisch Cancer Institute, each received an Early Independence Award worth $2 million given out over five years. Dr. Marshalls study seeks to define novel predictors of female sexual dysfunction and to identify quantitative imaging and microbiome-based biomarker indices associated with damage to specific sexual organs from radiation oncology treatments. Dr. Ahmed Khans study seeks to advance the cancer therapy known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for solid tumors by manipulating CAR T cell interactions with the immune tumor microenvironment.

$1.99M Seed Round for Medical Genetics Software

Genetics software startup PhenoTips announced today that it has raised CAD $2.5 million in an oversubscribed seed fundraising round led by the GreenSky Accelerator Fund IV. This round includes the support of the Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners, Thin Air Labs, Yorkville Partners, and angel investors including members of the GreenSky Presidents Club. PhenoTips empowers healthcare providers to deliver precision medicine with the most complete and interoperable software solution for medical genetics. PhenoTips technology is used by leading genetic care providers in four countries, across four NHS Trusts and two provincial Canadian health systems, currently serving over 200,000 patients with tools that enable deep phenotyping, family history, and genomic analysis. With the additional funds from this seed round, the company plans to double the size of its twelve-person Canada-based team and expand its cloud-based product offerings.

$1M to Engage Diverse Researchers in the All of Us Dataset

Baylor College of Medicine has received more than $1 million from the National Institutes of Health to engage researchers from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups, in utilizing the All of Us Research Programs data resources to advance precision medicine. As part of the effort to engage researchers from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups, in using All of Us data, Baylor will host All of Us Evenings with Genetics seminars, modeled after the Evenings with Genetics seminars hosted by the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, at universities across the country. The seminar series will introduce the All of Us Research Program to biomedical researchers and students from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups, and show them how to use the data in a variety of fields, including medicine, psychology, nutrition, and education.

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Follow the Money: CRISPR, Next-Gen Neuroscience, Protein Platforms - Bio-IT World

Neuroscience

The neuroscience of advanced scientific concepts | npj Science of Learning – Nature.com

October 12, 2021 medical

This study identified the content of the neural representations in the minds of physicists considering some of the classical and post-classical physics concepts that characterize their understanding of the universe. In this discussion, we focus on the representations of post-classical concepts, which are the most recent and most abstract and have not been previously studied psychologically. The neural representations of both the post-classical and classical concepts were underpinned by four underlying neurosemantic dimensions, such that these two types of concepts were located at opposite ends of the dimensions. The neural representations of classical concepts tended to be underpinned by underlying dimensions of measurability of magnitude, association with a mathematical formulation, having a concrete, non-speculative basis, and in some cases, periodicity. By contrast, the post-classical concepts were located at the other ends of these dimensions, stated initially here in terms of what they are not (e.g. they are not periodic and not concrete). Below we discuss what they are.

The main new finding is the underlying neural dimension of representation pertaining to the concepts presence (in the case of the classical concepts) or absence (in the case of the post-classical concepts) of a concrete, non-speculative basis. The semantic characterization of this new dimension is supported by two sources of converging evidence. First, the brain imaging measurement of each concepts location on this underlying dimension (i.e. the concepts factor scores) converged with the behavioral ratings of the concepts degree of association with this dimension (as we have interpreted it) by an independent group of physicists. (This type of convergence occurred for the other three dimensions as well.) Second, the two types of concepts have very distinguishable neural signatures: a classifier can very accurately distinguish the mean of the post-classical concepts signatures from the mean of the classical concepts within each participant, with a grand mean accuracy of 0.93, p<0.001.

As physicists ventured into conceptually new territory in the 20th century and developed new post-classical concepts, their brains organized the new concepts with respect to a new dimension that had not played a role in the representation of classical concepts.

To describe what mental processes might characterize the post-classical end of this new dimension, it is useful to consider what attributes of the post-classical concepts could have led to their being neurally organized as they are and what cognitive and neural processes might operate on these attributes. Previously mentioned was that post-classical concepts often involve their immeasurability and their lower likelihood of being strongly associated with a mathematical formulation and periodicity, both of which are attributes that are often absent from post-classical concepts.

