Expect More Frequent Communiques from the DLF
Dan Lewis Foundation
Scientist holding a tablet beside a glowing digital DNA helix in a blue lab interface

For the next half year or so the DLF will be sending you more frequent single-topic communiques in lieu of our quarterly newsletter. We hope that this will promote more efficient and timely two-way communication between you and us. These communiques will cover a wide range of topics—from a synopsis of a biomedical research project, to a report on an emerging rehabilitation technique, to announcement of a funding opportunity in brain regeneration research, to information about a resource for families of an individual with a brain injury, to information about an organization serving the brain injury community, and so on.


As always, we encourage each of you to stay in touch with us if you have suggestions, ideas, or questions for the DLF. You can stay in touch by using the Contact Form on the DLF website or by messaging the DLF through Hal Lewis, Co-Chair of the DLF, at hal.lewis385@gmail.com. Our hope is to become more connected to you and vice versa.

Gloved hands hold a tablet showing medical data in a lab with blurred researchers in the background

ARPA-H Launches a Major Program in Brain Regeneration and Initiates a Second Offshoot Program

By Dan Lewis Foundation • July 24, 2026
ARPA-H, which stands for Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. One of its major projects is called the FRONT program which stands for Functional Repair of Neocortical Tissue .  The FRONT program focuses on repair and regeneration of the neocortex, the largest part of the brain. The neocortex is critical for many aspects of cognition and everyday functioning. The neocortex can be damaged in many ways including stroke, traumatic injury, and neurodegeneration, such as in Alzheimer's disease. Serious damage to the neocortex often causes individuals to be dependent on costly therapies or caregivers and can also lead to related health and medical problems. The FRONT program hopes to alter this pattern by using cutting-edge neurodevelopmental principles and stem cell technology to regenerate brain tissue and restore lost functions.
Lab technicians in blue gloves working with samples in a bright laboratory

Can Lost Brain Tissue Be Rebuilt?

By Hal Lewis • July 24, 2026
For decades, families facing severe traumatic brain injury have lived with a painful assumption: once brain tissue is lost, recovery is limited to what the surviving brain can re-learn. Rehabilitation can help. Technology can assist. Time can produce surprises. But the central wound—the loss of brain cells, circuits, and connections—has often been treated as permanent. That assumption is beginning to change.