US President Barack Obama in his White House speech reported on $100 million investment into the project aimed at researching the work of brain and better understanding of diseases, such as epilepsy and Alzheimer’s syndrome. Obama stated that previous initiatives like the human genome project have completely changed the understanding of human genetics. Now, according to him, he wants to do the same in the sphere of human brain research. The project will be called BRAIN, which stands for Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies. “So there is this enormous mystery waiting to be unlocked, and the BRAIN Initiative will change that by giving 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,” President Obama stated. The work on the project will start in 2014 and the National Institute of Health, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), and the National Scientific Fund (NSF) will take part in it.
The aim of $100 million plan will be creation of new technologies for studying the way billions of cells of human brain interact. Scientists will also explore how human brain uses, stores, and processes information, as well as how functioning of brain is connected with human behavior. “As humans we can identify galaxies light years away, we can study particles smaller than the atom, but we still haven’t unlocked the mystery of the three pounds of matter that sits between our ears,” he said. The project envisages cooperation of private and state-run organizations. Those include Allen Institute for Brain Science which has undertaken the commitment to give 60 million dollars annually for the projects connected with the BRAIN initiative, as well as the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, which is going to give 28 billion dollars for the project. The ethics committee will coordinate the work of the scientists. According to Obama, the investments into science are necessary, and they will help to create new jobs and will boost economic growth. “We can’t afford to miss these opportunities while the rest of the world races ahead,” added Obama.
