Annual Reports

Our Annual Reports create an overview of our development through the years and offer insight into the types of projects we support. While each Annual Report highlights the achievements of a few outstanding researchers, we’re immensely proud of all of our recipients and will continue to fund top-quality science that will produce tangible results in years to come.

Annual Report 2008-2009

Read about the vital work being done by these researchers (made possible by the Brain Research Foundation):

Results from his 2008 BRF Seed Grant study enabled David J. Freedman, Ph.D., to submit a proposal to the National Science Foundation. In 2010, Dr. Freedman was awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER award for junior faculty. This award is a 5 year grant in the amount of $950,000. Dr. Freedman’s research will help us understand the mechanisms that underlie learning, memory and recognition.

Dean M. Hartley, Ph.D. is testing his hypothesis that “silent” or very mild seizures are involved in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. If this is correct, current anti-epileptic drugs may be useful in treating the disease.

In 1984, Benjamin B. Lahey, Ph.D. published a paper in which he hypothesized that mothers who abuse their children may have a lower threshold for child misbehavior and may react more punitively to it. Twenty-five years later, advancements in technology and a 2009 Brain Research Foundation Seed Grant have allowed him to test this important hypothesis.

According to the World Health Organization, as many as 450 million people worldwide suffer from a mental or behavioral disorder. Chunyu Liu, Ph.D., is trying to make a difference in the lives of so many by determining the link between genetic factors, environmental factors and neuropsychiatric diseases. Dr. Liu was awarded a BRF Seed Grant in 2008. To date, the data from this grant has generated nine research articles in journals such as American Journal of Human Genetics, Behavior Genetics and Molecular Psychiatry.

Schizophrenia is an inherited disorder, in that, if a family member is affected by schizophrenia, the other members have an increased risk of developing the disease as well. Jill A. Morris, Ph.D., studies a schizophrenia susceptibility gene, DISC1, which was initially identified in a large Scottish family with members who suffered from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and recurrent major depression.

The 2009 Brain Research Foundation grant awarded to Jeremy Amiel Rosenkranz, Ph.D., was very important to his work. Not only did it allow him to pursue a novel research idea, it was also his first grant as a principle investigator of his own lab. He’s using his grant to understand how stress impacts depression. Ultimately, this work could lead to the identification of a new pharmacological target for the prevention and treatment of emotional disorders.

Dane M. Chetkovich, M.D., Ph.D. is working on a gene therapy treatment for epilepsy that may one day help patients who are otherwise resistant to medical and surgical therapy. With his 2009 BRF Seed Grant, Dr. Chetkovich generated enough data early on that allowed him to submit a grant proposal to NIH. In 2010, he was awarded an R21 (an exploratory/developmental research grant provided by NIH) in the amount of $275,000.

Annual Report Archive

Annual Report 2008 -2009

Annual Report 2006–2007

Annual Report 2004–2005

Annual Report 2002–2003

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