With brain mapping, in contrast, neuroscientists are facing a key ingenuity test for this century: we need to discover new paradigms BGB324 cost in
order to solve the puzzle. Last April, President Obama’s announcement of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative opened a debate within the scientific community as to what the scale and scientific scope of such a program should be. What holds us back in realizing our dream of figuring out how our brain “works”? More specifically, what is needed to enable a biologically based description of behavior at the level of cellular and subcellular functional brain organization, without losing sight of the forest for the trees? What limits our ability to manipulate the brain’s activity on a microscopic scale, while correctly predicting the outcome for higher cortical functions? What will it take to link the neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases to specific
cellular and subcellular properties of the elements that work as a whole resulting in altered perception, impaired learning, or memory loss? Below, we outline our broad, multidisciplinary perspective on how to address these questions. We begin by examining the kinds of technologies that, collectively and within a valid theoretical framework, would facilitate the necessary quantum leap toward understanding brain function and its disruption in disease. After this, we see more revisit the concept of emergent properties of the brain’s functional organization, which arises time and again in the debates surrounding the BRAIN Initiative. Finally, we offer a prediction of the state of neuroscience in ten years. Admitting the existence of significant technological and theoretical challenges, we nevertheless believe that, properly targeted, a robust investment in the science of the brain today can transform our understanding of the human brain and mind and Dextrose set a new course to alleviating brain disorders. The views expressed herein are independent of and may be complementary to the recommendations proposed by the NIH-organized BRAIN working group. The micro- and nanotechnologies for experimentally measuring, labeling, and manipulating neuronal activity
have been a focus in the debates around the BRAIN Initiative. The technologies gathered under this broad umbrella can be divided into three categories based on the stage of their maturity. The first category comprises tools that have already found neuroscience applications. Measurement modalities in this category include, for example, electrophysiological recordings using arrays of electrodes, multiphoton microscopy, photoacoustic and optical coherence tomography, voltage-sensitive dye imaging, and superresolution microscopy. For each of these technologies, enhancing both the quality of the measurement (resolution, speed, sampling efficiency, selectivity, and specificity) and the ability to quantify the underlying physiological parameter of interest could prove transformative.