White House pitches brain mapping project
The brain's "emotion center", the amygdala, is highlighted in this 3-D representation of the human brain from the Allen Human Brain Atlas.
President Obama pitched a human brain research initiative on Tuesday that he likened to the Human Genome Project that mapped all the human DNA, and said it will not only help find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and autism, but create jobs and drive economic growth.
Obama proposed $100 million in federal funding to kick start the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies or BRAIN Initiative.
“Imagine if we could reverse traumatic brain injury and PTSD for our wounded veterans coming home,” Obama said at an event unveiling the initiative at the White House.
He said federal investment in basic research had led to completely unexpected inventions, from the Internet to GPS technology. “The Apollo project that put man on the moon gave us, eventually, CAT scans,” Obama said.
He said the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003, had paid $140 for every dollar invested.
“As humans we can identify galaxies light-years away, study particles smaller than an atom but we still haven’t unlocked the mystery of the 3 pounds of matter than sits between our ears,” Obama said.
Obama said he’ll send the proposal to Congress next week as part of his budget request. Although Congress is working to slash the federal deficit, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor signalled an early willingness to pay for this one.
“Mapping the human brain is exactly the type of research we should be funding, by reprioritizing the $250 million we currently spend on political and social science research into expanded medical research, including the expedited mapping of the human brain. It's great science,” Cantor said in a statement.
“Investing in biomedical research is one of the wisest choices we can make as a nation,” National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis Collins told the gathering. “The United States has been at the forefront of one medical breakthrough after another.”
The public-private initiative, with money from groups such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's brain mapping project, aims to find a way to take pictures of the brain in action in real time.
The $100 million funding will come from the National Institutes of Health, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation, the White House said.
"Federal research agencies will partner with companies, foundations, and private research institutions that are also investing in relevant neuroscience research, such as the Allen Institute, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Kavli Foundation, and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies," the White House said in a statement.
By Maggie Fox, Senior Writer, NBC News
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