What is the BRAIN Initiative?

October 1, 2015

Northwestern University, Chicago Campus, Baldwin Auditorium
303 East Superior Street, Chicago, IL, USA

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Program Series:
Life Science

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The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, or “BRAIN Initiative,” is a major research program recently announced by the National Institute of Health.

The human brain is unique among animals for its size and for the cognitive power that it produces; it is the most remarkable trait that humans possess. The brain is not just the most complex organ in the human body – in fact, it is the most complex structure in the known universe. It has been a subject of study for thousands of years, but we have barely begun to glimpse how it works. This is particularly true when we compare the brain to other organs, like the heart, lungs or kidney. Scientists have a very good understanding of how these organs work, and are able to use this knowledge as a framework for understanding problems that can occur and how to fix them. This is not true of the brain.

Neurological and psychological disorders such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, addiction, and traumatic brain injury affect tens of millions of Americans, and hundreds of millions of people worldwide. These medical disorders are all located in the brain. Although great strides have been made in understanding and treating many of these conditions, scientists and doctors will have a much better chance of dealing with these disorders when they better understand how the brain functions.

The BRAIN Initiative aims to make a big push in understanding the structure and function of the human brain. It has been compared to the Human Genome Project for its scope and the importance of what it offers. This program, presented in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory and the Chicago Society for Neuroscience, will help bring this research initiative into the public eye and raise awareness of this vital research.

Event Details

Thursday, October 1st, 2015.
Wine and cheese social hour at 5:00pm, program starts at 6:00pm.

Event is free and open to the public.

Discounted parking is available to the first 50 attendees, at the 202 E Huron parking garage. Ask at the C2ST registration table, and you can purchase a ticket to exit the garage at a discounted rate.
Hughes auditorium is easily accessible via public transportation.

CAN’T JOIN US LIVE? jOIN VIA LIVE STREAM. Tune in at 6 pm CDT to stream the program: https://www.youtube.com/user/C2STvideos The program will remain on our YouTube channel to view at your leisure if you can’t tune in on Oct. 1

Catch a sneak peek of the program now! Bobby Kasthuri and John Maunsell joined PBS station WTTW11’s Chicago Tonight to talk about the Brain Initiative:
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2015/09/30/new-brain-initiative-aims-fully-map-human-brain

Featured Guests

Dr. John Maunsell

Dr. John Maunsell is the Alfred D Lasker Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Chicago, where he also serves as the Director of the Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior. He studies how the brain processes visual signals from the eyes, with special emphasis on how that processing varies depending on the task being performed. His research has examined moment-to-moment changes in the activity of single neurons that depend on whether a subject pays attention to or ignores particular objects. This work has shown that the brain has a rapid internal mechanism for selectively enhancing sensory signals that represent behaviorally significant objects in the visual scene. This mechanism can account for most of the attention-related enhancement of perceptions and behavioral responses. Dr. Maunsell received his Ph.D. in biology from the California Institute of Technology.

Dr. Bobby Kasthuri

Dr. Bobby Kasthuri is a Neuroscience Researcher at Argonne National Labs and an Assistant Professor (adjunct) in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Chicago. He has an M.D. from Washington University School of Medicine and a D.Phil. from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. As a post-doctoral researcher in the Lichtman Lab, Dr. Kasthuri developed an automated approach to large volume serial electron microscopy (‘connectomics’). The Kasthuri lab continues to innovate new approaches to electron microscope based connectomics reconstructions, including making samples more amenable to automatic segmentation and combining proteomic and genomic approaches with electron microscopy. We are also now exploring the use of high-energy x-rays from synchrotron sources for mapping brains in their entirety. The Kasthri lab is applying these techniques to developing, adult, and aged brains in service of answering the question: how do brains grow up and age?

Dr. Tom Macek

Dr. Tom Macek is a Scientific Director of Clinical Sciences CNS at Takeda Development Center Americas. For the last 16 years, his primary focus has been the clinical development of new medications for the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders. Prior to joining Takeda, he was Director of Clinical Neurosciences at Pfizer. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan (Pharm.D.) and Emory University (Ph.D.). He is a former clinical adjunct assistant professor at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University Eugene Appelbaum Colleges of Pharmacy. He is a founding member of The International Society for CNS Clinical Trials and Methodology (ISCTM), a former member of the ISCTM Scientific and Programs Committee, and former member of the Scientific Board and Industry Partners Committees for the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS).

Moderator: Norm Peterson

Moderator: Norm Peterson is the Director of Government Relations at Argonne National Laboratory. In this position, he interacts with governmental agencies and develops collaborations between industries, universities, and other technology organizations. These collaborations have included a number of projects with the State of Illinois, which utilize Argonne technology to enhance the development and expansion of Illinois companies. He is also responsible for the facilitation of laboratory agreements and interactions with governmental agencies and foreign research institutions. Mr. Peterson has served as an advisor to a number of states, universities, and management consulting organizations, which have developed technology transfer and economic development programs.