The White HouseBRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) is a collaborative, public-private research initiative announced by the Obama administration on April 2, 2013, with the goal of supporting the development and application of innovative technologies that can create a dynamic understanding of brain function.[2][3][4][5][6]
Participants in BRAIN and affiliates of the project include DARPA and IARPA as well as numerous private companies, universities, and other organizations in the United States, Australia, Canada, and Denmark.[8]
Background
The BRAIN Initiative reflects a number of influences, stemming back over a decade. Some of these include: planning meetings at the National Institutes of Health that led to the NIH's Blueprint for Neuroscience Research;[9] workshops at the National Science Foundation (NSF) on cognition, neuroscience, and convergent science, including a 2006 report on "Grand Challenges of Mind and Brain";[10] reports from the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine's Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders, including "From Molecules to Mind: Challenges for the 21st Century," a report of a June 25, 2008 Workshop on Grand Challenges in Neuroscience.;[11] years of research and reports from scientists and professional societies; and congressional interest.
Other influences included the interdisciplinary "Decade of the Mind" project led by James L. Olds, who is currently the Assistant Director for Biological Sciences at NSF,[13][14] and the "Revolutionizing Prosthetics" project at DARPA, led by Dr. Geoffrey Ling and shown on 60 Minutes in April 2009.[15]
Development of the plan for the BRAIN Initiative within the Executive Office of the President (EOP) was led by OSTP and included the following EOP staff: Philip Rubin, then Principal Assistant Director for Science and leader of the White House Neuroscience Initiative; Thomas Kalil, Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation; Cristin Dorgelo, then Assistant Director for Grand Challenges, and later Chief of Staff at OSTP; and Carlos Peña, Assistant Director for Emerging Technologies and currently the Division Director for the Division of Neurological and Physical Medicine Devices, in the Office of Device Evaluation, Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).[16][17]
News reports said the research would map the dynamics of neuron activity in mice and other animals[3] and eventually the tens of billions of neurons in the human brain.[18]
In a 2012 scientific commentary outlining experimental plans for a more limited project, Alivisatos et al. outlined a variety of specific experimental techniques that might be used to achieve what they termed a "functional connectome", as well as new technologies that will have to be developed in the course of the project.[1] They indicated that initial studies might be done in Caenorhabditis elegans, followed by Drosophila, because of their comparatively simple neural circuits. Mid-term studies could be done in zebrafish, mice, and the Etruscan shrew, with studies ultimately to be done in primates and humans. They proposed the development of nanoparticles that could be used as voltagesensors that would detect individual action potentials, as well as nanoprobes that could serve as electrophysiologicalmultielectrode arrays. In particular, they called for the use of wireless, noninvasive methods of neuronal activity detection, either utilizing microelectronicvery-large-scale integration, or based on synthetic biology rather than microelectronics. In one such proposed method, enzymatically produced DNA would serve as a "ticker tape record" of neuronal activity,[1][19] based on calcium ion-induced errors in coding by DNA polymerase.[20] Data would be analyzed and modeled by large scale computation.[1] A related technique proposed the use of high-throughput DNA sequencing for rapidly mapping neural connectivity.[21]
Timeline
The timeline proposed by the Working Group in 2014 is:[22]
2016–2020: technology development and validation
2020–2025: application of those technologies in an integrated fashion to make fundamental new discoveries about the brain
Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (B.I. Participant)
Brain Canada Foundation (B.I. Participant)
Denmark's Lundbeck Foundation (B.I. Participant).[8]
Reactions
Scientists offered differing views of the plan. Neuroscientist John Donoghue said that the project would fill a gap in neuroscience research between, on the one hand, activity measurements at the level of brain regions using methods such as fMRI, and, on the other hand, measurements at the level of single cells.[3] Psychologist Ed Vul expressed concern, however, that the initiative would divert funding from individual investigator studies.[3] Neuroscientist Donald Stein expressed concern that it would be a mistake to begin by spending money on technological methods, before knowing exactly what would be measured.[4] Physicist Michael Roukes argued instead that methods in nanotechnology are becoming sufficiently mature to make the time right for a brain activity map.[4] Neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinás declared at the first Rockefeller meeting "What has happened here is magnificent, never before in neuroscience have I seen so much unity in such a glorious purpose."[24]
The projects face great logistical challenges. Neuroscientists estimated that the project would generate 300 exabytes of data every year, presenting a significant technical barrier.[25] Most of the available high-resolution brain activity monitors are of limited use, as they must be invasively implanted surgically by opening the skull.[25] Parallels have been drawn to past large-scale government-led research efforts including the map of the human genome, the voyage to the moon, and the development of the atomic bomb.[2]
^"Advisory Committee to the Director"(PDF). Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Working Group. National Institutes of Health. Archived from the original(PDF) on 24 April 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
