Humble BRAIN 2025

“We believe this to be a moment in the science of the brain where our knowledge base, our new technical capabilities, and our dedicated and coordinated efforts can generate great leaps forward in just a few years or decades. Like other great leaps in the history of science—the development of atomic and nuclear physics, the unraveling of the genetic code—this one will change human society forever. Through deepened knowledge of how our brains actually work, we will understand ourselves differently, treat disease more incisively, educate our children more effectively, practice law and governance with greater insight, and develop more understanding of others whose brains have been molded in different circumstances.”

- BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision

That modest quote jumped out from the Preamble to the BRAIN Working Group Report to the Advisory Committee of the NIH Director.  A decade-long $4.5 billion project that focuses on technology development and neural circuits in model systems will change government, society, and human interactions forever.

It's a manifesto, so why not aim big?

There's no doubt about it, systems neuroscience takes the BRAIN prize:

The Roads Not Taken

In any project, decisions must be made about where to focus. Neuroscience addresses brain function from the level of molecules to the level of psychology, and at many levels in between. This plan for the BRAIN Initiative proposes a concerted attack on brain activity at the level of circuits and systems, rather than suggesting incremental advances in every area. All areas of neuroscience are important, however, and the BRAIN Initiative should therefore supplement, not replace, existing efforts in basic, translational, and clinical neuroscience.

The report is 146 pages long. More to follow...