More informative than the absent attributes are four types of cognitive processes evoked by the post-classical concepts: (1) Reasoning about intangibles, taking into account their separation from direct experience and their lack of direct observability; (2) Assessing consilience with other, firmer knowledge; (3) Causal reasoning about relations that are not apparent or observable; and (4) Knowledge management of a large knowledge organization consisting of a multi-level structure of other concepts.

In addition to enabling the decoding of the content of the participants thoughts, whether they were thinking of dark matter or tachyon for example, the brain activation patterns are also informative about the concomitant psychological processes that operate on the concepts, in particular, the four processes listed above are postulated to co-occur specifically with the post-classical concepts. The occurrence of these processes was inferred from those locations of the voxel clusters associated with (having high loadings on) the classical/post-classical factor, specifically the factor locations where the activation levels increased for the post-classical concepts. (These voxel clusters are shown in Fig. 4, and their centroids are included in Table 2). Inferring a psychological process based on previous studies that observed activation in that location is called reverse inference. This can be an uncertain inferential method because many different processes or tasks can evoke activation at the same location. What distinguishes the current study are several sources of independent converging evidence, in conjunction with the brain locations associated with a factor (and not simply observed activation), indicating a particular process.

The factor clusters are encircled and numbered for ease of reference in the text and their centroids are included in Table 2. These locations correspond to the four classes of processes evoked by the post-classical concepts.

First, a statistically reliable decoding model predicted the activation levels for each concept in the factor locations, based on independent ratings of the concepts with respect to the postulated dimension/factor. The activation levels of the voxels in the factor locations were systematically modulated by the stimulus set, with the post-classical concepts, a specific subset of the stimuli eliciting the highest activation levels in these locations, resulting in the highest factor scores for this factor. Thus these brain locations were associated with an activation-modulating factor, not with a stimulus or a task. Second, the processes are consistent with the properties participants reported to have associated with the post-classical concepts. These properties provide converging evidence for these four types of processes occurring. For example, the concept of multiverse evoked properties related to assessing consilience, such as a hypothetical way to explain away constants. Another example is that tachyons and quasars were attributed with properties related to reasoning about intangibles, such as quasi-stellar objects. Third, the processes attributed to the factor locations were based not simply on an occasional previous finding, but on the large-scale meta-analysis (the Neurosynth database, Yarkoni et al.10) using the association based test feature. The association between the location and the process was based on the cluster centroid locations; particularly relevant citations are included in the factor descriptions. Each of the four processes is described in more detail below.

The nature of many of the post-classical concepts entails the consideration of alternative possible worlds. The post-classical factor location in the right temporal area (shown in cluster 5 in Fig. 4) has been associated with hypothetical or speculative reasoning in previous studies. In a hypothetical reasoning task, the left supramarginal factor location (shown in cluster 8) was activated during the generation of novel labels for abstract objects11. Additionally, the right temporal factor location (shown in cluster 5) was activated during the assessment of confidence in probabilistic judgments12.

Another facet of post-classical concepts is that they require the unknown or non-observable to be brought into consilience with what is already known. The right middle frontal cluster (shown in cluster 2) has been shown to be part of a network for integrating evidence that disconfirms a belief13. This consilience process resembles the comprehension of an unfolding narrative, where a new segment of the narrative must be brought into coherence with the parts that preceded it. When readers of a narrative judge the coherence of a new segment of text, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex location (shown in cluster 6) is activated14. This location is associated with a post-classical factor location, as shown in Fig. 4. Thus understanding the coherence of an unfolding narrative text might involve some of the same psychological and neural consilience-seeking processes as thinking about concepts like multiverse.

Thinking about many of the post-classical concepts requires the generation of novel types of causal inferences to link two events. In particular, the inherent role of the temporal relations in specifying causality between events is especially complex with respect to post-classical concepts. The temporal ordering itself of events is frame-dependent in some situations, despite causality being absolutely preserved, leading to counter-intuitive (though not counter-factual) conclusions. For example, in relativity theory the concept of simultaneity entails two spatially separated events that may occur at the same time for a particular observer but which may not be simultaneous for a second observer, and even the temporal ordering of the events may not be fixed for the second observer. Because the temporal order of events is not absolute, causal reasoning in post-classical terms must eschew inferencing on this basis, but must instead rely on new rules (laws) that lead to consilience with observations that indeed can be directly perceived.

