Chapman University’s new Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Science, which officially launched last month, received a $7 million grant to study how the human brain enables conscious control of decisions and actions.
The funding came from the John Templeton Foundation and Fetzer Institute. The university said it’s the largest nonfederal research grant to date.
The grant aims to help the institute address fundamental questions of human experience, such as “Do we have free will? Are we, in fact, free to do what we wish? What is the role of consciousness in our decision?” Dr. Amir Raz, professor of psychology and brain sciences and director of the Brain Institute, said in a statement.
The project is led by Dr. Uri Maoz, assistant professor of psychology and computational neuroscience.
He said the grant aims to create “a new field in the study of the brain—the neurophilosophy of free will.”
Research will be conducted at the Brain Institute, which is part of Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences on Chapman’s Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science campus at 14725 Alton Parkway in Irvine.
The grant, with Chapman’s Brain Institute at the center, supports 17 universities spanning across four continents, including Monash University in Australia and University of Edinburgh in the U.K.
Telemeter Devices Gets Upgrade
Medical device maker Nihon Khoden Corp. teamed up with AT&T (NYSE: T) to develop a prototype for a cellular travel pack that captures patient vitals data. The telemeter device automatically toggles between a hospital’s Wi-Fi network and cellular LTE network, depending on which signal is stronger. This ensures the device will capture uninterrupted vital signs data as a patient moves about the hospital and even outdoors.
The Japanese patient monitoring device maker has its U.S. headquarters in Irvine, where it employs 137.
Dallas-based AT&T said in a statement that those near real-time data insights are useless if staff cannot locate patients experiencing a medical emergency and so its Foundry team in Houston has built in a GPS solution for more precise location tracking both inside and outside the hospital. If the device sends an alarm, hospital staffs can quickly and accurately provide in-person assistance.
It said it has also developed a web interface for managing the device remotely.
AT&T said it’s in a trial on this technology with Nihon Khoden, which has its own wireless patient monitoring devices.
ICU Medical Issues Recall
San Clemente-based infusion therapy product maker ICU Medical Inc. (Nasdaq: ICUI) recently issued a voluntary recall of certain lots of its ChemoLock and ChemoClave Vial Spikes. The company said the affected product lot has the potential to detach and in rare circumstances, cause a sudden blockage of an artery that may damage organs or lead to a stroke.
It said the cause came from the protective cap used in the assembly of the device.
ICU Medical said it has not received any reports of adverse events related to this matter and is issuing this notification out of caution.
Shares of the company have declined more than 5% since the news was announced on Feb. 25, currently trading at $237 for a $4.9 billion market cap.
