Key Moments In Brain Research
Key Moments In Brain Research
BRAIN Initiative-Related Event
Historical Event
The NIH BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN) unveiled an atlas of cell types and an anatomical neuronal wiring diagram for the mammalian primary motor cortex, derived from detailed studies of mice, monkeys, and humans. Learn More
Dana Foundation officially joins the BRAIN Initiative Alliance. Learn More
American Brain Coalition and International Neuroethics Society officially join the BRAIN Initiative Alliance. Learn More
Dr. Andrea Beckel-Mitchener is named deputy director of the NIH BRAIN Initiative. Learn More
Seventh set of NIH-funded BRAIN Initiative awards are announced. Learn More
MICrONS Explorer launched. This website serves as a data portal to release connectivity and functional imaging data collected by a consortium of laboratories led by groups at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Princeton University, and Baylor College of Medicine, with support from a broad array of teams, coordinated and funded by the IARPA MICrONS program. Learn More
Dr. John Ngai is named director of the NIH BRAIN Initiative. Learn More
NIH Director, Dr. Francis Collins, accepts the ACD endorsed BRAIN 2.0 reports. Learn More
Sixth set of NIH-funded BRAIN Initiative awards are announced. Learn More
Co-Chairs of the BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0 and BRAIN 2.0 Neuroethics Subgroup present their final reports to the NIH ACD. Watch Videocast
Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) recipients include BRAIN Initiative scientists and administrators. PECASE is the highest U.S. government honor for scientists and engineers beginning research careers. Learn More
IEEE Brain officially joins the BRAIN Initiative Alliance. Learn More
NSF selects Joanna Tornow to head its Biological Sciences directorate. Learn More
Co-Chairs of the BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0 share their initial feedback regarding the current state of BRAIN with NIH ACD. Watch Videocast
NIH BRAIN Neuroethics Working Group releases Neuroethics Guiding Principles and NIH BRAIN Institute/Center Directors provide neuroethics commentary in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Fifth set of NIH-funded BRAIN Initiative awards are announced. Learn More
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have reached a milestone in their quest to catalog the brain’s “parts list.” The NIH BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN) has issued its first data release. Posted on a public web portal for researchers, it profiles molecular identities of more than 1.3 million mouse brain cells and anatomical data from 300 mouse brains – among the largest such characterizations to date. Learn More
bossDB funded by the NIH BRAIN Initiative. The Block and Object Storage Service (bossDB) is a scalable cloud-native data ecosystem for storing, accessing, and processing multidimensional and volumetric neuroscience datasets. Learn More
NIH forms a new Working Group of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD), who will provide scientific guidance to the ACD on how best to accomplish the ambitious vision for the BRAIN Initiative, considering the current state of neuroscience. Learn More
President Trump signs the Omnibus Appropriations Bill that provides an additional $140 million to support the NIH BRAIN Initiative. Learn More
Declaration to Create an International BRAIN Initiative
In early December 2017, at a meeting hosted by the Australian Academy of Science, representatives from the world’s major brain projects made a formal declaration to establish an International Brain Initiative. By coordinating their efforts globally, neuroscientists can speed up progress on ‘cracking the brain’s code.’ Learn More
NIH announces awards for BRAIN Initiative neuroethics research. Learn More
Allen Institute fo Brain Science awards ~$100 million to lead global collaborations that will build comprehensive atlases of brain cell type. Learn More
NIH BRAIN Initiative launches cell census. Learn More
Fourth set of NIH-funded BRAIN Initiative awards is announced. Learn More
NSF issues awards to advance a national research infrastructure for neuroscience. Learn More
Official Launch of the BRAIN Initiative Alliance website
The BRAIN Initiative Alliance’s website is designed to coordinate and facilitate communications regarding the BRAIN Initiative, including an interactive funding opportunities page with points of contact for interested parties to participate or ask questions.
White House hosts Scientific Frontiers Conference that highlights BRAIN (Pittsburgh, PA)
White House hosts a conference at Carnegie Mellon University that focuses on building U.S. capacity in science, technology, and innovation, and the new technologies, challenges, and goals that will continue to shape the 21st century and beyond. Research from the BRAIN Initiative is discussed alongside the Precision Medicine Initiative for its potential to drive innovation in health care. Learn more
Third set of NIH-funded BRAIN Initiative awards is announced. Learn More
Launch of the International BRAIN Initiative
The International Brain Initiative is announced at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. This announcement was made possible through a series of workshops including an April 2016 meeting at JHU and an NSF/Kavli workshop at Rockefeller University in Sept. 2016 which brought together 400 scientists, government and funding agency representatives, and private companies and foundations to begin a dialogue on international collaboration across large-scale brain projects. Watch Video
Allen Brain Observatory launched Learn More
Johns Hopkins University hosts NSF-Kavli Global Brain Workshop
60+ international scientists and 10+ observers from national, private, and foundations discussed top challenges in neuroscience.