Another example, this one from quantum physics, concerns a particle such as an electron that may be conceived to pass through a small aperture at some speed. Its subsequent momentum becomes indeterminate in such a way that the arrival location of the particle at a distant detector can only be described in probabilistic terms, according to new rules (laws) that are very definite but not intuitive. The perfectly calculable non-local wave function of the particle-like object is said to collapse upon arrival in the standard Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics. Increasingly elaborate probing of physical systems with one or several particles, interacting alone or in groups with their environment, has for decades elucidated and validated the non-intuitive new rules about limits and alternatives to classical causality in the quantum world. The fact that new rules regarding causal reasoning are needed in such situations was described as the heart of quantum mechanics and as containing the only mystery by Richard Feynman15.

Generating causal inferences to interconnect a sequence of events in a narrative text evokes activation in a right temporal and right frontal location (shown in clusters 3 and 4) which are post-classical factor locations16,17,18 as shown in Fig. 4. Causal reasoning accompanying perceptual events also activates a right middle frontal location (shown in cluster 3) and a right superior parietal location (shown in cluster 1)19. Notably, the right parietal activation is the homolog of a left parietal cluster associated with causal visualization1 found in undergraduates physics conceptualizations, suggesting that post-classical concepts may recruit right hemisphere homologs of regions evoked by classical concepts. Additionally, a factor location in the left supramarginal gyrus (shown in cluster 8) is activated in causal assessment tasks such as determining whether the causality of a social event was person-based (being a hard worker) or situation based (danger)20.

Although we have treated post-classical concepts such as multiverse as a single concept, it is far more complex than velocity. Multiverse entails the consideration of the uncertainty of its existence, the consilience of its probability of existence with measurements of matter in the universe, and the consideration of scientific evidence relevant to a multiverse. Thinking about large, multi-concept units of knowledge, such as the schema for executing a complex multi-step procedure evokes activation in medial frontal regions (shown in cluster 6)21,22. Reading and comprehending the description of such procedures (read, think about, answer questions, listen to, etc.) requires the reader to cognitively organize diverse types of information in a common knowledge structure. Readers who were trained to self-explain expository biological texts activated an anterior prefrontal cortex region (shown in cluster 7 in Fig. 4) during the construction of text models and strategic processing of internal representations23.

This underlying cognitive function of knowledge management associated with the post-classical dimension may generate and utilize a structure to manage a complex array of varied information that is essential to the concept. This type of function has been referred to as a Managerial Knowledge Unit22. As applied to a post-classical concept such as a tachyon, this knowledge management function would contain links to information to evaluate the possibility of the existence of tachyons, hypothetical particles that would travel faster than light-speed in vacuum. The concept invokes a structured network of simpler concepts (mass, velocity, light, etc.) that compose it. This constitutes a knowledge unit larger than a single concept.

Although the discussion has so far focused on the most novel dimension (the classical vs. post-classical), all four dimensions together compose the neural representation of each concept, which indicates where on each dimension a given concept is located (assessed by the concepts factor scores). The bar graphs of Fig. 5 show how the concepts at the extremes of the dimensions can appear at either extreme on several dimensions. These four dimensions are:

the classical vs. post-classical dimension, as described above, which is characterized by contrasting the intangible but consilient nature of post-classical concepts versus the quantifiable, visualizable, otherwise observable nature of classical concepts.

the measurability of a magnitude associated with a concept, that is, the degree to which it has some well-defined extent in space, time, or material properties versus the absence of this property.

the periodicity or oscillation which describes how many systems behave over time versus the absence of periodicity as an important element.

the degree to which a concept is associated with a mathematical formulation that formalizes the rules and principles of the behavior of matter and energy versus being less specified by such formalizations.

A concept may have a high factor score for more than one factor; for example, potential energy appears as measurable, mathematical, and on the classical end of the post-classical dimension. In contrast, multiverse appears as non-measurable, non-periodic, and post-classical.

The locations of the clusters of voxels with high loadings on each of the factors are shown in Fig. 6.

Colors differentiate the factors and greater color transparency indicates greater depth. Sample concepts from the two ends of the dimensions are listed. The post-classical factor locations include those whose activations were high for post-classical concepts (their locations are shown in Fig. 4) as well as those locations whose activations were high for classical concepts.

