PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), the leading Democratic appropriator for scientific research and author of the just-enacted neuroscience research initiative, will visit two research laboratories in Philadelphia's University City Science Center on Monday morning and explore their cutting-edge research in the neurosciences.
The labs are Monell Chemical Senses Center and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Congressman Fattah is the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies. He authored an initiative - approved by Congress and signed by President Obama - that declares neuroscience research as a federal priority to be coordinated with White House oversight.
Monell Chemical Senses Center, 3500 Market Street, Philadelphia on Monday Dec. 12 at 9:30 a.m.
The Monell Chemical Senses Center is the world's leading independent research organization dedicated to the science of taste and smell. The Center's cutting-edge research unravels the mysteries of these primal senses to benefit human health and well-being.
From early determinants of infant flavor preferences to disease detection through olfaction, Monell's science is predicated on a true multidisciplinary approach, with approximately 25 percent of the Center's scientists utilizing neuroscience in their research. During Congressman Fattah's visit, he will tour five labs that represent a range of approaches and health-related applications related to the senses of taste and smell.
Akiva Cohen Laboratory, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Abramson Research Center, 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia on Monday Dec. 12 at 11:30 a.m.
Akiva S. Cohen, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, studies traumatic brain injury-which accounts for permanent disabilities in more than five million Americans, including soldiers and people injured in car crashes and other accidents. He will brief Congressman Fattah on the lab's work.
Based on the lab's promising results in laboratory studies, Dr. Cohen's research group is working to design clinical trials that might improve cognitive functioning in people injured by concussions. It could potentially lead to a dietary supplement that patients could drink-the first effective treatment for cognitive impairments suffered by people with traumatic brain injuries.
SOURCE Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah