16-05-2012, 12:39 PM
Blue Brain
Blue Brain.docx (Size: 25.25 KB / Downloads: 39)
Goals
Neocortical column modelling
The initial goal of the project, completed in December 2006,[3] was the simulation of a rat neocortical column, which can be considered the smallest functional unit of the neocortex (the part of the brain thought to be responsible for higher functions such as conscious thought). Such a column is about 2 mm tall, has a diameter of 0.5 mm and contains about 60,000 neurons in humans; rat neocortical columns are very similar in structure but contain only 10,000 neurons (and 108 synapses). Between 1995 and 2005, Markram mapped the types of neurons and their connections in such a column.
Whole brain simulation
A longer term goal is to build a detailed, functional simulation of the physiological processes in the human brain: "It is not impossible to build a human brain and we can do it in 10 years," Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project said in 2009 at the TED conference in Oxford.[4] In a BBC World Service interview he said: "If we build it correctly it should speak and have an intelligence and behave very much as a human does."[4]
Progress
In November 2007,[5] the project reported the end of the first phase, delivering a data-driven process for creating, validating, and researching the neocortical column.
By 2005 the first single cellular model was completed. The first artificial cellular neocortical column of 10,000 cells was built by 2008. By July 2011 a cellular mesocircuit of 100 neocortical columns with a million cells in total was built. A cellular rat brain is planned for 2014 with 100 mesocircuits totalling a hundred million cells. Finally a cellular human brain is predicted possible by 2023 equivalent to 1000 rat brains with a total of a hundred billion cells.[6][7]
Now that the column is finished, the project is currently busying itself with the publishing of initial results in scientific literature, and pursuing two separate goals:
1. construction of a simulation on the molecular level,[1] which is desirable since it allows studying the effects of gene expression;
2. simplification of the column simulation to allow for parallel simulation of large numbers of connected columns, with the ultimate goal of simulating a whole neocortex (which in humans consists of about 1 million cortical columns).
Funding
The project is funded primarily by the Swiss government and secondarily by grants and some donations from private individuals. The EPFL bought the Blue Gene computer at a reduced cost because at that stage it was still a prototype and IBM was interested in exploring how different applications would perform on the machine. BBP was a kind of beta tester.[8]
The project is a candidate for a Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) research grant from the European Commission. The grant would bring in €1 billion over 10 years. The final decision on the grant is expected in the second half of 2012. If the grant is awarded, the project will be renamed the Human Brain Project.[9]
Blue Brain.docx (Size: 25.25 KB / Downloads: 39)
Goals
Neocortical column modelling
The initial goal of the project, completed in December 2006,[3] was the simulation of a rat neocortical column, which can be considered the smallest functional unit of the neocortex (the part of the brain thought to be responsible for higher functions such as conscious thought). Such a column is about 2 mm tall, has a diameter of 0.5 mm and contains about 60,000 neurons in humans; rat neocortical columns are very similar in structure but contain only 10,000 neurons (and 108 synapses). Between 1995 and 2005, Markram mapped the types of neurons and their connections in such a column.
Whole brain simulation
A longer term goal is to build a detailed, functional simulation of the physiological processes in the human brain: "It is not impossible to build a human brain and we can do it in 10 years," Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project said in 2009 at the TED conference in Oxford.[4] In a BBC World Service interview he said: "If we build it correctly it should speak and have an intelligence and behave very much as a human does."[4]
Progress
In November 2007,[5] the project reported the end of the first phase, delivering a data-driven process for creating, validating, and researching the neocortical column.
By 2005 the first single cellular model was completed. The first artificial cellular neocortical column of 10,000 cells was built by 2008. By July 2011 a cellular mesocircuit of 100 neocortical columns with a million cells in total was built. A cellular rat brain is planned for 2014 with 100 mesocircuits totalling a hundred million cells. Finally a cellular human brain is predicted possible by 2023 equivalent to 1000 rat brains with a total of a hundred billion cells.[6][7]
Now that the column is finished, the project is currently busying itself with the publishing of initial results in scientific literature, and pursuing two separate goals:
1. construction of a simulation on the molecular level,[1] which is desirable since it allows studying the effects of gene expression;
2. simplification of the column simulation to allow for parallel simulation of large numbers of connected columns, with the ultimate goal of simulating a whole neocortex (which in humans consists of about 1 million cortical columns).
Funding
The project is funded primarily by the Swiss government and secondarily by grants and some donations from private individuals. The EPFL bought the Blue Gene computer at a reduced cost because at that stage it was still a prototype and IBM was interested in exploring how different applications would perform on the machine. BBP was a kind of beta tester.[8]
The project is a candidate for a Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) research grant from the European Commission. The grant would bring in €1 billion over 10 years. The final decision on the grant is expected in the second half of 2012. If the grant is awarded, the project will be renamed the Human Brain Project.[9]