Classical concepts with high factor scores on the measurability factor, such as frequency, wavelength, acceleration, and torque, are all concepts that are often measured, using devices such as oscilloscopes and torque wrenches, whereas post-classical concepts such as duality and dark matter have an uncertainty of boundedness and no defined magnitude resulting in factor scores at the other end of the dimension. This factor is associated with parietal and precuneus clusters that are often found to be activated when people have to assess or compare magnitudes of various types of objects or numbers24,25,26, a superior frontal cluster that exhibits higher activation when people are comparing the magnitudes of fractions as opposed to decimals27, and an occipital-parietal cluster (dorsolateral extrastriate V3A) that activates when estimating the arrival time of a moving object28. Additional brain locations associated with this factor include left supramarginal and inferior parietal regions that are activated during the processing of numerical magnitudes;26 and left intraparietal sulcus and superior parietal regions activated during the processing of spatial information29. This factor was not observed in a previous study that included only classical concepts and hence the factor would not have differentiated among the concepts1.

The mathematical formulation factor is salient for concepts that are clearly associated with a mathematical formalization. The three concepts that are most strongly associated with this factor, commutator, Lagrangian, and Hamiltonian, are mathematical functions or operators. Cluster locations that are associated with this factor include: parietal regions that tend to activate in tasks involving mathematical representations30,31 and right frontal regions related to difficult mental calculations32,33. The parietal regions associated with the factor, which extend into the precuneus, activate in arithmetic tasks34. While most if not all physics concepts entail some degree of mathematical formulation, post-classical concepts such as quasar, while being measurable, are typically not associated with an algebraic formulation.

The periodicity factor is salient for many of the classical concepts, particularly those related to waves: wave function, light, radio waves, and gamma rays. This factor is associated with right hemisphere clusters and a left inferior frontal cluster, locations that resemble those of a similarly described factor in a neurosemantic analysis of physics concepts in college students1. This factor was also associated with a right hemisphere cluster in the inferior frontal gyrus and bilateral precuneus.

For all four underlying semantic dimensions, the brain activation-based orderings of the physics concepts with respect to their dimensions were correlated with the ratings of those concepts along those dimensions by independent physics faculty. This correlation makes it possible for a linear regression model to predict the activation pattern that will be evoked by future concepts in physicists brains. When a new physics concept becomes commonplace, (such as a new particle category, say, magnetic monopoliae), it should be possible to predict the brain activation that will be the neural signature of the magnetic monopole concept, based on how that concept is rated along the four underlying dimensions.

The neurosemantic conceptual space defined by the four underlying dimensions includes regions that are currently sparsely populated by existing concepts, but these regions may well be the site of some yet-to-be theorized concepts. It is also possible that as future concepts are developed, additional dimensions of neural representation may emerge, expanding the conceptual space that underpins the concepts in the current study.

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The neuroscience of advanced scientific concepts | npj Science of Learning - Nature.com

Neuroscience

Shape Therapeutics enters into a strategic research

October 12, 2021 medical

SEATTLE, Aug. 24, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shape Therapeutics Inc. (ShapeTX), a biotechnology company developing RNA technologies to shape the future of gene therapy, today announced a multi-target strategic collaboration and license agreement with Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY). Through this partnership ShapeTX will apply its proprietary RNA editing platform RNAfixand potentially leverage its AAVidtechnology platform for next-generation tissue-specific adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) for the development of gene therapy for certain targets in the areas of Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, and rare diseases.

During the course of the partnership, ShapeTX will conduct preclinical research to identify and deliver development candidates discovered by its AI-powered platforms RNAfixand, potentially, AAVid. Roche will be responsible for the development and worldwide commercialization of any potential products resulting from the collaboration.

Our mission at ShapeTX is to unlock the next breakthrough in RNA technologies in the gene therapy space across a wide range of therapeutic areas, said Francois Vigneault, PhD, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of ShapeTX. The relationship with Roche quickly centered on a common desire to tackle some of the worlds most challenging diseases by accelerating the development of breakthrough technologies towards the clinic.

