Allen Institute for Brain Science Announces 2015 Next Generation Leaders

SEATTLE, Oct. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Allen Institute for Brain Science announces the newest cohort of Next Generation Leaders: a group of six distinguished young researchers who will provide feedback in both formal and informal settings to young scientists at the Allen Institute. The program recognizes the outstanding and innovative contributions from emerging scientific leaders and fosters professional development by providing opportunities and informal training on how to serve as scientific advisors.

"We are very pleased to welcome this group of impressive young scientists as advisors to the Allen Institute," says Christof Koch, President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Allen Institute for Brain Science. "Their caliber and fresh perspectives make them valuable additions to our team and we look forward to hearing their feedback as well as providing guidance as they build their own careers."

"At the Allen Institute, we want to hear the voices of the best young scientists in our fields," says Julie Harris, Assistant Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. "Our Next Generation Leaders are taking truly creative and innovative approaches to solving the most important and difficult questions in neuroscience."

Next Generation Leaders are selected each year through a competitive application process from a pool of international applicants. This second cohort of Next Generation Leaders includes members from institutions around the globe, each of whom will serve a three-year term on the council.

"The Allen Institute's second round of Next Generation Leaders is absolutely outstanding—not only in the quality of the science these six young people represent, but also in the impressive breadth of approaches," says Ralph Adolphs, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the California Institute of Technology. "Their dialogue is exactly what's needed in our collective effort to understand the brain."

The Next Generation Leaders council will convene at this year's Showcase symposium, held in Seattle Dec. 2-3, 2015. The new members will give presentations on their work and meet with Allen Institute researchers. Additional responsibilities of the Next Generation Leaders include attending a primary advisory council meeting at the Allen Institute in Seattle once per year, to provide feedback on Institute research projects that helps the Allen Institute plan and adopt the best methods for meeting its scientific goals.

The newly appointed Next Generation Leaders Advisory Council members are:

• Eiman Azim, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Neuroscience, Columbia University
• Jennifer Garrison, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
• Michael Halassa, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, The Neuroscience Institute, New York University
• Evan Macosko, M.D., Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Genetics, Harvard Medical School
• Lucy Palmer, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, The Florey Institute for Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Michael Yartsev, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Bioengineering, Nanosciences and Nanoengineering, University of California, Berkeley

About the Allen Institute for Brain Science
The Allen Institute for Brain Science (www.alleninstitute.org) is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit medical research organization dedicated to accelerating the understanding of how the human brain works in health and disease. Using a big science approach, the Allen Institute generates useful public resources used by researchers and organizations around the globe, drives technological and analytical advances, and discovers fundamental brain properties through integration of experiments, modeling and theory. Launched in 2003 with a seed contribution from founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen, the Allen Institute is supported by a diversity of government, foundation and private funds to enable its projects. Given the Institute's achievements, Mr. Allen committed an additional $300 million in 2012 for the first four years of a ten-year plan to further propel and expand the Institute's scientific programs, bringing his total commitment to date to $500 million. The Allen Institute's data and tools are publicly available online at www.brain-map.org.

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SOURCE Allen Institute