Neuroscience has entered a new, digital phase. The combination of brain research with supercomputing in large-scale, multi-disciplinary research collaborations has enabled an innovative approach to deciphering the brain, using powerful scientific technologies and data ressources. These developments open up new possibilities for brain research, medicine and technology. A position paper by over 100 authors, now published in the journal Imaging Neuroscience, summarises the current status and identifies the key points for further developments in digital neuroscience.
From 21-24 November, the final Human Brain Project (HBP) review was held in Brussels during which members of the HBP consortium presented the final project results to a panel of external scientific experts. The scope of this review was the final phase of the HBP, which ended in September 2023. Results were presented in detailed documentation and presentations and followed by extensive Q&As.
On September 30th, the Human Brain Project (HBP) formally completes its 10-year runtime as an EU-funded FET Flagship. The project has pioneered digital neuroscience, a new approach to studying the brain based on multidisciplinary collaborations and high-performance computing. The HBP will continue to have an impact on neuroscience for many years through the EBRAINS research infrastructure and a new way of collaborative work in the field.
Exciting new industrial collaborations, spin-off companies, patents and (ongoing) clinical trials have emerged from or are built upon breakthroughs of the Human Brain Project. With the end of the project in sight, we look back on some highlights of the innovations that the HBP enabled or contributed to.
The Fenix infrastructure, set up by Europe’s leading supercomputing centres, is paving the way for scientific advances in brain research.
The HBP as a European Science Collaboration, collaborating with researchers around the globe, is convinced of the high relevance of equal opportunities, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) as the cornerstones of innovation and progress in science.
Human Brain Project researchers in Tampere University, Finland, made a comprehensive analysis of network models of neuron-astrocyte interactions and proposed how to systematically describe and categorise these interaction schemes. This is the first time such a detailed analysis on this type of computational models was conducted. Results were published in Neuroinformatics.
An interview with Gitte Knudsen on the potential of psychedelics, the biggest challenges in the field and how the HBP has not only fostered interdisciplinary collaboration but - in her view, more importantly – trust among researchers.
The EU-funded Human Brain Project (HBP) comes to an end in September and celebrates its successful conclusion today with a scientific symposium at Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ). The HBP was one of the first flagship projects and, with 155 cooperating institutions from 19 countries and a total budget of 607 million euros, one of the largest research projects in Europe. Forschungszentrum Jülich, with its world-leading brain research institute and the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, played an important role in the ten-year project.
Researchers of the Human Brain Project have developed a wide range of digital tools that facilitate the study and integration of insights from different scales of the brain. The HBP book “An extensive guide to the tools developed” provides a comprehensive snapshot of a set of these tools. The 108-page book is freely availble as PDF or Print.
