Neuroscience
The brain is responsible for an enormous portion of human disease burden.
We need new tools to access the brain more broadly and deeply to illuminate the molecular, cellular and circuit mechanisms underlying the brain’s functions and its disorders.
“To understand in depth what is going on in a brain, we need tools that can fit inside or between neurons and transmit reports of neural events to receivers outside. We need observing instruments that are local, non-destructive and non-invasive, with rapid response, high band-width and high spatial resolution… There is no law of physics that declares such an observational tool to be impossible.” – Freeman Dyson, Imagined Worlds, 1997
R&D Gaps (4)
Understanding the complete wiring of the brain at single–cell resolution, along with detailed molecular annotations, is critical for revealing how neural circuits support learning, memory, and behavior. Current technologies are prohibitively expensive and lack scalability, limiting our ability to li...
Large portions of the living human brain are difficult to observe and modulate with current technologies. Safer, noninvasive, or minimally invasive methods are needed to capture real-time brain state information.
One funding program dedicated to making advancements in this space is that of ARIA (...
We Can’t Take High-Resolution Movies of or Intervene in Brain Computation at the Single Neuron Level
Capturing the dynamics of large brain networks at single-neuron resolution in vivo is extremely challenging. Advanced imaging methods that record fast, high-resolution activity without destructive intervention are required to unravel the complex interplay of neuronal circuits in real time.