Hi everyone! Below is the content of the February Data Community Newsletter we sent out via email on February 4. Let us know if you didn’t receive it, or if you have topics you’d like to see in future newsletters!
February 2025 Data Community Newsletter
Community Updates
We recently made updates to our community guidelines and policies, as well as added new technical features on Discourse. We hope these resources prove helpful to you in navigating and participating in our community! To ensure our platform and policies continue to be driven by community need and interest, we would appreciate any feedback you may have. To do so, please reach out either to @gginnan (Community Manager) or @jgottesman (Community Director), or send us an email at researchcommunity@michaeljfox.org.
- Community Updates
Resources & Ongoing Conversations
- @malosco is looking for a collaborator for his PhD student who is studying Fox Insight data to explore the relationship between the soccer-related head trauma and Parkinson’s disease outcomes.
- @AmgadDroby shared his new publication “Radiological markers of CSF α-synuclein aggregation in Parkinson’s disease patients”.
- @danieltds shared a list of some key institutions that regularly offer grant opportunities for researchers in the neurodegenerative disease space.
Task Forces Updates
The four MJFF task forces are continuing their work to produce programming and resources for the Parkinson’s disease research community.
- @vdardov and the task force will soon be releasing a welcome video for new community members, as well as other helpful resources for those getting started on Discourse.
- We’ve created an ‘Open to Mentoring’ badge that can be added to accounts who indicate in their profile being open to this. The information can then be used in the contributor directory to better facilitate mentorship opportunities! @psaffie posted about the new platform features here.
- The Data Modalities and Methodologies Task Force held their monthly meeting, during which specific projects were further elaborated and assigned to project leaders. Check out the task force updates from co-lead @hirotaka.
- @mattk is leading one of these projects, creating an Open Science Guide. Check out his Discourse post to learn more!
Do you have an idea for a new task force? We are continually trying to grow and adapt our community to serve member needs. If you have suggestions for new task forces, we would love to hear from you. Fill out this programming suggestion form or email us at researchcommunity@michaeljfox.org. MJFF staff provide operational support for these efforts, which may include some funding of group-specific activity.
Welcome New Members!
In the last month we welcomed several new members from a range of labs and disciplines. We encourage you to reach out to our new members and extend a warm welcome to the community! Some of our new members include:
- @amitsal (Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center)
- @bmbrown317 (University of Florida)
- @AnnaliseMiner (Boston University)
That’s all for now, hope to see you on the forum or at an upcoming task force meeting! As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions: researchcommunity@michaeljfox.org.