Human Connectome Project
Encyclopedia
The Human Connectome Project is a five-year project sponsored by sixteen components of the National Institutes of Health
, split between two consortia of research institutions. The project was launched in July 2009 as the first of three Grand Challenges of the NIH's Blueprint for Neuroscience Research. On September 15, 2010, the NIH announced that it would award two grants: $30 million over five years to a consortium led by Washington University in Saint Louis and the University of Minnesota, and $8.5 million over three years to a consortium led by Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of California Los Angeles.
The goal of the Human Connectome Project is to build a "network map" that will shed light on the anatomical and functional connectivity within the healthy human brain, as well as to produce a body of data that will facilitate research into brain disorders such as autism, Alzheimer's disease, and schizophrenia.
Using a combination of non-invasive imaging technologies, including resting-state and task-based functional MRI, MEG and EEG, and diffusion tractography, the WU-Minn will be mapping connectome
s at the macro scale—mapping large brain systems that can be parcellated into anatomically and functionally distinct areas, rather than mapping individual neurons.
Dozens of investigators and researchers from nine institutions will be contributing to this project. Research institutions include: Washington University in Saint Louis, the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research at the University of Minnesota, Oxford University, Saint Louis University, Indiana University, University d’Annunziom, Ernst Strungmann Institute, Warwick University, Advanced MRI Technologies, and the University of California at Berkeley.
The data that results from this research will be made publicly available in an open-source web-accessible neuroinformatics platform.
, with a goal of increasing spatial resolution, quality, and speed. Diffusion MRI, employed in both projects, maps the brain's fibrous long distance connections by tracking the motion of water. Water diffusion patterns in different types of cells allow the detection of different types of tissues. Using this imaging method, the long extensions of neurons, called white matter, can be seen in sharp relief.
The new scanner to be built for this project is expected to be "4 to 8 times as powerful as conventional systems, enabling imaging of human neuroanatomy with much greater sensitivity than is currently possible."
The two consortia will be sharing data with each other, and a subset of subjects may be scanned in both projects.
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
, split between two consortia of research institutions. The project was launched in July 2009 as the first of three Grand Challenges of the NIH's Blueprint for Neuroscience Research. On September 15, 2010, the NIH announced that it would award two grants: $30 million over five years to a consortium led by Washington University in Saint Louis and the University of Minnesota, and $8.5 million over three years to a consortium led by Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of California Los Angeles.
The goal of the Human Connectome Project is to build a "network map" that will shed light on the anatomical and functional connectivity within the healthy human brain, as well as to produce a body of data that will facilitate research into brain disorders such as autism, Alzheimer's disease, and schizophrenia.
WU-Minn consortium Human Connectome Project
The WU-Minn consortium will map the connectomes in each of 1,200 healthy adults — twin pairs and their siblings from 300 families. The maps will show the anatomical and functional connections between parts of the brain for each individual, and will be related to behavioral test data. Comparing the connectomes and genetic data of genetically identical twins with fraternal twins will reveal the relative contributions of genes and environment in shaping brain circuitry and pinpoint relevant genetic variation. The maps will also shed light on how brain networks are organized.Using a combination of non-invasive imaging technologies, including resting-state and task-based functional MRI, MEG and EEG, and diffusion tractography, the WU-Minn will be mapping connectome
Connectome
A connectome is a comprehensive map of neural connections in the brain.The production and study of connectomes, known as connectomics, may range in scale from a detailed map of the full set of neurons and synapses within part or all of the nervous system of an organism to a macro scale description...
s at the macro scale—mapping large brain systems that can be parcellated into anatomically and functionally distinct areas, rather than mapping individual neurons.
Dozens of investigators and researchers from nine institutions will be contributing to this project. Research institutions include: Washington University in Saint Louis, the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research at the University of Minnesota, Oxford University, Saint Louis University, Indiana University, University d’Annunziom, Ernst Strungmann Institute, Warwick University, Advanced MRI Technologies, and the University of California at Berkeley.
The data that results from this research will be made publicly available in an open-source web-accessible neuroinformatics platform.
MGH/Harvard-UCLA consortium Human Connectome Project
The MGH/Harvard-UCLA consortium will focus on optimizing MRI technology for imaging the brain’s structural connections using diffusion MRIDiffusion MRI
Diffusion MRI is a magnetic resonance imaging method that produces in vivo images of biological tissues weighted with the local microstructural characteristics of water diffusion, which is capable of showing connections between brain regions...
, with a goal of increasing spatial resolution, quality, and speed. Diffusion MRI, employed in both projects, maps the brain's fibrous long distance connections by tracking the motion of water. Water diffusion patterns in different types of cells allow the detection of different types of tissues. Using this imaging method, the long extensions of neurons, called white matter, can be seen in sharp relief.
The new scanner to be built for this project is expected to be "4 to 8 times as powerful as conventional systems, enabling imaging of human neuroanatomy with much greater sensitivity than is currently possible."
The two consortia will be sharing data with each other, and a subset of subjects may be scanned in both projects.
External links
- http://humanconnectome.org/consortia - the umbrella site for all work Human Connectome Project work funded by the NIH.
- http://humanconnectome.org/ - Home of the WU-Minn consortium Human Connectome Project
- http://humanconnectomeproject.org/ - Home of the Harvard/MGH-UCLA consortium Human Connectome Project
- http://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov/ - NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research
- http://www.nitrc.org/projects/hcp The NITRC Human Connectome Project Site
- http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-09/introducing-human-connectome-project-first-its-kind-map-brains-circuitry Popular Science: "The Human Connectome Project Is a First-of-its-Kind Map of the Brain's Circuitry"
- http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_1679462e-4308-5f25-94ed-a4d2736b5d6c.html St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Brain mapping study centered in St. Louis"
- Open Connectome Project