President Obama has granted $110 million for the BRAIN initiative
The National Institute of Health (NIH) has committed $46 million towards the White House's BRAIN Initiative, with aims to delve deeper into understanding the human mind. Scientists funded by the NIH BRAIN Initiative will develop tools to simultaneously watch the unique firing patterns of many neurons in hope of classifying them based on physical characteristics, such as size and shape, and functional characteristics, such as patterns of electrical activity.
"There's a big gap between what we want to do in brain research and the technologies available to make exploration possible," said Mr Francis Collins, director, NIH in a statement. He added, "These initial awards are part of a 12 year scientific plan focused on developing the tools and technologies needed to make the next leap in understanding the brain."
President Obama has given $110 million for the BRAIN initiative in 2014 and $200 million for the 2015 fiscal year.
The government has revealed which researchers and universities will carry out the first federally funded projects under the initiative's banner, naming more than 100 investigators in 15 states and several countries. Researchers at the Princeton University, UC Berkeley, MIT, and Harvard are amongst the recipients of the funding.
