Human Brain Project’s Research Platforms Released on Schedule

Public Release of Platforms Will Help Advance Collaborative Research in Neuroscience, Medicine, and Computing

Geneva, 30 March 2016 — The Human Brain Project (HBP) is pleased to announce the release of initial versions of its six Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Platforms to users outside the Project. These Platforms are designed to help the scientific community to accelerate progress in neuroscience, medicine, and computing.

The Platforms released today consist of prototype hardware, software tools, databases and programming interfaces, which will be refined and expanded in a collaborative approach with users, and integrated within the framework of a European Research Infrastructure. The public release of the Platforms represents the end of the Ramp-Up Phase of the HBP and the beginning of the Operational Phase.

Karlheinz Meier, Co-leader of the Neuromorphic Platform, said, “The HBP invites scientists everywhere to work with our prototype Platforms and give us their feedback. This will help us improve their functionality and ease of use, and hence their value to society”.

The HBP Platforms are designed to help researchers to advance faster and more efficiently, by sharing data and results, and exploiting advanced ICT capabilities. The Platforms should, for example, enable closer collaboration between scientists to create more detailed models and simulations of the brain. A first step in opening up the Platforms to the wider scientific community has already been taken, through the funding of the first HBP Partnering Projects via the EU’s FLAG-ERA 2015 Joint Transnational Call.

The six HBP Platforms are:

• The Neuroinformatics Platform: registration, search, analysis of neuroscience data.
• The Brain Simulation Platform: reconstruction and simulation of the brain.
• The High Performance Computing Platform: computing and storage facilities to run complex simulations and analyse large data sets.
• The Medical Informatics Platform: searching of real patient data to understand similarities and differences among brain diseases.
• The Neuromorphic Computing Platform: access to computer systems that emulate brain microcircuits and apply principles similar to the way the brain learns.
• The Neurorobotics Platform: testing of virtual models of the brain by connecting them to simulated robot bodies and environments.

All the Platforms can be accessed via the HBP Collaboratory, a web portal where users can also find guidelines, tutorials and information on training seminars. Please note that users will need to register to access the Platforms and that some of the Platform resources have capacity limits.

The HBP will hold an online release event on 30 March starting at 9:30am for the scientific community and a press conference from 14:00 – 15:30. Journalists can register to join the press conference in person in Geneva or via AdobeConnect.

Click here to download the presskit (98mb)

Click here for HBP images (270mb)

 

The recordings of the presentations are accessible at these links: 
Morning Session:

– YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XXz2quUWFQ

Afternoon Session:

– YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb7CcwmRLcs

 

Programme

Morning

Time: 9:30 – 12:15
What: Introduction and Platform demos
Who should watch: Scientific community

Time	Topic	Spoke Person
09:30-09:40	Welcome	Philippe Gillet, EPFL
09:40-09:55	Introduction: What is HBP?	Alois Knoll, TUM
09:55-10:10	Overview * The HBP Platforms * The Collaboratory + how to access the Platforms	Jeff Müller, EPFL
10:15-10:30	High Performance Analytics and Computing (SP7)	Thomas Lippert, Julich, from Geneva Colin McMurtrie, CSCS, from Lugano Michael Denker from Jülich Anna Lührs from Jülich Thomas Lippert from Geneva
10:30-10:45	Neuroinformatics (SP5)	Sean Hill, EPFL, from Geneva
10:45-11:00	Break
11:00-11:15	Brain Simulation (SP6)	Felix Schürmann, EPFL, from Geneva Eilif Müller, EPFL from Geneva Idan Segev, Hebrew University, from Jerusalem
11:15-11:30	Medical Informatics (SP8)	Ferath Kherif, CHUV, from Geneva
11:30-11:45	Neuromorphic Computing (SP9)	Karlheinz Meier, UHEI, from Geneva Steve Furber, UMAN, from Manchester
11:45-12:00	Neurorobotics (SP10)	Marc-Oliver Gewaltig, EPFL, from Geneva Sandro Weber, TUM, from Geneva
12:00-12:10	Closing remarks and opportunities to join HBP	Karlheinz Meier, UHEI, from Geneva

Afternoon

Time: 14:00 – 15:30
What: The HBP Platforms in brief and press conference
Who should watch: General public and invited press

Time	Topic	Spoke Person
14:00	Introduction	Sean Hill, EPFL
	Significance of the platforms for brain research	Katrin Amunts, JULICH
	Collaboratory and how to obtain access to the Platforms	Jeff Mülller, EPFL
	Introduction to the six HBP Platforms:
	High Performance Analytics and Computing Platform	Thomas Lippert, JULICH
	Neuroinformatics Platform	Sean Hill, EPFL
	Brain Simulation Platform	Jeanette Hällgren, KTH
	Medical Informatics Platform	Richard Frackowiak, CHUV
	Neuromorphic Computing Platform	Karlheinz Meier, UHEI
	Neurorobotics Platform	Marc-Oliver Gewaltig, EPFL
	Use case and closing remarks	Francesco Pavone, LENS
14:45	Q&A with the press	All
15:30	Final Statement	Jean-Pierre Changeux, IP

 

Press contacts

Contact information

Platform	Main Contact	Email	Tel:
General HBP queries	Lionel Pousaz	press@humanbrainproject.eu	+41 21 69 35227

Extraído do site Human Brain Project