Hangout On Air Summary

The Kavli Foundation had a live (Hangout On Air) webcast on October 30, 2015 about the proposal for a national network of neurotechnology centers, or ‘brain observatories.’

Three of the paper’s authors – Miyoung Chun of The Kavli Foundation, Michael Roukes of the California Institute of Technology and Rafael Yuste of Columbia University – answered the public’s questions about what these observatories could achieve.

 

 

Brain Observatories Proposal

The authors of the original proposal for the Brain Activity Map (BAM) Project, which inspired the White House’s BRAIN Initiative, issued today a position statement in Neuron proposing the creation of a national network of neurotechnology centers.

These “brain observatories” would enhance and accelerate the BRAIN Initiative by leveraging the success and creativity of individual laboratories to develop novel neurotechnologies.

Read more about the proposal here.

Webcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Oz4g9O3mM&feature=youtu.beVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Spotlight Live: A Call for ‘Brain Observatories’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Oz4g9O3mM&feature=youtu.be)

 

About the Participants

From Kavli Foundation post

MIYOUNG CHUN (moderator) – is Executive Vice President of Science Programs at The Kavli Foundation. Chun’s career spans ...

 

Summary

The Kavli Foundation is continuing its support for the goals of the BRAIN Initiative and for innovative brain research. Consistent with its commitment in 2013, Kavli and its University Partners have commited $100 Million to brain research by forming three new Kavli Institutes in addition to supporting its existing four institutes.

The Kavli Foundation, based in Oxnard, California, is dedicated to the goals of advancing science for the benefit of humanity and promoting increased public understanding and support for scientists and their work.

 

Information

Website:  kavlifoundation.org/ YouTube Channel:  youtube.com/user/KavliFoundation Twitter:  twitter.com/KavliFoundation Facebook: facebook.com/KavliFoundation Wikipedia Entry: wiki/The_Kavli_Foundation

Email: Contact form Phone: 805.983.6000 Address: The Kavli Foundation 1801 Solar Drive , Suite 250 Oxnard, CA 93030

 

Board of Directors

Rockell N. Hankin, LLB Chairman of the Board

Robert W. Conn, PhD President and Chief Executive Officer

Mary Sue Coleman President Emerita, University of Michigan

Thomas E. Everhart President Emeritus, California Institute of Technology

Douglas K. Freeman, Esq. Senior Managing Director, First Foundation Advisors

Richard A. Meserve President Emeritus, Carnegie Institution for Science

Gunnar K. Nilsen President, BizArch Advisors

Henry T. Yang Chancellor, University of California, Santa Barbara

 

Officers and Staff

Robert W. Conn, PhD President and Chief Executive Officer

Miyoung Chun, PhD Executive Vice President of Science Programs

James Cohen Director of Communications and Public Outreach

Judy Darley Human Resources Manager and Chief of Staff

Christopher Martin Ph.D. Science Program Officer

Nadine ...

The authors of the original proposal for the Brain Activity Map (BAM) Project, which inspired the White House’s BRAIN Initiative, are proposing the creation of a national network of neurotechnology centers.

These “brain observatories” would enhance and accelerate the BRAIN Initiative by leveraging the success and creativity of individual laboratories to develop novel neurotechnologies.

Co-authors of the Brain Observatories proposal.

Brain Observatories press release

A national network of neurotechnology centers for the BRAIN Initiative

EurekAlert Oct. 15, 2015 Columbia University

Neuron article

The authors of the original proposal for the Brain Activity Map (BAM) Project, which inspired the White House’s BRAIN Initiative, issued today a position statement in Neuron proposing the creation of a national network of neurotechnology centers. These “brain observatories” would enhance and accelerate the BRAIN Initiative by leveraging the success and creativity of individual laboratories to develop novel neurotechnologies.

Now in its second year, the BRAIN Initiative is a large-scale, decade-long scientific project with a budget of $300 Million for FY16, that involves more than 100 laboratories throughout the country and has also inspired similar large-scale brain research projects worldwide. On April 2, 2013, President Obama launched the BRAIN Initiative to “accelerate the development and ...

 

The Kavli Institute for Brain Science at Columbia University probes the complex network of brain cells and their connections.