We are excited by the disruptive potential of ShapeTXs RNA-editing approach based on natures own mechanism for specific base editing. This new collaboration is also perfectly aligned with our broader efforts across the Roche Group to unlock the full potential of gene therapy, said James Sabry, Head of Roche Pharma Partnering. We look forward to working with ShapeTX to create novel treatment options for neuroscience and rare disease indications.

Under the terms of the agreement, ShapeTX is eligible to receive an initial payment as well as development, regulatory and sales milestone payments, potentially exceeding $3 billion in aggregate value. ShapeTX is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on future sales of products resulting from the collaboration.

About Shape Therapeutics Inc.Shape Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing breakthrough RNA technologies to shape the future of gene therapy. The ShapeTX gene therapy platform is comprised of RNAskip, RNAfixand RNAswappayload technologies, next-generation tissue-specific AAViddelivery technology, and SquareBio, a solution for scalable gene therapy manufacturing based on industrialization of human stable cell lines. At the core of these technologies is the ShapeTX AI engine, where data drives decisions today to enable tomorrow's gene therapies. ShapeTX is committed to data-driven scientific advancement, passionate people, and a mission of providing lifelong cures to patients. Shape Life! shapetx.com

Contact Business Contact:Shape Therapeutics Inc.Cindy Fung, PhDcindy@shapetx.com

Media Contact:ID Public RelationsLydia Youmedia@shapetx.com

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Shape Therapeutics enters into a strategic research

Neuroscience

Meet Neumora, Arch’s $500M, Amgen-partnered play for the targeted future of neuroscience R&D – FierceBiotech

October 12, 2021 medical

Arch Venture Partners has taken the lid off its big bet on neuroscience. Having quietly put the startup together over the past 18 months, Thursday Arch unveiled Neumora Therapeuticsa biotech that starts life with $500 million, a collaboration with Amgen and a pipeline of eight prospects.

Neumora represents a test of the idea that neuroscience is on the cusp of the sort of rapid progress that has transformed oncology in recent years. If Neumora is right, recent advances in genomics and neurobiology have set the stage for more targeted modulation of the underlying biology of specific brain diseases, just as the oncology field has gone from targeting organs to zeroing in on molecularly defined diseases.

We recognized an opportunity to build a proprietary toolbox of state-of-the-art neural network technologies, which uniquely positions us to pioneer a new era in precision medicines for brain diseases by integrating data science and neuroscience, Lori Lyons-Williams, chief operating officer at Neumora, said.

Armed with the platform, Neumora aims to match the right patients to targeted therapeutics, Lyons-Williams said, enabling it to de-risk clinical trials and improve outcomes for patients. Unlike most newly unveiled biotechs, Neumora is already in a position to start putting its ideas to the test in the clinic.

RELATED: As Amgen zeroes in on cancer, neuroscience pipeline under the ax

The startup begins life with a pipeline of eight candidates, two of which are in the clinic, and more than $500 million to fund their development. Most of the money comes from an Arch-led syndicate.

Some of the assets, targeting casein kinase 1 delta and glucocerebrosidase, and $100 million of the cash come from Amgen, which pulled out of neuroscience R&D in 2019. The Big Biotechs retreat from the hard-to-crack therapeutic area opened the door to a deal with Neumora. Amgen will use its deCODE genetics and human data research capabilities to feed insights into Neumoras precision neuroscience platform.

Neumora put together the rest of the pipeline by rolling up privately held companies including BlackThorn Therapeutics. Arch led a $40 million series A round in BlackThorn in 2016 and went on to participate in a $76 million series B in 2019. The rounds positioned BlackThorn, under the leadership of a team featuring Paul Berns, to advance targeted therapeutics for mental health.

BlackThorn is now part of Neumora, and Berns is CEO of the combined company, slotting in at the head of a C-suite that features John Dunlop, Ph.D., formerly of Amgen, in the chief scientific officer role. Other posts are filled by former employees of companies including Alexion and BlackThorn. As it stands, BlackThorn is still listed as the sponsor of a phase 2 clinical trial that is testing kappa opioid receptor antagonist BTRX-335140 in patients with major depressive disorder. The 180-subject study is scheduled to wrap up next summer, according to ClinicalTrials.gov.

