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News and Announcements
Google Summer of Code 2016
The Blue Brain Project has applied to become a mentoring organization for Google Summer of Code 2016 - a global program that offers students stipends to write code for open source projects. If we are accepted, formal applications will open March 14 and close on March 25. If you are interested in working for BBP during the Summer of Code, click here.
Digitizing and Simulating Neural Tissue Reveals Mechanisms Underlying Diverse Brain States
The Blue Brain Project, the simulation core of the Human Brain Project, has completed a first draft computer reconstruction of a piece of the neocortex. The electrical behavior of the virtual brain tissue was simulated on supercomputers and found to match the behavior observed in a number of experiments on the brain. Further simulations revealed novel insights into the functioning of the neocortex. This first step towards the digital reconstruction and simulation of the brain is published in Cell.
Free download here (until October 22)
Web portal provides access to data and models used in reconstruction
The Blue Brain Project has announced the opening of the Neocortical Microcircuit Collaboration Portal (NMC-Portal). The NMC portal allows researchers with access to the Internet, to access the experimental data used in the reconstruction, to download cellular and synaptic models, and to analyze the predicted properties of the microcircuit It also provides data supporting comparison of the anatomy and physiology of the reconstructed microcircuit against results in the literature. The aim is to catalyse community efforts to understand the cellular and synaptic organization of neocortical microcircuitry (ion channels and their densities, neuron types and their distributions across layers, connectivity between neurons, synapse types, synaptic properties etc.).. Future periodic releases will incorporate results from these efforts. To read more about the portal click here. To access the portal itself click here.
Algorithm to predict connectivity in neural microcircuits
A paper published today describes a mathematical algorithm that predicts the location of nearly 40 million synapses formed between the neurons in a small block of brain tissue about 100’000 times larger than has ever been analyzed with electron microscopy. The algorithm uses millions of times less experimental data than would normally be needed using purely experimental methods. The algorithm was developed as part of the Blue Brain Project’s mission to digitally reconstruct the biological detail of the brain and is a companion paper to the team's paper on the Reconstruction and Simulation of Neocortical Microcircuitry.
Blue Brain Team Selected to Participate in Argonne Early Science Programme
The Blue Brain Project's High Performance Computing Team (HPC) has been selected by the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) to participate in the 2-year Theta Early Science Program. This program will target the porting and optimization at large scale of our CoreNeuron scientific application on ALCF next leadership-class supercomputer prototype, Theta. This opportunity will allow the HPC team developers to collaborate with Intel, Cray and ALCF HPC specialists to drive the development of CoreNeuron to support 4 challenging scientific use cases: (a) The analysis of the electrical activity of the mouse brain Somatosensory Cortex, (b) The study of Synaptic Plasticity phenomenon in a mouse brain, (c) The building and simulations of a full mouse brain model and (d) The study of the activity and plasticity of a mouse brain model when embedded into a simulated body interacting within its environment.
In Silico Imaging of Fluorescent Brain Models
The Blue Brain Project visualization team has recently published an article on the modeling and simulation of brain imaging with light sheet fluorescence microscope (LSFM) on a physically plausible basis. This model reflects the light propagation in the optical setup of the LSFM using Monte Carlo rendering taking into account the physics of geometric optics. It can accurately render synthetic optical sections that are comparable to realistic ones produced by the LSFM. This in silico LSFM will be potentially employed for validating the reconstructed tissue models from microscopic imaging stacks.
Launch of Sino-Swiss Laboratory for Data Intensive Neuroscience
EPFL and the Chinese Academy of Sciences will collaborate on Neuroinformatics platforms, Data and Knowledge integration, algorithms for Brain Reconstruction and Brain Atlas platforms.
Upcoming Workshops
NEST User Workshop, 20-22 April 2015 in Geneva and Connectomics School, 9-16 May 2015, Florence.
A Simulated Mouse Brain
Neurorobotics engineers from the Human Brain Project (HBP) have recently taken the first steps towards building a "virtual mouse" by placing a simplified computer model of the mouse brain into a virtual mouse body.
Neural Simulations Hint at the Origin of Brain Waves
Sean Hill explains how computer models of individual neurons are being assembled into neural circuits that produce electrical signals akin to brain waves.
BMI Research Day 2014
The organizers of the BMI Research Day are happy to announce the program of the 2nd BMI Research Day 2014. The event takes place on June 11th and will start at 11:50 in EPFL (SV1717A / SV Lobby).
Un super-ordinateur permettant de simuler le cerveau d'une souris vient d'être créé
Grâce a lui, les chercheurs de l'EPFL pourront reproduire, en trois dimensions, les 70 millions de neurones d'un cerveau de souris >>.
Neural simulations hint at the origin of brain waves
For almost a century, scientists have been studying brain waves to learn about mental health and the way we think >>.
The Blue Brain Project Blog
Neural simulations hint at the origin of brain waves
Videos and pictures of the Blue Brain Project at SfN 2012 available now!
Noah Hutton's year 3 of the Blue Brain Project out now.
Breakthrough! BBP predicts the location of synaptic connections - the Emergent Connectome.
Blog and Other Videos