The Human Brain Project

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From the course by Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Synapses, Neurons and Brains

714 ratings

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Synapses, Neurons and Brains

714 ratings

These are very unique times for brain research. The aperitif for the course will thus highlight the present “brain-excitements” worldwide. You will then become intimately acquainted with the operational principles of neuronal “life-ware” (synapses, neurons and the networks that they form) and consequently, on how neurons behave as computational microchips and how they plastically and constantly change - a process that underlies learning and memory. Recent heroic attempts to realistically simulate large cortical networks in the computer will be highlighted (e.g., “the Blue Brain Project”) and processes related to perception, cognition and emotions in the brain will be discussed. For dessert we will deliberate on the future of brain research, including the questions of “brain and art”, consciousness and free will. For more information see the course promo below and read “About the course.”

From the lesson

Cortical Networks - Out of the Blue Project

This module is based on what you have learned in modules 3 to 6: how single cells function, how they are connected via (plastic) synapses to each other and how they might perform specific computations. Here we actually connect a network of neurons (using the “blue machine super computer”) so that we can simulate mathematically the activity of a large network (the “Blue Brain Project” BBP centered in EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland). We know how to simulate a single neuron (the Hodgkin and Huxley model) and how to simulate synapses and dendritic cable (Wilfrid Rall model) so we can connect neuron models and build realistic networks in the computer. We started with simulating the mammalian neocortex, a relatively new structure in evolution (200 million years old). In each cubic mm of the neocortex (e.g., of rat), there are about 100,000 cells, 4 Km of wires (dendrites and axons) and about 100 million synapses. We can today integrate experimental data (anatomical and physiological) and mathematical methods, and come close to simulating the electrical and synaptic activity in several cubic mm of the neocortex. We will learn about the neocortex - including the neuron types it consists of - and how we go about simulating such a huge neural circuit. We will next discuss what could we learn from it and what are we aiming at next. We will end by describing the recently announced, EU Flagship Project – the “Human Brain Project” (HBP). The BBP served as a seed for the HBP, but the latter is much broader and even more ambitious, aiming at developing new approaches for treatments of brain diseases (so urgently needed) and advancing the future of neuroscience and of brain-inspired computing and robotics.

Mega Projects for the Brain12:14

The Blue Brain Project - The Start12:55

The Cortical Column12:53

A Cortical Column Networks11:57

Blue Brain Simulations9:44

From Mouse to Human5:49

The Human Brain Project12:03

Meet the Instructors

Idan Segev
Professor
Computational Neuroscience

So, the Human Brain Project, HBP. This Human Brain Project is very

different than the Blue Brain Project because the Blue Brain Project sits only

here, in the top left corner, the simulation aspect of it.

But the Human Brain Project has many, many, many, many other new different

aspects. Because the whole notion here is to

develop a platform for understanding the brain, but also using this platform not

only to understand the brain but also to develop new technologies.

To develop new super computing capabilities.

To develop new visualization of activity anatomy of large networks.

To develop new microchips, neuromorphic brain inspired microchips that are very

cheap energetically and very efficient as a basis for modern computers, or maybe

even for modern robots. So, there are all these many, many

aspects, but of course, I don't have now time to talk about each one separately.

But I want to mention one thing that to me is very important.

The aspect of society, the aspect of education.

Because we are now approaching a new era with these big projects, this new era

will provide new amazing information, new amazing technologies, very useful for

society, that will impact society in many ways.

It will have ethical, it will have industrial, it will have sociological

implications and we as scientist are responsible for telling you the public,

what comes out of this project. So within the human brain project, beyond

the technology and the neuroscience and so forth, there is the society aspect.

How do we interact with you? Ongoing and so we develop a plat, a

platform. An idea how to interact, how to interface

between us and you through museums, science museums.

Ongoing, online that would be a brain corner and so on.

I'm not going to talk about this issue and also the ethical aspect that may

emerge from such a project. I'm just saying we are very aware of this

society aspect. I want also to emphasize that this is a

global project. You can see all the countries in Europe

and also in America, and also in South America, that are involved.

It's led by Europe, it is led by the EPFL, by the Ecole Polytechnique FĂŠdĂŠrale

de Lausanne. It is led by Henry Markram and his

colleagues, us. But eventually many, many countries like

in England and in Sweden, and in Norway and in Israel, and in Italy and in Spain

are involved. You can see how many labs are part of it,

you can see how many institutions. So, this whole project, this one billion

Euro project, will be distributed trying to combine efforts, to integrate efforts.

Expertise from Spain about anatomy, expertise from physiology in one place,

expertise in, in, in computers in another place.

Expertise in modeling in the third place, in order to really achieve the goal.

