fNIRS 2018 fNIRS2018 will be held at the University of Tokyo, Japan on October 5-8, 2018. Gentaro Taga has shared some initial information on the organization of the meeting: fnirs.org/conferences/fnirs-2018-conference. More information will be available in the coming months. In the meantime, mark your calendars!
	Neurophotonics special issues The submission deadline has passed for the fNIRS special section in Neurophotonics. The number of submissions broke all records for the journal and the topics span the diversity of the field. As papers are accepted, they will appear online, so be sure to pay attention to the table of contents to see the latest work at neurophotonics.spiedigitallibrary.org/issue.aspx Thanks to all that submitted to this special section. It will be repeated every two years following the fNIRS conference. David Boas
	Feature Paper Communicating with completely locked-in people using an fNIRS-based brain-computer interface A fNIRS paper published in January this year in PLOS Biology got broad news coverage (BBC, CNN, NBC New, The Guardian, Zeit, Nature, Der Spiegel). The paper reported successfully implementing a brain-computer interface (BCI) that allowed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients in a locked-in state to communicate by answering “yes” and “no” questions via thought. By Felix Scholkmann
	Feature Story – Open Water Technological revolutionary, Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen, has recently launched Open Water to create wearable infrared-based approaches to obtain functional MRI-level resolution of brain function. As described in a TEDx in October, 2016, Dr. Jepsen plans to utilize consumer grade LCD display technology, optimized for the near-infrared, along with holographic image reconstruction strategies to generate low-power, low-weight opto-electronics that will be fabricated into fully wearable imaging caps. By Adam Eggebrecht
	Feature Event: MexNIRS Symposium The Ist Mexican Symposium on Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Neuroimaging (MexNIRS), will be hosted in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico on October 20-21, 2017. The event aims to provide a unique forum for the NIRS community to review the current status of global NIRS research. Dr. Felipe Orihuela-Espina tells us his plans for this meeting at: fnirs.org/mexnirs-symposium
	Global NIRS Challenges Updates Opportunities to integrate NIRS into global health projects are rapidly expanding and several research groups are addressing the challenges to advancing the technique as a successful neuroimaging tool in resource poor settings. An inspirational aspect of these projects is the multi-institute cross-disciplinary collaborations that are formed to achieve this work.Current collaborative research projects are underway in The Gambia, Bangladesh, Guinea Bissau and Ivory Coast. Read more at fnirs.org/global-nirs-challenges-2017-updates.By Sarah Lloyd-Fox, Katherine Perdue, Gary Boas and Kaja Jasinska
	Research News – BabyLux Final Event BabyLux Final Event will be held in Milan on April 28, 2017. BabyLux – An Optical Neuro-Monitor of Cerebral Oxygen Metabolism and Blood Flow for Neonatology – is a project that aims to provide an innovative and reliable tool to monitor and assess brain blood flow and oxygenation in extremely preterm neonates. The results achieved by the project will be presented during the event. By Sabrina Brigadoi
	From the Secretary – Membership The Society for functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy is rapidly growing. In a single year, the number of members has reached 339. Membership has many benefits: a discount on fNIRS conference registrations, reduced subscription cost to the SPIE journal Neurophotonics, access to SfNIRS member-only web content (e.g. the literature reviews on fNIRS), and subscriptions to the regular newsletter and emails. The membership fee is only $95 for two years for full members and $50 for two years for students. We encourage you to join the society and become part of this vibrant community. You can find instructions on how to join here: fnirs.org/membership Martin Wolf
	Job Opportunities (Source: Facebook; please keep posting!) Postdoctoral positions are currently available at: Northeastern University Boston; University of Calgary; INAOE Puebla, Mexico; ICFO, Barcelona, Spain; University of East Anglia, UK; Birbeck, London; Baylor, Scott & White, Temple, TX; Concordia, Montreal, Canada. For students: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences/ University Leipzig, Germany and ICFO, Barcelona, Spain. List prepared by Luca Pollonini.
	SfNIRS Webpage News Dany Forster has created a new page listing all  meetings related to fNIRS for the next year: fnirs.org/resources/relatedmeetings Luca Pollonini has created a new page listing hardware and software projects, datasets and non-profit initiatives for wide dissemination of fNIRS fnirs.org/resources/nonprofitopenaccess Please let them know if they missed any.
	From the Communication Committee The two-year term for the original Communication Committee (CommComm) members is ending this month. While we encourage current members who are active to remain on for another term, we are also looking for new members with fresh perspectives to help spread the word about ongoing and up-and-coming NIRS applications. If you are interested in getting involved as a member of the Communication Committee, please email Maria Angela Franceschini and Heather Bortfeld directly. The current CommComm line up can be viewed at the following link:fnirs.org/about-us/officers/commcomm.
	fNIRS Publications A list of papers collected by Gemma Bale and highlighted on FB and Twitter in the last few months can also be found on our website fnirs.org/publications-highlights-april-2017. We are working on a new format for the NIRS/NIRI publications list (Members only).
	Technology News –Brite23 Artinis launches new fNIRS hardware: the Brite23.. The Brite23 is a lightweight, user-friendly, plug-and-play fNIRS device with minimal set-up time. It uses multichannel LED’s: 11 transmitters and 7 receivers at 3.5 cm distance, resulting in 23 deep measuring channels with 100 Hz and 24 bits resolution.
	Facebook Group The Society for functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy group on Facebook continues to grow. We now have 630 members. The role of the Facebook (FB) group is to promote members’ research progress, facilitate discussions, and exchange information. The FB group is the primary source of information for the newsletter, so please share!

fNIRS Training Opportunities

Disclaimer: While we encourage translation of fNIRS technology to commercial products by our members, the Communication Committee and the fNIRS society doesn’t endorse any for-profit or non-profit entity and doesn’t receive any compensation for reporting news about commercial products.The Communication Committee © The Society for functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

The Communication Committee © The Society for functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy