It is easy to take for granted how complex our hand movements are, but the skilful manipulation of objects is one of the abilities that make humans unique. Even hand movements that may seem simple, like holding a cup of coffee, are actually complex and engage a large-scale brain network encompassing sensory, association and motor regions.

The 8th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology took place in Vienna this week, under the overarching theme: “Getting Evidence Into Practice”. The event brought together neurologists and neuroscientists to network and to exchange knowledge to tackle major challenges in neurology, recording in total 5,300 on-site and 2,700 online attendees.

Focused Ion Beam (FIB) milling and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), located at the Centro de Tecnología Biomédica (Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid) and led by Prof. Javier DeFelipe, are now available as part of a new Human Brain Project (HBP) Facility Hub.

Whiskeye, the rodent-inspired robot capable of exploring the world by using two camera eyes and 24 artificial whiskers arranged in a mechanical nose, has now developed a cognitive model that is also inspired by organic brains. Two HBP focus areas (Work Package 2, ‘Networks underlying brain cognition and consciousness’ and Work Package 3, ‘Adaptive networks for cognitive architectures: from advanced learning to neurorobotics and neuromorphic applications’) have now collaborated to build three new coding models of perception capable of performing prediction and learning, in a way that’s similar to how a rat’s brain, or indeed our own, does it.

On 18 May 2022, the Human Brain Project invited Prof. Lutz Jäncke and Dr. Frances Quevenco and the winners of the Diversity in Research Paper Awards (DIRPA) Ass. Prof. Dr. Sanne Peters and Dr. Yi Zhang to the webinar “Diversity in Brain Research: Does it matter?”.

Researchers of the Human Brain Project have created the first multiscale model of how a Parkinson’s brain responds to deep brain stimulation. Deep brain stimulation is a common method to treat Parkinson's symptoms, but currently outcomes of the invasive treatment are hard to predict. Modeling and simulating electric stimulation across multiple levels of brain networks can help clinicians “preview” their effects and plan therapies accordingly.

Understanding consciousness is one of the greatest challenges of neuroscience. Is it possible to develop brain-based measures of consciousness? Why does it fade and recover during transitions across brain states? Researchers at the Human Brain Project (HBP) are addressing this challenge by merging new clinical methods and advanced brain modelling on the EBRAINS research infrastructure. Over the past years, they used a novel approach to investigate brain activity in conscious and unconscious states from the micro-level to the whole brain.

Scientists of the Human Brain Project (HBP) have a strong presence at the 2022 Organization for Human Brain Mapping annual meeting, the largest global meeting of scientists mapping the human brain.

From 16 May until 27 June 2022, a targeted consultation has been launched to seek opinion of stakeholders about current and future EU health priorities and strategic orientations, and on key health needs to be addressed through EU4Health annual Work Programmes.

From 13 to 15 June 2022, the EBRAINS Workshop: Brain Activity across Scales and Species: Analysis of Experiments and Simulations (BASSES) took place in Rome, Italy and online.