Human Brain Project

 HBP Official site

The HBP Flagship was launched by the European Commission’s Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) scheme in October 2013. The HBP has the following main objectives:

• Create and operate a European Scientific Research Infrastructure for brain research, cognitive neuroscience, and other brain-inspired sciences
• Gather, organise and disseminate data describing the brain and its diseases
• Simulate the brain
• Build multi-scale scaffold theory and models for the brain
• Develop brain-inspired computing, data analytics and robotics
• Ensure that the HBP’s work is undertaken responsibly and that it benefits society.

The timeline of the Project is split into multiple phases, each of which will be covered by a separate funding agreement, the Ramp-Up Phase (RUP, October 2013 to March 2016), the Specific Grant Agreement One (SGA1, April 2016–April 2018), the Specific Grant Agreement Two (SGA2, April 2018–April 2020), and the Specific Grant Agreement Three (SGA3, April 2020–April 2023) that is the current phase. 

28 January 2013: The European Commission has announced that the Human Brain Project (HBP) is the winner of the FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) call.

HBP faces an extraordinary challenge for modern sciences: to integrate available knowledge on the human brain in order to reconstitute its functioning in computo and in silico through advanced informatics platforms.

The goal is to understand brain functioning inner mechanisms, to find new cures for brain diseases, and to generate intelligent computers and robots.

More than 80 Research Centers participate at the Human Brain Project.

ITALIAN PARTNERS

Prof. Egidio D’Angelo is the Principal Investigator of the Pavia HBP-Unit.

The HBP-Italy participants  are the following (click on the map to enlarge):

COLLABORATIONS

The HBP voucher program and the Open Call Program brought to new collaborations:

• CerebNEST and VM-CerebNEST: Alessandra Pedrocchi, Politecnico di Milano
• SPINNCER: Francesco Leporati, Università degli Studi di Pavia
• SODIUM signal reconstruction and simulation from cellular data-driven models (SODIUMsim): Claudia Gandini Wheeler Kingshot University College London, UK
• BOLD signal reconstruction and simulation from cellular data-driven models (BOLDsim), Shyam Diwakar, AMRITA Vishwa Vidyapeetham (University), IN
• Enhanced mouse atlas for cerebellar connectivity (ATLAS-cer): Anna Choi, University of Washington, US; Allen Institute for Brain Science, US
• CEoI 4- Rodent microcircuits: RisingNet Whole-bRaIn rodent SpikING neural NETworks, Egidio D’ANGELO (lead), Petra RITTER Charite – Universitaetsmedizin Berlin (CHARITE) Germany, Lyle GRAHAM Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) France, Sten GRILLNER Karolinska Institutet (KI) Sweden, Alessandra PEDROCCHI, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, Addolorata MARASCO, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
• Preparing Cellular-Level Models for Portable HPC Simulation using Arbor, FIPPA The Functional Interplay between Plasticity Processes for Arbor
  Johannes SCHEMME, Sebastian SCHMITT Heidelberg University (UHEI) Germany
  ArborIO Arbor Implementation of the Inferior Olive Network
  Egidio D’ANGELO, Claudia CASELLATO University of Pavia

NEWS & PRESS

The main themes of the Human Brain Project (HBP) have been illustrated in a special issue (n. 3 2013) of Functional Neurology published to coincide with the joint HBP – OTTORINO ROSSI AWARD meeting, 17-18 October 2013 (Pavia, Italy). 

• ITALIAN PRESS on Human Brain Project.
• The Human Brain Project, the Italian Contribution – VIDEO

• Egidio D’Angelo presentation on “The Human Brain Mapping” (visibility rescricted only with password)
• NEUROWISSENSCHAFTEN – Article on HBP and D’Angelo activity (in German language)