Blue Brain

Blue Brain is a project, begun in May 2005, to create a computer simulation of the entire human brain, down to the molecular level. ^[1] The aim is to study the brain's structure. The project is a collaboration between IBM and Henry Markram's Brain and Mind Institute at the École Polytechnique in Lausanne, Switzerland.^[1]

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The initial goal of the project is the simulation of a 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; the simulation will focus on rat neocortical columns, which are very similar in structure but contain only 10,000 neurons (and 10⁸ synapses). Over the last 10 years, Markram has mapped the types of neurons and their connections in such a column.

The project will use a Blue Gene supercomputer,^[1] running as simulation software, the MPI-based Neocortical Simulator (NCS) developed by Phil Goodman, to be combined with Michael Hines's NEURON software. The simulation will not consist of a mere artificial neural network, but will involve much more biologically realistic models of neurons.

It is estimated that construction of a simulated neocortical column will take about 2 years; the results of the simulation will be experimentally tested against biological columns.

After that, the project will develop in two different directions:

1. construction of a simulation on the molecular level,^[1] which is desirable since it allows to study 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).

On November 14, 2007, results from the Blue Brain project in simulating a "rat brain" were presented. ^{[2] [3]}

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Mission to build a simulated brain begins" (news), project of Institute at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, NewScientist, June 2005, webpage: NewSci7470.
2. ^ IBM’s Blue Brain project simulates a “rat brain”. The Cortical Column. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.
3. ^ Ananthanarayanan, Rajagopal; Dharmendra S. Modha. Anatomy of a Cortical Simulator (PDF). IBM. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.

References

• IBM Aims To Simulate A Brain, Forbes, 6 June 2005.
• Mission to build a simulated brain begins, New Scientist News, 6 June 2005.
• Blue Brain Project site, Lausanne.
• FAQ on Blue Brain.
• NCS documentation.
• NEURON documentation.
• Henry Markram, "The Blue Brain Project", Nature Neuroscience Review, 7:153-160, 2006 February. PMID 16429124.
• Growing a Brain in Switzerland, Spiegel, 7 February 2007