Neuroscience at NSF
Status and Prosepctives
Rae Silver
Senior Advisor
OIA/OD
November 16 2006
ENG Advisory Committee
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Why Now
The 2006 OMB-OSTP memo calls for
more research in complex biological
systems – systems that are non-linear,
multi-scale, and difficult to predict
Why NSF
 NSF is the one agency that can bring to
bear the necessary scientific, mathematical
and engineering disciplines to explore
“complex biological systems – systems that
are non-linear, multi-scale, and difficult
to predict”
 Opportunity Potential
 Instrumentation and computational tools
 Education
Planning process: Neuroscience at NSF
BIO
Instrumentation
-development
-purchase
behavioral and physiologic
measurement
data analysis, modeling,
and informatics
conceptual and theoretical
approaches
building brain-like devices
and systems
CISE
GEO
ENG
MPS
SBE
Our Challenge
• Articulate future research opportunities
– new scientific directions
– broader benefits to society
• Develop a series of workshops to identify
transformative opportunities
– research
– education
Workshop recommendations
BIO SBE July 06
Promising work in cognition & neuroscience
Adaptive Plasticity, Conflict and Cooperation,
Spatial knowledge, Time, Language, Causal
Understanding
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/grand_chall.pdf
CISE ENG MPS August 06
Identified 4 broad areas of opportunity
• Instrumentation and Measurement
• Data Analysis, Statistical Modeling, Informatics
• Conceptual and Theoretical Approaches
• Building Brain-like Devices and Systems
Timing & Time measurement
“Talk about engineering principles!”
• A central master clock in the SCN.
• Many cells in different organs throughout the body
have clocks, each of which have a circadian cycle in
gene expression for large number of genes
• Similar to motor system – loops within loops – exactly
how one should build a complicated engineered
system.
• It’s a bit like how computers are coordinated over the
internet in terms of time – each computer has a local
clock, and they can be coordinated overall using the
NNTP (network time protocol).
Partha Mitra ColdSpringHarborLab
Circadian Body Clocks
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1972 Daily clock located in hypothalamus-SCN
1971 Clock mutants in flies
1982 Cloning of fly clock gene (Period)
1997-98 Period gene in mammals
Discovery of cell based circa-dian clock
DAY
NIGHT
Brain Computer Interfaces:
Biomimetic Microelectronics as Implantable Neural Prostheses
Ted Berger Aug 06
Problem: Integration of Brain and
Computing Systems
Multi-Disciplinary Components:
1. Biomimetic modeling of neurons
and neural systems
(neuroscience, mathematics,
biomedical engineering)
2. Hardware implementation
(VLSI) of neural models for
parallelism, rapid computational
speed, and miniaturization
(computer science, computer
engineering, electrical
engineering)
3. Multi-site electrode
recording/stimulation arrays to
interface devices with the brain
(material science, physics,
chemistry)
long-term
memory
short-term
memory
Functional Neuroimaging of Information Flows within the Brain:
Mechanisms of cognitive processes and brain functions
ITR: High-Resolution Cortical Imaging of Brain
Electrical Activity. Bin He, U Minnesota
Implementation: Workshops
BIO+SBE: Mind and Brain: Strategies and
Directions for Future July 18-19, 2006
CISE+ENG+MPS: Brain Science as a
Mutual Opportunity for the Physical &
Mathematical Sciences, Computer
Science & Engineering 21-22 August 2006
BIO+CISE+ENG+MPS+SBE March 5-6