A Tale of Two BRAINS: #BRAINI and DARPA's SUBNETS

Image credits. Left: SUBNETS program (DARPA). Right: BRAIN interim report presentation (NIH).In April, the White House announced the $100 million Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. The goals of this bold new research effort are to "revolutionize our understanding of the human mind and uncover new ways to treat, prevent, and cure brain disorders like Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury." A series of high-profile journal articles traced the genesis of this initiative from the Brain Activity Map idea to develop nanotechnologies and "image every spike from every neuron" (Alivisatos et al., 2012) to its current emphasis on neural circuits and systems neuroscience more broadly construed (Insel et al., 2013). In the first year (FY 2014),1 $50 million will be allocated to DARPA and $40 million to NIH.2The two federal agencies have taken starkly different approaches to the challenge, in terms of timing and scope. They also address different levels of nervous system function. Both are ambitious, but one surpasses earlier calls for a "moon shot" to the mind.  IF successful,3 it would render much of pre-clinical neuroscience research quaint and obsolete (except for providing mechanistic details).The Tale of Two BRAINS1. The National Institute of Health (NIH) sponsored a series of meetings and solicited public feedback. The NIH Director's BRAIN Advisory Committee issued its Interim Report (PDF) o...

Source: The Neurocritic - October 29, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs