17 Jan 2014

The 2014 U.S. budget, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on January 16, contains some good news for Alzheimer’s researchers, with an additional $80 million earmarked to the National Institute on Aging, according to government documents. The bulk of this money is expected to be directed to Alzheimer’s research, in accordance with the National Alzheimer’s Plan (see Jan 2012 news story; Feb 2012 news story). An additional $22 million has been set aside for Alzheimer’s disease education, outreach, and caregiver support. 

These allocations add to one-off awards of $50 million in 2012 (see Feb 2012 news story) and $45 million in 2013 (see Sep 2013 news story) for Alzheimer’s research. The new awards help to offset some of the damage done by the 2013 sequestration (see Oct 2013 news story). 

In addition, the budget funds the National Institutes of Health’s Brain Research through the Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. This project, formerly called the Brain Activity Map Project, seeks to understand how neurons work together to produce complex behaviors, and represents an investment in basic neuroscience technologies that may indirectly benefit Alzheimer’s research (see Feb 2013 news story; Sep 2013 Science article).—Madolyn Bowman Rogers