BRAIN Initiative and Human Brain Project: Hopes and Reservations

Two big international initiatives have the provocative goal to bundle information and to act as a platform for exchange to unravel the mysteries of brain function. Current technical limitations to brain discovery science represent clear-cut entry points for both initiatives. Generation of conceptual breakthroughs in brain science, however, represents the main challenge and reason for excitement. For success, both initiatives will need strong interactions with individual scientists to benefit from in-depth knowledge and biological understanding in their area of expertise. It will only be through this strategy that large data sets will be meaningful and that principles for how the brain works and dysfunctions in disorders can be extracted. Insight should emerge from mining multidimensional data including the following areas. Diversity: identification of mechanisms translating molecular into functional diversity will help to understand the distinct languages of neuronal subtypes. Space: binding together knowledge on local circuit and long-range computationswith neuromodulatory influence will provide an integral view on brain function. Time: understanding the temporal axis of neuronal-cell-type maturation and plasticity will help unravel selective neuronal response profiles in disease. Organism: comparing differences between brains of one species and across species will uncover principles of overarching conservation and divergence in circuit modules. A Down Payment on the Brain