The Human Brain Project - Synergy between neuroscience, computing, informatics, and brain-inspired technologies
The Human Brain Project - Synergy between neuroscience, computing, informatics, and brain-inspired technologies
Amunts, K.; Knoll, A.C.; Lippert, T.; Pennartz, C.M.A.; Ryvlin, P.; Destexhe, A.; Jirsa, V.K.;
D'Angelo, E.; Bjaalie, J.G.
DOI
10.1371/journal.pbio.3000344
Publication date
2019
Document Version
Final published version
Published in
PLoS Biology
License
CC BY
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Fig 1. Multiscale organization of brain connectivity. Different methods are being used in the HBP to analyze neuronal connections from the nanometer scale to
the centimeter scale. Although TEM/SEM (e.g., Rodriguez-Moreno and colleagues [5]) and CLSM/TPFM (e.g., Silvestri and colleagues [6]) can image subcellular
structures, including synapse, with great detail, they cannot cover the whole human brain. 3D-PLI has a spatial resolution down to 1.3 μm, which resolves most of
the myelinated fibers, and has the potential to image the whole human brain (e.g., Axer and colleagues [7]). Diffusion MRI is an in vivo method covering the whole
brain, but with limited spatial resolution, which does not resolve single nerve fibers (e.g., Beaujoin and colleagues [8]). The possibility to link these different data
shows the great advantage of HBP—it facilitates the combination of approaches at scale, backed by high-performance computing and the data exchange
infrastructure FENIX. CLSM, confocal laser scanning microscopy; FENIX, Federated Exascale Network for data Integration and eXchange; HBP, Human Brain
Project; PLI, polarized light imaging; TEM, transmission electron microscopy; TPFM, two-photon fluorescence microscopy. Figure elements provided by Markus
Axer.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000344.g001
The Medical Informatics Platform (MIP) exploits new ICT in the context of clinical neuro-
sciences [13]. It combines local components installed in every participating hospital and a web-
based central node connecting the local components. Its architecture enables the extraction,
processing, and analysis of medical data collected during either clinical practice or research.
The MIP allows the automatic generation of brain regional volumes from T1 MRI data. The key
is to enable General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-compliant federated analysis of dis-
tributed clinical datasets without moving the data out of the hospital, a crucial issue in the con-
text of data privacy concerns and regulations. This unique feature opens the way for studies of
unmatched scale, keeping in mind that 165 million European citizens suffer from brain diseases.
A first proof-of-concept study in the field of dementia collected >6,000 datasets from three hos-
pitals and analyzed them together with data from Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
(ADNI). The future MIP will include many more hospitals and consider data from patients
with epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and behavioral disorders. It offers an ideal infrastructure
to implement AI-based diagnostic and patient management tools for clinical practice in con-
junction with modeling and simulation efforts in personalized medicine.
Some of the research data in brain science already reach the petabyte range. The HBP stor-
age at high-performance computing centers in Europe, the FENIX infrastructure, enables
researchers to upload their data and use high-end simulation and processing of big data in an
easy and straightforward way from wherever they are. To bring neuroscientists to supercom-
puting is one of the aims of the HBP; it opens new ways to solve neuroscientific questions
requiring significant compute resources. Computer specialists benefit from neuroscience use
cases, which are instrumental to identify the characteristics of future, extreme-scale computers
including modular supercomputers. Already, the integrated platform of the HBP is the first
research infrastructure that is embedding two worldwide, unique neuromorphic computing
machines with novel non–von Neumann computing architecture (SpiNNaker and Brain-
ScaleS) into user workflows [14]. This powerful computing infrastructure will smoothly handle
complex workflows, combining, for example, compute-intensive simulation with the analysis
of data using deep learning.
Neurorobotics is a brain-inspired technology; a novel interdisciplinary field of science at
the confluence of neuroscience, robotics, and artificial intelligence; and part of the research
infrastructure. It recognizes the fact that the brain is embedded into a body and that this body
is itself embedded into a dynamic environment. This approach considers that environmental
interactions cannot be ignored to faithfully simulate the brain and understand behavior. This
embodiment (through either a simulated agent or a physical robot) provides neuroscientists
with a new experimental paradigm to test their neural models [15]. Simulations implementing
closed-loop experiments in neurorobotics encompass the full action–perception–cognition
loop. Observation of brain activity and physical performance in the context of relevant behav-
ioral tasks then enables researchers to either refute or support the theory behind their neural
models, thus uniquely informing their scientific investigations. This line of research will even-
tually lead to a new paradigm, “closed-loop neuroscience,” for which the HBP intends to pro-
vide the necessary infrastructure. Such an example illustrates the synergistic relationship
between neuroscience, ICT, and brain-like computing within HBP.
Concluding remarks
The HBP is pursuing an open-science approach. Simulation engines, models, analysis tools, data,
and the HBP Atlases are shared with the community through a web-based system as a common
entry point. Multilevel brain complexity is a challenge that needs a sustainable and strong—but
also flexible—research infrastructure at the interface of neuroscience and computing, which is
developed by the project. It offers and develops services to the research community to solve scien-
tific problems from various fields including FAIR data; atlasing; medical brain activity data; web-
based, interactive supercomputing; closed-loop neuroscience; robotics and AI; and modeling and
simulation workflows. The HBP approach has already led to a significant number of break-
throughs, among them the development of novel spike-based learning algorithms, which were
implemented on neuromorphic computers with the aim of obtaining general-purpose tools for a
new generation of AI applications; innovative theoretical models that made use of results from
experimental neuroscience addressing the multiscale organization of the brain; and significant
advances in understanding the neural basis of learning and perception [16], spatial memory [17],
multisensory integration [18], and sleep and consciousness [19]. These are a few examples illus-
trating that the integration of neuroscience and ICT within a common framework opens new
ways toward a better understanding of brain complexity. (For a regularly updated overview, see
https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/science/highlights-and-achievements/.)
A research culture of collaboration and data sharing, which is accompanied by activities
addressing ethical and philosophical issues and their societal implications, has been key for the
HBP from the very beginning. The HBP infrastructure provides a concrete basis to collaborate
with the wider, international research community. It is linking the European project into an
international context—e.g., through the International Brain Initiative (IBI). The IBI was cre-
ated in 2017 with the Australian Brain Alliance, Japan Brain Mapping by Integrated Neuro-
technologies for Disease Studies (Brain/MINDS) Project, Korea Brain Initiative, the European
HBP, and the United States Brain Initiative as the initial members. It has the aim of coordinat-
ing efforts between the global initiatives to speed up progress on decoding the brain’s code.
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