RELATED: Fierce 15 2017 | BlackThorn Therapeutics

BTRX-335140, now known as NMRA-140, is joined in Neumoras clinical-phase pipeline by NMRA-511, a selective V1aR antagonist that is in phase 1 development as a treatment of anxiety disorders. Neumoras preclinical pipeline addresses sleep, neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.

Building a pipeline that has mental health programs alongside drugs targeting neurodegenerative diseases sets Neumora apart from most of its predecessors. However, while acknowledging that the industry has historically kept neuropsychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases separate, Lyons-Williams thinks current knowledge supports a more unified approach.

The reality is that these are all diseases of one organ, the brain, and there are mechanistic overlaps and comorbidities across these diseases. We believe our multi-modal data science approach captures unique insights across a range of disease drivers including genetic, imaging and clinical that can be applicable across brain diseases, Lyons-Williams said.

Neumora will soon be in a position to start delivering some early wins, or losses. Data drops on the two clinical programs are planned for 2022 and 2023, Lyons-Williams said, and multiple INDs are on the schedule for the next few years. Neumora plans to advance the pipeline prospects while building out its platform, including by adding more data sets and expanding its data science efforts.

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Meet Neumora, Arch's $500M, Amgen-partnered play for the targeted future of neuroscience R&D - FierceBiotech

Neuroscience

The Facts on ALS – Articles and Videos, Featured, Health Topics, Neuroscience – Hackensack Meridian Health

October 12, 2021 medical

October 11, 2021

ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a debilitating disease that affects motor nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. This causes a wide variety of symptoms, but most commonly and universally, people with ALS experience progressive muscle weakening and paralysis. As many as 30,000 people in the United States have ALS, and about 5,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.

You may have heard of ALS due to the Ice Bucket Challenge, or even as its previously common name, Lou Gehrigs disease. Here are answers to some of the most common questions asked about ALS.

No. Unfortunately there is no way to prevent ALS, says Mary Sedarous, M.D., neuromuscular medicine specialist and director of the ALS Center at Jersey Shore University Medical Center and assistant professor, Department of Neurology, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. For many people with ALS, there is not even a clear identifying cause of the disease. Researchers have studied numerous potential causes, such as diet, lifestyle and environment, among others. However, to this date, no clear reason has been identified.

For other patients with ALS, the cause is genetic. For about 5 to 10 percent of people with ALS, there is a clear genetic line to another family member with ALS. This is called familial ALS.

Genetic testing can be done for ALS, says Dr. Sedarous. I recommend discussing your options with a genetic counselor before undergoing the testing process.

Because there is no clear identifying cause for many cases of ALS, it is difficult to pinpoint risk factors, says neurologist Florian Thomas, M.D., Ph.D., co-director of the ALS Center and professor and founding Chair, Department of Neurology, Hackensack University Medical Center and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. Dr. Thomas explains that the clearest risk factor is having a family history of ALS.

That being said, Dr. Thomas points to some other factors to consider:

It is hard to say. Currently there is no cure for ALS, but that is not due to lack of effort from doctors and researchers.

Research is ongoing, and treatments and medications that help slow the effects of ALS are continually being discovered, says Dr. Thomas. Today, ALS treatment is an interprofessional undertaking that includes respiratory support, medication, physical therapy, speech therapy, assistive devices and other forms of treatment and support. And at Hackensack, we are pursuing a small, phase 1 study that seeks to show that re-educating the bone marrow to produce less neuro-inflammation may be helpful in ALS.

The material provided through HealthU is intended to be used as general information only and should not replace the advice of your physician. Always consult your physician for individual care.

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The Facts on ALS - Articles and Videos, Featured, Health Topics, Neuroscience - Hackensack Meridian Health

Neuroscience

Research Fellow, Imaging/Cognitive Neuroscience job with ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON | 268065 – Times Higher Education (THE)

October 12, 2021 medical

Department of Psychology

Location: EghamSalary: 36,438 to 38,516 per annum - including London AllowancePostType: Full TimeClosingDate: 23.59 hours GMT on Monday 01 November 2021Reference: 0921-345

Full-Time, Fixed-Term

Applications are invited for the post of Research Fellow in the Psychology Department.