Three new Kavli Institutes and $100M commitment with university partners announced on Capitol Hill
New Kavli neuroscience institutes are established at the Johns Hopkins University, The Rockefeller University and the University of California, San Francisco Learn More
Second set of NIH-funded BRAIN Initiative awards is announced Learn More
NIH establishes Neuroethics Division
The division will recommend overall approaches for how research programs like the NIH BRAIN Initiative might handle issues and problems involving ethics. Learn More
Allen Cell Types Database first released Learn More
White House Releases BRAIN Initiative Fiscal Year 2016 Fact Sheet
The Office of Science and Technology Policy and the White House outline the President’s 2016 Budget to propose increased funding for the BRAIN Initiative. The Fact Sheet highlights contributions of major foundations and private research institutions, as well as funding estimates for federal agencies – many of which are BIA members. Learn More
CRISPR: NSF funds novel gene editing technique
Allen Mouse Brain Atlas first data released Learn More
First BRAIN Initiative investigators meeting held at Society for Neuroscience Meeting (Washington, DC) Learn More
White House Releases Infographic describing the bold new research effort to revolutionize our understanding of the brain
This infographic outlines the contributions of federal agencies and foundations and private research institutions in the first year of the BRAIN Initiative, following its announcement in April 2013. Learn More
First set of NIH-funded BRAIN Initiative awards announced Learn More
Simons Foundation launches Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain Learn More
NIH releases BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision report to describe approach to the Initiative Learn More
Kavli and partners initiate Neurodata Without Borders
Program launched to break down the geographic, institutional, technological and policy barriers that impede the flow of neuroscience data to the community Learn More
John O’Keefe, Edvard Moser, and May-Britt Moser share the Nobel Prize
American-British neuroscientist John O’Keefe, and Norwegian psychologists/neuroscientists Edvard Moser and May-Britt Moser, receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries about cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain. Learn More
White House announces the BRAIN Initiative
The White House announces the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative with the goal of accelerating the development and application of innovative technologies to revolutionize our understanding of the human brain. Learn More
President Obama’s State of the Union address
President Obama calls for investment in brain research. Learn More
The Simons Center for Data Analysis (SCDA; now Center for Computational Biology, CCB) is established Learn More
Birth of the Brain Activity Map (BAM) concept at Allen/Gatsby/Kavli Workshop
Seed ideas discussed for what would later become the BRAIN Initiative. Learn More
Allen Human Brain Atlas first data released Learn More
Allen Mouse Brain Atlas first data released Learn More
Simons Foundation launches the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) Learn More
Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard, and Eric Kandel share the Nobel Prize
Swedish neuropharmacologist Arvid Carlsson, American neuroscientist Paul Greengard, and Austrian-American neuropsychiatrist Eric Kandel receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system.
Marilyn and Jim Simons co-found the Simons Foundation Learn More
fMRI: A non-invasive technique for measuring and mapping brain activity.
U.S. President George Bush declares the decade starting in 1990 the “Decade of the Brain”
The “Decade of the Brain” (1990-1999), an initiative involving the U.S. Library of Congress and the National Institutes of Health to enhance public awareness of the benefits of studying the brain, is designated by U.S. President George H.W. Bush. Learn More
Julius Axelrod, Bernard Katz, and Ulf Svante von Euler share Nobel Prize
American biochemist Julius Axelrod, German-born biophysicist Bernard Katz, and Swedish physiologist Ulf Svante von Euler, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on neurotransmitters. Learn More
John Carew Eccles, Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, and Andrew Fielding Huxley share Nobel Prize
Austrian neurophysiologist John Carew Eccles, and English physiologists/biophysicists Alan Lloyd Hodgkin and Andrew Fielding Huxley, receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work on the mechanisms of the neuron cell membrane. Learn More
Electrophysiology: A technique for understanding how nerve cells send electrical signals
Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón y Cajal share Nobel Prize
Italian scientist Camillo Golgi and Spanish neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their studies of the structure of the nervous system. Learn More
Theodor Schwann proposes the cell theory
First proposed that all living things are made of individual cells.
First written record about the nervous system, Egypt
The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian medical text containing 48 cases of injuries, fractures, wounds, dislocations, and tumors, contains the earliest recorded reference to the brain. Learn More