(Jul. 12) – Among the eight projects that will receive the James McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award this year there is the one presented by Marcello Massimini, a researcher of the Department of Clinical and Biomedical Science from the University of Milan. For the first time, one of the eight annual awards goes to a researcher related to an Italian university. The U.S. foundation – one of the most active in the field of neuroscience – has completed the selection process of projects from around the world by assigning an approved funding of 600,000 dollars to the project “Consciousness and brain complexity: from theory to practice”. Driven by a solid theoretical foundation, the project aims to identify the basic mechanisms of consciousness, its reduction and its recovery under physiological (sleep), pharmacological (anesthesia) and pathological conditions (coma). The experimental design postulates that consciousness depends on the complexity of neuronal interactions that occur within the brain and measuring this type of complexity involves the use of cutting-edge brain imaging methods (magnetic, optical and electrophysiological) and the development of new empirical measures. The ultimate goal of the project is to bring together theoretical neuroscience and clinical practice, for the benefit of patients that, following severe brain injury, are suffering from consciousness disorders. (Peg)
