Since the launch of the BRAINnet Foundation, BRAINnet has continued to grow and now has than 225 members registered within its network.

Key to its growth has been the website development, especially the ‘under the hood’ functionality for proposals and requests. Charlotte Morris has made this possible and has been the lead in the website developments.

Charlotte has been with us for 5 years and is now moving on to a new role.  We are sure you will join me in thanking Charlotte for her superb job for navigating these developments so well, supporting our research, and dealing with all of our queries.

As part of this transition we will be undergoing a restructure within BRAINnet operations coordination personnel. This re-structure will be aimed in providing further resources to support the Foundation and its future endeavors and research.

During this time operations will be working on a reduced capacity. All projects, proposals and data requests will remain in the system and will continue to be processed, but are likely to take their maximal processing time.

Emails directed to BRAINnet@brainnet.net will continue to be attended to along with the BRAINnet 24 hour phone service +1-877-572-4003.

We appreciate your consideration and patience during this transition and restructure.

Kind Regards,

BRAINnet.

This Foundation status provides independent governance for BRAINnet and a mechanism for grant applications.

The Foundation was launched at the Mayflower Action Group meeting in Oct 09 – and reported in Molecular Psychiatry – Personalized medicine for the brain: a call for action.

BRAINnet Foundation will continue to oversee www.BRAINnet.net. We’ve completed a great deal of work ‘under the hood’ for the website data request/membership operations. Going forward we’ll be focusing on the public face of the website.

We’d value any suggestions you may have.

Kind Regards,

BRAINnet Administration

Please note that BRAINnet will be working at a reduced capacity over the next 2 weeks, returning to full functionality on the 5th January 2010.

Any website submissions in that period will still be logged and processed as a priority on return.

BRAINnet wishes you a safe and happy holiday season.

All the best for 2010.

Cheers,

BRAINnet

The BRAINnet website upgrade continues as scheduled. The Publication System has been launched (see next item).

Please note that the summary numbers available on the homepage are interim values. The total numbers will be available once the website upgrade and publication system have been completed.

BRAINnet Publication System Launch!

As part of the website upgrade, the BRAINnet publication system has been launched. It uses the PubMed server.

Over the next 4 weeks, BRAINnet will be adding your publications to this system.  We seek your help in confirming those publications relevant to BRAINnet outcomes.

Publications with your name as author will appear on the “My Publications” section of your User Dashboard.
Please confirm those that have been undertaken as part of your BRAINnet membership.

BRAINnet Administration will help by confirming on your behalf those that are already part of the records from our previous website.

Once confirmed, your papers will become part of the BRAINnet publications data base. This database is search-able by Title/Year/Author and Keyword through the “Publications” menu on the homepage.

For further details on how this publication system works see http://www.brainnet.net/publications/.

BRAINnet on leave

Please note that BRAINnet Administration is on leave for October 17 to November 2nd.  Any website submissions in that period will still be logged and processed as a priority on return.

As part of the BRAINnet website upgrade, the following schedules for new functionality will occur:

August 1st to August 10th

Transition of administrative functions: Proposals and data requests will not be processed during this transition, but will be attended to upon its completion.

August 11th to September 14th

Content editing & new functions: Release of new member functions such as publication tracking

We hope you have enjoyed exploring and navigating the updated site so far.

– BRAINnet Administration

The aim of this updated site is to provide a new fresh approach to the management of BRAINnet and its resources.  The new look design is intended to provide a stronger framework for the BRAINnet community by both enhancing the sites transparency and providing a workable space by which BRAINnet members can come and interact, easily access data, manage their projects, and collaborate with their colleagues worldwide.

This new, user friendly, interface has been developed to manage the significant growth in BRAINnet membership and outcomes. There have also been further updates to include a space for new information that specifies the advantages of BRAINnet. This includes the number of datasets available, and the types of data.

As part of the redesign, we have added more intuitive user management systems. This includes an improved guided system for submitting projects, paper proposals and accessing the data. Functionality that automatically updates your publication outcomes through direct communication with the PubMed online database will also be added very soon!

New users can now also apply for membership online through the “How to Join” link on the homepage. Membership applications will be reviewed and (upon approval) activated ready for use.

To help increase clarity within the site BRAINnet members can now post and reply to comments throughout the website. Comments can be made throughout the proposal submission and data request process directly. Comments can be made on a member/administration level (i.e. queries and questions) but also by other BRAINnet members during the paper proposal approval process through the use of the new, open and transparent website voting/comment approval process.

Members can now also initiate and participate in open online discussion forums with other BRAINnet members in their field. Members can select to follow, join in and create discussions as they wish.

If you have any further suggestions or queries regarding the site please contact BRAINnet@brainresource.com.