Bio-, Medical- and Neuro-informatics Supporting Neurosciences Workshop
The Bio-, Medical- and Neuro-Informatics supporting Neurosciences Workshop took place at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) on 6th July, 2012. It was organised by INBIOMEDvision with the aim at addressing one of the project’s key challenges, which is to support the development of the interdisciplinary domain between neuroscience and informatics (Neurosciences) by bringing together expert researchers and healthcare professionals and fostering communication and sharing knowledge across these domains.
The workshop was chaired by Professor Gustavo Deco, director of the Centre of Brain and Cognition at Pompeu Fabra University (Spain), and one of the expert Members of the INBIOMEDvision project. The Workshop brought together more than 40 participants, representing 20 different institutions from ten different countries, and comprised of six technical presentations divided into two themes; The Virtual Brain Platform and Clinical and Technical Challenges, followed by an open round table discussion.
The talks in the former section focussed on the Virtual Brain, a project that is attempting to build a realistic informatic network model of the human brain based upon actual neuroimaging data on brain structure and function. They covered some of the challenges and successes that the Virtual Brain has had in its first few years of development and implementation, and discussed the future goals of this ambitious project. The presentations in the latter section focussed on the challenges implicit in modelling the malfunctioning or damaged brain at a network level, and how this may one day aid in the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders such as schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and epilepsy.
Discussion in the round table focussed mainly on the Virtual Brain and particular challenges associated with realistically modelling the full complexity and plasticity of the brain. Also discussed was the issue of accurate clinical and scientific identification and definition of states and emotions, at what point the virtual brain will become a useful pre-operative tool for the practising neurosurgeon, and the usefulness of the Virtual Brain in novel drug design at the molecular level.
Agenda
09:30-10:00 Registration and welcome
10:00-10.10 Introduction to INBIOMEDvision and Workshop objectives
10:10-12:25 Session 1: Towards virtual brain (talks)
12:25-13:30 Lunch break
13:30-15:45 Session 2: Clinical and technical challenges (talks)
15:45-16:15 Coffee break
16:15-17:30 Session 3: Round table and closing
Speakers
(Chair) Gustavo Deco - Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Pompeu Fabra University
Criticality and Ongoing Activity of the Brain at Rest: Clinical relevance
Gerardo Conesa - IMIM-Hospital del Mar
Viktor Jirsa - Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, UMR INSERM 1106, Aix-Marseille Université
Towards the Virtual Brain: Implementation and Frontiers
Randy McIntosh - Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
Towards a Virtual Brain
Carles Soriano-Mas - Psychiatry Service, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute-IDIBELL; CIBERSAM, Carlos III Health Institute
Mapping functional connectivity and structural covariance of the striatum: applications to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder research
Felix Tretter- Kompetenzzentrum Sucht, Isar-Amper-Klinikum gemeinnützige GmbH, Klinikum München-Ost
Computational Modelling of Schizophrenic Symptoms
