Dr. Michael Mannino, (Ph.D.), neuroscientist and ideaXme neuroscience ambassador, interviews Dr. Christian Fauteux (Ph.D.), Executive Director of The Human Brain Project and Head of the Human Brain Project Project Co-ordination Office at EPFL.
The Human Brain Project
Fauteux (Ph.D.), Executive Director of The Human Brain Project and Head of the Human Brain Project Project
Co-ordination Office at EPFL. Photo Credit: The Human Brain Project
The Human Brain Project (HBP) is building a research infrastructure to help advance neuroscience, medicine and computing. It is one of the two largest scientific projects ever funded by the European Union. The 10-year Project began in 2013 and directly employs some 500 scientists at more than 100 universities, teaching hospitals and research centres across Europe.
Six ICT research Platforms form the heart of the HBP infrastructure: Neuroinformatics (access to shared brain data), Brain Simulation (replication of brain architecture and activity on computers), High Performance Analytics and Computing (providing the required computing and analytics capabilities), Medical Informatics (access to patient data, identification of disease signatures), Neuromorphic Computing (development of brain-inspired computing) and Neurorobotics (use of robots to test brain simulations).
The HBP also undertakes targeted research and theoretical studies, and explores brain structure and function in humans, rodents and other species. In addition, the project studies the ethical and societal implications of HBP’s work.
Dr. Christian Fauteux
Christian, an avid trail runner, living in Switzerland, is the Executive Director of the HBP and leads the HBP project coordination and management office at a Swiss university. His role is to act as an intermediary for the project, funding, and a very diverse group of scientists and thinkers attempting to understand the complete structure and function of the human brain!
Christian had a research career, working as an engineer in nanomaterials and has a PhD; however, finding that an academic career could not fulfill his desire to make an impact, he decided to change his direction in life. Now, he is in charge of topics like governance, communication, risk management, and quality assurance at the Human Brain Project (HBP).
Christian explains that the HBP is trying to “bring together neuroscience, medicine, and advanced information communication technology (ICT), linking research areas with new technologies to unlock synergies.” Performing important research on human brains, rodent models, as well as computer models that simulate the brain!
Understanding the Brain
He says that “understanding the brain, means understanding ourselves as humans.”
Christian explains that of all the different sub-projects the HBP is working on, perhaps the one he finds most fascinating is brain modelling and simulation — creating models that use vast amounts of data (at the exascale level) to emulate the brain computing patterns, and see if core principles emerge from this method. As to the importance of modeling, or trying to simulate the brain, Christians says that it is important to do experiments on humans that have been previously done on rodents, as not only does it reduce the scale of animal experimentation, it provides better results to assess human brains.
Reverse Engineering the Brain
From a personal perspective, what drives Christian is the enormity, complexity, and the grandiose nature of the project, reverse engineering the brain! He also says that the impact on culture and society could be huge, and this means that his job and personal life must be balanced. From more of a policy and funding perspective, the attempt to try “big science” proved very difficult, with significant challenges.
Europe and the Human Brain Project
The HBP was conceived as a major science project, without any effect on the economy in Europe. However, politics in Europe has evolved, and the need to demonstrate the actual socioeconomic impact has proved necessary, and so now, the HBP also focuses on clinical application, health and the economy. The HBP is an ambitious project, and Christian, being at the head of the project, is moving the human story forward with his expertise, drive, and passion.
Background on Dr. Michael Mannino: He joined the CCS in April 2019 as Director of Programs. He has his PhD in complex systems and brain sciences. His research was in computational neuroscience, specifically computational modeling of large-scale brain networks using nonlinear dynamical systems and neural time series analysis. Michael has a Masters in philosophy, focusing on science, philosophy of mind.
Credits: Dr. Michael Mannino, interview video, text and audio.
Find out more: www.humanbrainproject.eu
Follow HBP on Twitter: @HumanBrainProj
Like this interview? Be sure to check out our interview with Stephen Furber, creator of SpiNNaker!
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