BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision - Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Report on New NIH Neuroscience Initiative, Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

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.

Since the President’s announcement, the BRAIN Working Group of the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) has been swiftly moving forward to identify the scientific goals, timeline, and budget for this pioneering initiative. Based on recommendations in the group’s interim report and the ACD’s subsequent endorsement, NIH announced its initial high-priority areas for NIH-funded BRAIN research in September, and, in December, called for applications to conduct $40 million in six different scientific areas. Today, the BRAIN Working Group presented its final report to the ACD, which accepted its recommendations. Not only will BRAIN revolutionize neuroscience, it will transform our efforts to help the millions of people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, autism, epilepsy, schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury, and many other neurological disorders.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * PREAMBLE. * SECTION I. THE BRAIN INITIATIVE: VISION AND PHILOSOPHY * The Goal of the BRAIN Initiative * Foundational Concepts: Neural Coding, Neural Circuit Dynamics, and Neuromodulation * Why Now? * The Brain and Behavior * Strategies and Experimental Systems * The Roads Not Taken * Studying the Healthy Brain Should Accelerate Understanding of Brain Disorders * The Deliverables of the BRAIN Initiative * SECTION II. SCIENTIFIC REVIEW AND HIGH PRIORITY RESEARCH AREAS * 1. Mapping the Structure and Components of Circuits * 2. Neuronal Dynamics: Recording Neuronal Activity Across Time and Space * 3. Manipulating Circuit Activity * 4. The Importance of Behavior * 5. Theory, Modeling, and Statistics Will Be Essential to Understanding the Brain * 6. Human Neuroscience and Neurotechnology * 7. Education * 8. Maximizing the Value of the BRAIN Initiative: Core Principles * 9. Further Reading * SECTION III. IMPLEMENTATION: GOALS, DELIVERABLES, TIMELINES, AND COSTS * 1. Discovering Diversity * 2. Maps at Multiple Scales * 3. The Brain in Action * 4. Demonstrating Causality * 5. Identifying Fundamental Principles * 6. Advancing Human Neuroscience * 7. From BRAIN Initiative to the Brain * 8. Supporting the Core Principles of the BRAIN Initiative * 9. Cost Estimates * 10. Concluding Remarks * 11. References * APPENDIX A - HOW THE BRAIN INITIATIVE WILL ADVANCE CLINICAL RESEARCH * APPENDIX B - EXPERT CONSULTATIONS * APPENDIX C - ACRONYM LIST