The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is part of a new Presidential focus aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain. By accelerating the development and application of innovative technologies, researchers will be able to produce a revolutionary new dynamic picture of the brain that, for the first time, shows how individual cells and complex neural circuits interact in both time and space. Long desired by researchers seeking new ways to treat, cure, and even prevent brain disorders, this picture will fill major gaps in our current knowledge and provide unprecedented opportunities for exploring exactly how the brain enables the human body to record, process, utilize, store, and retrieve vast quantities of information, all at the speed of thought. (NIH website)
The NIH Directors working group identified circuit-level analysis of the nervous system as the primary research goal of the NIH BRAIN Initiative, mapping the circuits of the brain, measuring their activity patterns within the circuits and understanding how their interplay creates unique cognitive and behavioral capabilities.
In the presentation format the invited distinguished speakers and panelists will give an overview of the BRAIN Initiative, its research goals and challenges to achieve them. In president Obamas words this is one of the Grand Challenges of the 21st century. Presentations will be followed by interactive moderated panel discussions.