Led by Eric Kandel, M.D. (2000 Nobel laureate), and co-directors Thomas Jessell (2008 Kavli Prize laureate) and Rafael Yuste (Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute), the Institute uses advanced imaging technology to observe neurons, synapses, and neural circuits as they develop and function, and as they respond to learning.

 

Web Information

Kavli web page: http://www.kavlifoundation.org/columbia-university

Institute for Brain Science website: http://kavli.columbia.edu/

About the Institute for Brain Science

From the Kavli web page

The Kavli Institute for Brain Science at Columbia University probes the complex network of brain cells and their connections. Led by Eric Kandel, M.D. (2000 Nobel laureate), and co-directors Thomas Jessell (2008 Kavli Prize laureate) and Rafael Yuste (Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute), the Institute uses advanced imaging technology to observe neurons, synapses, and neural circuits as they develop and function, and as they respond to learning. Researchers examine the brain at the cellular, molecular, and systems level to understand how the nerve cells of neural circuits connect during development to control behavior, and how these neural circuits perform and are modified by learning and memory. As Kandel has noted, “[We need] more powerful tools to ...

 

The Kavli Institute for Neuroscience at Yale University studies the neurobiological basis of human thought. Following a broad multidisciplinary strategy, it examines how the nerve cells and synaptic circuits of the cerebral cortex enable humans to learn about the outside world and to remember what they already have learned.

Toward this end, it fosters discussion and innovative research among Yale neuroscientists from multiple disciplines, enabling them to contribute novel ideas and approaches in research on cortical evolution, development, organization and function.

 

Web Information

Kavli Foundation web page: http://www.kavlifoundation.org/yale-university

Kavli Institute for Neuroscience website: http://medicine.yale.edu/neurobiology/kavli/

About Kavli Institute for Neuroscience

From the Kavli Foundation page

Founded in 2004, the Institute is directed by Pietro De Camilli, M.D., and vice-director David A. McCormick. The inaugural director was 2008 Kavli Prize laureate Pasko Rakic, M.D., Ph.D. It includes other Yale faculty members from disciplines such as neurobiology, cell biology, molecular physics and biochemistry, neurology, and developmental biology. Their research is focused on four themes:

 

 

 

Development and evolution of the cerebral cortex. How does the circuitry that supports the highest cognitive functions develop in each individual? Institute scientists seek answers to this question, one of the most fundamental in biology, by using highly advanced approaches of molecular genetic and ...

Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind (KIBM) researchers bridge disciplinary boundaries to further understanding of the origins, evolution and mechanisms of human cognition, from the brain’s physical and biochemical machinery to the experiences and behaviors we call the mind.

Its advisory board includes scientists and clinicians from UCSD departments of cognitive science, neurobiology, psychology, psychiatry, neurosciences, radiology, and philosophy. The Scripps Research Institute, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and The Neurosciences Institute are also represented on the KIBM board.

Web Information

Kavli Foundation web page: http://www.kavlifoundation.org/university-california-san-diego

KIBM website:  http://kibm.ucsd.edu/

About KIBM

From the Kavli web page

Scientists have made great strides toward understanding how the human brain works. But as they unlock the secrets of the brain’s cellular machinery, they face a question that has occupied science and philosophy for centuries: What is the relationship between the brain and that complex set of experiences and behaviors we call the “mind?”

That question is central to the mission of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind at the University of California, San Diego (KIBM). Under the leadership of co-directors Nicholas Spitzer and Fred “Rusty” Gage, and associate director Ralph J. Greenspan, KIBM seeks to discover the physical and biochemical ...

 

How do we know where we are, where we have been and where we are going? Such are the questions that the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim aims to answer.

The Institute seeks to unlock the secrets of memory by studying the neural microcircuits and networks in the hippocampus and associated areas of the brain, where memory is encoded, stored and retrieved. It focuses in particular on the memory of place and direction that underlies our spatial navigation skills.

Web Information

Kavli ISN website: http://www.ntnu.edu/web/kavli/home

NTNU website: https://www.ntnu.edu/

About Kavli ISN

From Kavli Foundation web page

Founded in August 2007, Kavli at NTNU is able to draw on groundbreaking research that is well under way at its host institution, NTNU. It is closely affiliated with the university’s Centre for the Biology of Memory (CBM), where scientists in 2005 discovered “grid cells” — neurons in the entorhinal cortex that fire in patterns related to an animal’s specific location. The network of these brain cells may make up the neurological “map” that enables us to remember locations and that guides us through our surroundings.

