Brain, meet Big Data. The Human Connectodome Project is an effort by a multidisciplinary group of scientists, engineers, and computer scientists to understand the wiring stored in the human skull. The initial effort is to scan the brains of 1200 people with an MRI to collect detailed data on brain patterns. The MRI data will be combined with genetic information and behavioral information to understand the interaction between the human brain and human behavior with a data density that would have been hard to fathom even a decade ago.
Aside from making really pretty pictures, why does it really matter to know the routes that info travels around in our brains? In the words of the director of the NIH:
"With a detailed connectome map of a normal human brain, I believe we will gain a better understanding of the roots of human neurological disorders, including schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, and other baffling conditions that may arise from abnormal “wiring” during brain development. This knowledge should yield new and better ways to detect, treat, and, ultimately, prevent the brain disorders that currently disrupt and devastate so many lives.
The connectome will also give us a new tool to explore how genes influence the brain’s connections—and how behavioral and environmental factors act to sculpt those connections, affecting everything from our ability to solve crossword puzzles to our risk for addiction.
Aside from making really pretty pictures, why does it really matter to know the routes that info travels around in our brains? In the words of the director of the NIH:
"With a detailed connectome map of a normal human brain, I believe we will gain a better understanding of the roots of human neurological disorders, including schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, and other baffling conditions that may arise from abnormal “wiring” during brain development. This knowledge should yield new and better ways to detect, treat, and, ultimately, prevent the brain disorders that currently disrupt and devastate so many lives.
The connectome will also give us a new tool to explore how genes influence the brain’s connections—and how behavioral and environmental factors act to sculpt those connections, affecting everything from our ability to solve crossword puzzles to our risk for addiction.
Image Credits: Human Connectodome Project
RSS Feed