Human Brain Project celebrates successful completion
The EU-funded Human Brain Project (HBP) reached its conclusion in September and recently celebrated this achievement with a scientific symposium at the Jülich Research Centre. As one of the first flagship projects and with the support of 155 cooperating institutions from 19 countries and a total budget of 607 million Euros, the HBP ranks among the most significant research projects in Europe. Over the ten years, the Jülich Research Centre, with its globally recognized brain research institute and the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, played a pivotal role. (Source: Forschungszentrum Jülich – Press Releases)
“Capturing the complexity of the human brain and explaining its functionality are the major tasks of today’s brain research,” says Astrid Lambrecht, Chairwoman of the Forschungszentrum Jülich and designated Vice-President of the Research Field Information. “In the last ten years, the instruments of brain research have evolved significantly. The Human Brain Project has been instrumental in this development, thereby not only gaining new insights for brain research but also providing significant momentum for information technology.”
Researchers in the HBP employed advanced methods from high-performance computing and artificial intelligence in a highly integrative approach to better understand the complex organization of the brain. The project has contributed to a deeper understanding of the intricate structure and function of the brain and enabled new applications in medicine and technological advancements.
Among the most significant scientific successes of the project are a three-dimensional digital atlas of the human brain with unprecedented accuracy, predictive computer modeling of patient brains for epilepsy and Parkinson’s for personalized medicine, new breakthroughs in the field of artificial intelligence that are being commercialized by a spin-off company in Germany, and a digital research infrastructure – EBRAINS – which will be an invaluable resource for the entire neuroscientific community even after the end of the HBP.
HBP researchers have achieved numerous scientific results, which have been published in over 3000 publications, advanced medical and technical applications, and developed over 160 freely accessible digital tools for neuroscientific research.
“The Human Brain Project has pioneered digital brain research and has connected neuroscience and technology on a large scale with a unique interdisciplinary approach,” says Katrin Amunts, Director of the HBP and the Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine at the Forschungszentrum Jülich from the Helmholtz Research Field Information. “The EBRAINS infrastructure will further advance this new kind of brain research and promote further progress in brain medicine.”
“The impact of your work, especially in the field of digital sciences, goes far beyond the Human Brain Project and even beyond the neuroscientific community,” said Gustav Kalbe, Acting Director for Digital Excellence and Research Infrastructures at the European Commission (DG CNECT). “The infrastructure that the Human Brain Project has built is a crucial building block to facilitate collaboration within the scientific community.”
“We need continuity in Germany’s commitment to brain research, so that the opportunities brought by the Human Brain Project can be fully realized in future developments,” said Dietmar Nietan MdB in his address. “We must now make the right decisions in the federal government and parliament to create favorable conditions for operating a digital research infrastructure for neuroscience, but also for medicine and technology development in Germany.”
For a brochure in German with further information about the scientific results and research technologies of the Human Brain Project, as well as press photos, click here.
Examples of the Human Brain Project’s results:
Dubbed as the “Google Maps of the Brain”, the Human Brain Project provides the most extensive digital brain atlas to researchers worldwide. The atlas, by researchers from Jülich and collaboration partners, combines high-resolution data of neurons, fiber connections, receptors, and functional specializations in the brain, and is designed as an ever-growing system.
13 hospitals in France are currently testing the new “Virtual Epileptic Patient” – a platform developed at the University of Marseille within the Human Brain Project. It creates personalized simulation models of brain dynamics to give surgeons predictions for the success of various surgical treatment strategies. This approach was presented this year in the journals Science Translational Medicine and The Lancet Neurology.
SpiNNaker2 is a “neuromorphic” computer developed by the University of Manchester and TU Dresden within the Human Brain Project. The company SpiNNcloud Systems in Dresden is commercializing the approach for AI applications. (Picture: Sprind.org)
EBRAINS provides open-access digital infrastructure, giving scientists easy access to the best techniques for complex research questions.”
FZJ/12.09.2023
The original press release can be found at:
Human Brain Project feiert erfolgreichen Abschluss (only in german)
Localization in the Helmholtz Research Field Information:
Helmholtz-Forschungsbereich Information, Programm 2: Natural, Artificial and Cognitive Information Processing, Topic 5: Decoding Brain Organization and Dysfunction
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Katrin Amunts
Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM)
Structural and Functional Organisation of the Brain (INM-1)
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461/61-4300
E-Mail: k.amunts@fz-juelich.de
Contact for this press release:
Peter Zekert
Press Officer, Human Brain Project
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461 61 96860
E-Mail: press@humanbrainproject.eu
Dr. Lisa Vincenz-Donnelly
Public Relations Officer
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461 61-9335
E-Mail: l.vincenz-donnelly@fz-juelich.de