We are seeking an enthusiastic, productive and highly-skilled early-career scientist for a postdoctoral research position linked to a recently awarded BBSRC grant held jointly across Royal Holloway, University of London, and Cardiff University (e.g., Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, CUBRIC). This exciting project will apply state-of-the-art 7-Tesla MRI (and connectom diffusion MRI) to examine the functional neuroanatomy and connectivity of the human subiculum and broader hippocampal network. The studies will focus primarily on the fine-grained mapping of hippocampal network connectivity, as well as developing novel naturalistic cognitive paradigms to examine how the subiculum constructs representations of scenes and events.

The successful candidate will join a multi-disciplinary research team across Royal Holloway and Cardiff University and will be expected to work closely with a second postdoctoral researcher based at CUBRIC. This will include conceptualisation, implementation, design/analysis and dissemination of multimodal neuroimaging studies, as well as other activities linked to the grant (e.g., arranging regular online meetings, public engagement, supporting early-career researchers/students). The post-holder will also be expected to spend time at the partner institution when feasible. In line with our commitment to open science, they will be expected to implement reliable, reproducible, and efficient approaches to data management, thus ensuring the long-term value of these data for the wider neuroimaging community. There will also be the opportunity to analyse existing in-house and publicly available multimodal imaging datasets across human and nonhuman primates (structural/diffusion MRI, 3T/7T resting and task-fMRI). The research fellow will be expected to provide mentorship and support to junior researchers and students in the team on imaging data analyses.

Successful applicants will have a Ph.D. in cognitive/imaging neuroscience, experimental psychology, or related field (e.g., computational neuroscience or computer science). Strong skills in advanced statistical methods (e.g., MVPA, intersubject correlation analysis and/or network analyses), manuscript preparation, and working closely with other institutions are essential. A primary interest in the neuroscience of memory and spatial navigation and/or the analysis of existing large-sample datasets is desirable.

This full-time position is available to start as soon as possible. This is a fixed-term post until 30/09/2024.

Informal enquiries may be made to Dr Carl Hodgetts (carl.hodgetts@rhul.ac.uk) or Prof Andrew Lawrence (lawrencead@cardiff.ac.uk) and more information about the project can be found here:https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FV010549%2F1.

To find out more about Dr Carl Hodgetts Connected Memory Lab at Royal Holloway, please visitwww.connectedmemorylab.com. You can also visit the websites ofProf Andrew Lawrence(co-PI),Dr Jiaxiang Zhang,Prof Kim Graham, andProf John Aggletonto find out more about the work of the co-investigators.

In return we offer a highly competitive rewards and benefits package including:

The post is based in Egham, Surrey where the College is situated in a beautiful, leafy campus near to Windsor Great Park and within commuting distance from London. As described above, the post will also require the research fellow to some spend time at Cardiff University for research activities such as data collection and project meetings.

To view further details of this post and to apply please visithttps://jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk. For queries on the application process the Human Resources Department can be contacted by email at:recruitment@rhul.ac.uk

Facilities

The Psychology Department, located in Egham, close to Central London, has an excellent research profile (rated 6th in the latest Research Excellence Framework) and benefits from state-of-the-art research facilities (e.g. MRI, TMS, EEG, cognitive behavioural testing suites, Babylab). Data collection and regular meetings will take place at the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), which houses a unique combination of state-of-the-art facilities and world-leading expertise, with 4 human MRI systems (2 x Siemens Prisma, 1 x Siemens Connectom, 1 x Siemens 7T), MEG, EEG, TMS, tDCS, clinical research units and testing labs. Further details of CUBRIC can be found on their webpage (http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/cubric).

Please quote the reference: 0921-345

Closing Date: Midnight, 1st November 2021

Interview Date: TBC

Furtherdetails: JobDescription PersonSpecification

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Research Fellow, Imaging/Cognitive Neuroscience job with ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON | 268065 - Times Higher Education (THE)

Neuroscience

The 6 best habits to keep your brain fit, according to neuroscience – BBC Science Focus Magazine

October 12, 2021 medical

If youve ever had the feeling that you arent as sharp as you used to be perhaps you get frustrated that you cant put a name to an actor or politician who has been in the news, for instance, or maybe youre not as quick at mental arithmetic as you were it might have given you pause for thought about your brains fitness and whether its all downhill from here.

