NIH sets priorities for BRAIN Initiative

NIH Director Francis Collins approved nine priorities for brain research that will be the focus of the $40 million the institute will commit in FY14 as part of the Brain Research through Application of Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative. The initiative is a public-private partnership to give "scientists the tools they need to get a dynamic picture of the brain in action and better understand how we think and how we learn and how we remember." The areas are: generating a census of brain cell types; creating a structural map of the brain; developing large-scale neural network recording capabilities; developing tools for neural circuit manipulation; linking neuronal activity to behavior; integrating of theory, modeling, statistics and computation with neuroscience experiments; delineating mechanisms underlying imaging technologies; creating mechanisms to enable collection of human data for research; and disseminating knowledge and training. ...