The Human Brain Project: a model for the brain

Friday 13 Dec 2019, 14:30 → 15:30 Europe/Zurich

31/3-004 - IT Amphitheatre (CERN)

Egidio D'Angelo (Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia (Pavia, Italy))

Abstract The brain is the source of our behavior, emotions, perceptions and consciousness. With its 1012 neurons and 1015 synaptic connections, the brain is amongst the most complex systems of the Universe. Brain functions are ultimately generated by biochemical and bioelectrical phenomena characterizing the molecular and cellular world, which have been investigated in some details. Nonetheless, the brain is organized over multiple scales (microscale, mesoscale and macroscale) and, therefore, understanding its mechanisms of function means also understanding how the effects propagate between lower to higher levels. Eventually, what we need is a model of how the brain works, that would allow hypotheses to be tested, confirmed or refused. The challenge has been taken on by the Human Brain Project (HBP). This talk will show how, in the Human Brain Project, we have carried out a multiscale reconstruction of brain functions making use of advanced modeling and robotic techniques ending up in the implementation of a Virtual Brain model. The virtual brain opens a perspective on how this multiscale approach could be applied to the analysis of integrated brain signals, like those derived from structural and functional MRI, and used to assist the interpretation of brain function and pathology.

Discussants: Prof. Egidio D'Angelo (brain models) and Prof. Claudia A.M. Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott (high-field MRI), Professor of MR Physics, University College London (London, UK) and University of Pavia (Pavia, Italy)