From: Liz Seckel To: [email protected] Subject: Greetings Jeff- from Rama Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 03:26:41 +0000 Attachments: A_proposal_to_advance_our_understanding_of The_Human_Brain_in_Health_and_Disease .doc Greetings Jeff! I am glad that Al Seckel put us back in touch and we had the opportunity to talk about neuroscience and other matters. It was almost as though we were simply resuming our conversation from where we left off 12 years ago. I am pleasantly surprised you remembered our conversations not just about brains but also about muses (Yes I agree the muse represents one of the fundamental constants of the universe!). I am also pleased to hear that one of your current missions is to fund unconventional approaches to neuroscience research. You asked what I thought the major breakthroughs were in the last decade. I am taking the liberty of attaching an informal grant proposal. Last year, the center received "seed money" of $300,000 from a private source, which provides a starting point for expansion of work in our area. Our long-term goal is to attract funds up to $5 million; this would allow the CBC to become financially self-sustaining. While the pace of progress has been exhilarating, we still do not understand many of the basic functions of the brain, such as how we recognize faces, why we dream, sleep, laugh, and how we read and remember. Additionally, although our own interest is mainly theoretical, people who have sustained damage to the nervous system through either disease or injury feel a particular urgency to advance our understanding of how to recover lost function and live without pain. The CBC has three overlapping agendas: 1.Basic research — understanding how the activity of neurons gives rise to all the richness of our mental life and the whole spectrum of abilities we call human nature. Not just lofty aspects of our minds like morality and judgment but such "elementary" functions as recognizing a face or