The ultimate goal of the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience is to improve ...

 

The mission of the new Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute (Kavli NDI) at JHU is to bring together neuroscientists, engineers and data scientists to investigate neural development, neuronal plasticity, perception and cognition.

“The challenges of tomorrow will not be confined to distinct disciplines, and neither will be the solutions we create,” said Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels. “The Kavli Foundation award is a tremendous honor, because it allows Johns Hopkins to build on our history of pioneering neuroscience and catalyze new partnerships with engineers and data scienctists that will be essential to building a unified understanding of brain function.”

 

Web Information

Kavli Foundation web page:  http://www.kavlifoundation.org/johns-hopkins-university

About Kavli NDI

The Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute (Kavli NDI) brings together neuroscience, engineering, and data science – three traditional strengths at Johns Hopkins – with the ultimate goal of reaching a unified understanding of brain function.

New experimental techniques are generating a wealth of information about the brain at different scales – from the levels of single cells to brain circuits to behavior – but neuroscience still lacks effective tools for managing these massive data sets. Kavli NDI researchers are filling this gap by finding new ways to organize, analyze, and extract meaning from neurodata. They plan to ...

 

The Kavli Neural Systems Institute (Kavli NSI) at The Rockefeller University will promote interdisciplinary research and learn to tackle the biggest questions in neuroscience through high-risk, high-reward projects and the development of new research technologies.

“Kavli’s investment in neuroscience at Rockefeller will enable us to create and share new research approaches and laboratory technologies to capture the possibilities of neuroscience from the micro to the macro level,” said Rockefeller President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, PhD. “

 

 

Web Information

Kavli Foundation web page: http://www.kavlifoundation.org/rockefeller-university

About Kavlin NSI

Neuroscience is undergoing a convergence with fields such as bioengineering, nanoscience, and computer science that is expected to accelerate in the coming decades. The Kavli Neural Systems Institute (Kavli NSI) aims to be at the forefront of that shift, where multidisciplinary teams of scientists will work to develop new tools and novel approaches to meet the very biggest challenge’s in neuroscience.

The Kavli NSI fosters collaboration among Rockefeller’s dynamic community of scientists, including faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Together, they seek to generate new knowledge about the brain at many levels, from molecules to cells, and from circuits to the whole brain. The ultimate goal is to integrate these different neural systems into a comprehensive view of the brain.

The Kavli ...

 

The Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience (Kavli IFN) at UCSF will focus initially on understanding brain plasticity, the remarkable capacity of the brain to modify its structure and function.

The Kavli IFN will partner with engineers at two San Francisco Bay-area national laboratories to develop new tools and approaches to brain research.“UCSF scientists have made some of the seminal discoveries in modern neuroscience,” said UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS. “The Kavli Institute will sustain this rich tradition into the 21st Century.”

Web Information

Kavli Foundation web page: http://www.kavlifoundation.org/university-california-san-francisco

About Kavli IFN

The Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience (Kavli IFN) builds new, cross-disciplinary teams of scientists and engineers to tackle the hardest problems in neuroscience. It’s central research theme is neuroplasticity – the brain’s extraordinary ability to change over time. The Institute’s researchers aim to answer fundamental questions such as: How are plasticity and stability established? How is their balance maintained throughout our lifetime? And, importantly, how does that plasticity enable us to adapt our behavior?

The Kavli IFN aims to push the boundaries of interdisciplinary research to make breakthrough discoveries. It has established direct linkages between neuroscientists at UCSF and engineers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to develop transformative brain ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Thursday, October 1, 2015 – The Kavli Foundation and its university partners announced today the commitment of more than $100 million in new funds to enable research aimed at deepening our understanding of the brain and brain-related disorders, such as traumatic brain injuries (TBI), Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

The majority of the funds will establish three new Kavli neuroscience institutes at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU), The Rockefeller University and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

 

From Kavli Foundation News

Oct. 1, 2015

OnAir Post: Kavli and University Partners Commit $100 Million to Brain Research