NIH Neurobiologists on Same Campus Rely On Social Networking Technology to Meet Each Other
Dr. Saverio Gentile, a Visiting Fellow in the Neurobiology laboratory of the NIEHS/NIH works in a lab in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Dr. Jerrel Louis Yakel, Ion Channel Physiology Group Laboratory of Neurobiology, and Elaine Gay, Ph.D., Postdoctoral IRTA Fellow, work together at the NIH in a different field from Dr. Gentile. All work on the same vast NIH institute campus.
They met each other in the past year, not bumping into each other in the hallway or on campus, but rather online. Dr. Gentile was beginning to study the effects of a specific nicotine receptor in the brain and needed further specialized research. Using Within3, a private professional networking site exclusively for health and life-science practitioners, he was able to find, connect and collaborate with the right colleagues, right away. Within3 allows professional organizations, like PrometeoNetwork of which all three Ph.D’s are members, to establish online communities to accelerate research and improve patient outcomes. In this case, online professional networking allowed three professionals to make connections that otherwise would have never happened.
As a result of the collaboration between the three colleagues, Dr. Saverio has been invited to present his data to the prestigious conference “Neuroscience 2008″ November 15-19 in Washington, DC.
Dr. Gentile commented, “In an effort to understand how nicotine mediates its effects in the brain, I started working with Dr. Yakel and Dr. Gay, who are also experts in the field of neurobiology. Through our collaboration on Within3, we have discovered a new important mechanism through which nicotinic receptors bind nicotine. As a result of our efforts, we have a deeper insight into how nicotine directly affects the human body.”
http://neuroscience.nih.gov/Lab.asp?Org_ID=473
The NIH is home to one of the largest neuroscience research centers in the world. Over 150 laboratories, originating from eleven different Institutes, conduct research in the basic, translational, and clinical neurosciences. Through scientific collaboration, Pre- and Postdoctoral Training Programs, jointly sponsored Seminar Series and Special Interest Groups, scientists at NIH contribute to a vital and growing neuroscience research community. This website represents an inter-institute effort to convey, on an NIH wide basis, the research being conducted in the neurosciences. The specific areas of neuroscience research represented within this site range over a broad spectrum within the biological sciences including biophysics, molecular and cellular neurobiology, synapses and circuits, neuronal development, integrative neuroscience, brain imaging and both neurological and psychiatric disorders.
About PrometeoNetwork
The mission of PrometeoNetwork is to provide researchers in Life Sciences and Clinicians with a free scientific community online, where they can be able to interact with each other and cluster in groups, even forming their own ones. It can be accessed at www.prometeonetwork.com.
About Within3
Within3 is the private professional networking site exclusively for health and life-science practitioners to find, connect and collaborate with the right colleague, right now. Membership is free and by invitation only. Within3 can be accessed at www.within3.com.