Fact Box: BRAIN initiative

USA reveals US$100m research initiative “BRAIN” to understand the human brain

• Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN)
• Funding of an initial $100 million from the president’s fiscal 2014 budget
• 3 US government agencies involved: the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Science Foundation.

Objective:

• Understanding the human brain
• To discover new ways of understanding how the human brain works.
• To create pictures of the brain in order to understand how individual brain cells and complex neural circuits interact at the speed of thought.
• To devise better treatments for injuries and diseases of the brain.

US Govt. has described  BRAIN as one of the administration’s “grand challenges”.

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