And the goal is built from basically, in a nutshell from three, one may say,

pillars. The neuroscience is clear, we are trying

to understand the brain. So there is the neuron, the building

platform for data basing the brain, I already mentioned it.

Okay? There is, the medical aspect, so we are

trying to improve our understanding of diseases of the brain.

But there is the medical aspect of it, and there is the future computing, the

emerging technologies coming out of this project.

So this project basically is a platform project, it's not about now finding

details, it's about developng approaches. Both in neuroscience and in medicine, and

in future computing. And these approaches should be inspired,

this platform, is inspired by what we understand about the brain as a computing

device. So we want to get new understanding of

the brain of course. We want to get new treatments from brain

diseases. And we want to get new brain like

computing technology. Because the claim here, in this

information and com, computation technology based research here.

This project is part of this future emerging technologies of the Europe.

The claim is, that the brain is physical system that computes extremely

efficiently, very efficiently, with very, I, I am just drinking water for this

lecture, and here I can stand and do millions of computations very, very

cheaply in terms of energy. So the super computers now, take so much

energy that we cannot easily increase it by a million, but we do all this

computation successfully most of the time with very cheap, 20 watts.

Can we learn from the brain to develop the next, the future technologies of

computer. So this is the future computing aspect.

And of course within each one of them, we're going to build technologies, build

technologies. Neuroinformatics data basing, approaching

querying of the data in a sophisticated way.

Simulation techniques, new mathematical approaches, new algorithm for simulations

the brain. Medical informatics databasing the the,

the diseases and so on. We also as I said want to be inspired by

the brain and develop neuromorphic computing based on spikes, based on

synapses, artificial synapses in hardware and eventually, neurorobotics.

Robotics like we are, physical robots behaving in the world.

Can we build robots based on what we learned about us, about our body, about

our brain. So within the brain simulation, of course

we have simulations at many levels, we need to simulate genes, synapses,

networks, and the whole brain. And maybe each level requires some

particular approach, mathematically, some particular equations that are better, to

describe this level and so forth. All these, simulation should be unified,

in some way that we can easily move from this level to this level mathematically.

And this, this really requires deep thinking, and very good mathematical

iteraticians. So we want to really eventually, use all

these kind of integrated approach to take fragments of data, be inspired with this

data, put them together in the model and the model will give us predictions.

We don't think we know, we need to know everything, in advance to build the

brain. We needs to, we need to get principles

from building, from what we already have: pieces of the brain, fragments of the

brain, fragments, from fragments, we shall get the understanding of the whole.

Because pieces will fall within each other, and the puzzle will, will come

out. We don't need to put all the details one

after the other because of the constraints by already, what is already

known, and put inside. So, this is the idea about simulations on

which I talked a lot. About in medical informatics, one of the

problem you may know is that the physicians themselves do not have access

to data easily, to data in other hospitals or in other locations.

So one of the idea is to really accelerate understanding of brain

diseases, by gathering and organizing fragments of the data about diseases.

I already showed you the [UNKNOWN], which is a beginning attempt.

But we want really to drive the data together, and drive massive collaboration

between hospitals. So this is one of the missions of the

human brain project. Which is a completely different ma,

mission than the, than the blue brain product, is to go into medicine and try

to make some type of organized systematic.

Putting together data on brain diseases from all hospitals in an accessible

systematic umbrella, the human brain project.

And then of course, hopefully when you put things together under one frame work,

the data from the hospitals, from the physicians into systematic place.

You may start to query, you may get answers much better than in the brain of

a single physician, or a single neuroscientist.

It now collective brain, put into a wise system, informatic system about brain

diseases. And I mentioned the future computing,

because you really want to learn from the brain itself, to be inspired by the

brain, to build future computing technologies.

So you want to, the brain is a physical proof that it's possible.

And so how did the brain solve this problem of energy, of so many microchips

interacting? How did the brain solve the plasticity,

the learning, the fact that you learn while behaving.

We want to develop these kind of computers, inspired by the brain.

So you can see that the brain can be our teacher for developing new technologies,

super computers that do much, much better than today.

And that's why mission, it will be really important and probably will change

society if we can have this kind of adaptive, wise and energetic chip

computer. So, I gave you a broad summary of the

blue brain project seed, and the human brain project, very different, large

scale. Hopefully, we should know within ten

years, I'm sure it will be, a successful project, whereby integration of many,

many disciplines. Computers, computer scientists,

engineers, informatics, database, physiologists, anatomists, psychologists

put together in order to really, really dwell into a new direction of brain

research. Next week we will have a guest speaker.

A well known scientist, Professor Israel Nelken, he will talk about perception,

action, cognition and emotions in the brain.

So thank you very much. See you next week.

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