Its true that the brain typically finishes developing in our twenties, after which there is a gradual cognitive slowing with age, so its good to start thinking about these things early. Later in life, there is also the risk of dementia, caused by diseases such as Alzheimers; inevitably, countries with ageing populations are now witnessing rising rates of dementia.

Thankfully, however, rates of cognitive slowing and dementia risk are both influenced by what experts call modifiable risk factors. In short, theres reason to be optimistic because there are things you can do lifestyle habits you can adopt to maintain your brain sharpness and protect yourself from risk of dementia.

Stay mentally active to build your cognitive reserve

Psychologists and gerontologists refer to a concept known as cognitive reserve which is essentially your brains ability to adapt in the face of ageing or illness.

For instance, if a person has high cognitive reserve, then even if they show some of the biological markers of Alzheimers (such as the clumps of protein that accumulate and harm brain function), its possible they will still perform well on tests of their mental performance. Its as if they have spare mental capacity that allows them to cope with the damage.

Importantly, there are many activities you can adopt that are considered to build your cognitive reserve, such as reading, playing musical instruments or singing, completing challenging puzzles, learning a second language and travelling. Put simply, there really is truth to the old adage to use it or lose it.

Linking mysteries of neuroscience with caring for mental health | Opinion – Sun Sentinel

October 12, 2021 medical

These collaborations are essential to overcoming the disparities between physical and mental health care and creating a movement for understanding that taking care of our brains is just as important as taking care of our bodies. Its a movement we co-created with community partners, research institutes, theSouth Florida Science Center and AquariumandFlorida Atlantic Universitys Stiles-Nicholson Brain Instituteover the past five years through the annualTrain the Braincampaign.Train the Brain, Connecting Brain Science, Community & Care, is offering the last of two virtual educational events featuring Amishi Jha, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of Miami and director of Contemplative Neuroscience for the Mindfulness Research and Practice Initiative, at 1 p.m. Oct. 19.

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Linking mysteries of neuroscience with caring for mental health | Opinion - Sun Sentinel

Neuroscience

A Collection of Essays Considers Resonance in the Arts – Columbia University

October 12, 2021 medical

Q. What is artistic resonance, and how does the concept create pathways between artistic forms and/or academic fields?

A. In my search for the most basic task of the theater experience, I came to understand that it is resonance that matters most. Our job as theater artists is to create the conditions in which resonanceliterally, vibrationcan happen between actors and the audiences bodies, minds, and senses. As I studied the phenomena of resonance, I realized that, in fact, all the arts are only as successful as the resonance that they generate with those on the receiving end.

Q. What are you most looking forward to seeing during New York's fall cultural season? Will you attend live theater?

A. I am trepidatious about being in packed rooms, but I shall tread carefully back to live performance. I am finished with Zoom performances. I am looking forward to Bill T. Jones production ofDeep Blue Seaat the Park Avenue Armory. Also,Pass OverandDana H.andIs This a Roomon Broadway.

Q. What is the last great book you read, and why?

A. I am currently enjoying Louis MenandsThe Free World. Also,The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brainby Annie Murphy Paul was a complete revelation this summer and a delightful book of highly readable neuroscience.

Q. What's on your night table to read next?

A. I am reading a great deal about the poets in Russia who were highly influential prior to the Russian Revolution. These include Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Alexander Blok, Osip Mandelstam, Sergei Yesenin, Velimir Khlebnikov, and Vladimir Mayakovsky. This delicious reading is research for a project that I am directing entitledBeautiful Lady, a musical by Elizabeth Swados and Paul Schmitt.

Q. What are you teaching this semester?

A. I am teaching four classes:Directing 1 is essentially a composition class in which first-year directing students produce one short play per week.For the second-year directing students, I am co-teaching Collaboration 2 with David Henry Hwang and Christian Parker. I am also teaching a Visiting Artists course in which illustrious theater professionals come to our class each week. And along with Brian Kulick, I am co-teaching a class with New York University design professors in which our directing students work with NYU set, lighting, and costume designer students.

Q. You're hosting a dinner party. Which three scholars or academics, dead or alive, would you invite, and why?

A. bell hooks, Steven Pinker, and Oliver Sacks. What would happen then?

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