The Brainleap project is an initiative of professor Michele Giugliano, who leads the Laboratory of Theoretical Neurobiology and Neuroengineering at the University of Antwerp (UA). Giugliano also co-ordinates the activity of participating researchers from the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Israel. Together, they want to find out how brain cells – also known as nerve cells or neurons – interact to determine the behaviour of animals and humans.

“We know that different groups of nerve cells communicate via electric impulses,” says Giugliano, “but we cannot yet understand the messages they are conveying to each other.” Making sense of this dialogue is the crucial first step towards the ultimate goal of influencing these signals and thus the brain’s activity, helping repair the defects that cause brain disorders and diseases.

The international and multidisciplinary Brainleap team received funding of €2.5 million from the European Commission via the Future and Emerging Technologies programme. A total of 20 researchers will work on the project for three years; nine are scientists at Antwerp.

To eavesdrop on the activity of neurons in the brain, the researchers will use a new technique developed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. They will employ microscopic gold electrodes – a thousandth of a millimetre wide – near the brain cells, and these will function as antennas to intercept the signals without harming the neurons. Currently, scientists have to stab cells with glass pipettes to insert the electrode, causing the cell to die off after about an hour and a half.

“The new electrodes are coated with protein molecules that nerve cells perceive as a sort of food,” explains Giugliano. “The neurons are encouraged to embrace the electrodes, but they don’t have the power to break the antenna. Compare it to fishing techniques: Instead of throwing a harpoon, we are now using a hook with bait on it.”

Test tube experiments on cells of marine snails showed that the “smarter” electrodes could register the signals for days without damaging the neurons. The Brainleap researchers aim to record the simultaneous interaction of up to 100 nerve cells, while it is currently only possible to examine the activity of a few.

The first challenge for Brainleap is to refine this method and apply it to more complex living creatures. Scientists from the universities of Antwerp and Amsterdam will carry out experiments on rodents, stimulating their senses while registering the reaction of the nerve cells. La Sapienza University of Rome has experience working with primates, which will be the subjects of Brainleap’s final tests. In these experiments, primates will perform more complex cognitive tasks, involving, for example, memory games.

The Hebrew University, meanwhile, is responsible for the optimisation of the microelectrodes, while nanotechnologists from the University of Tübingen in Germany will focus on the actual manufacturing of the new instruments.

Breaking the code

Recording the electric impulses is one thing, but deciphering them is a whole other story. Giugliano shows me their supercomputer, occupying an entire small room in the lab. It has to translate the signals into graphics. Experts at Antwerp are designing the mathematical models needed to interpret these data into useful information about the communication taking place. Breaking this neural code is an extremely complicated undertaking, which presents the researchers with many questions.

“The mystery of brain structure is similar to that of the universe’s composition,” says Giugliano. “Every millimetre of the brain surface contains millions of neurons, and we have only just started to analyse the activity of a few of them simultaneously. The Human Genome Project, which maps our DNA structure, is a primary school assignment compared to examining the way our brain works. Similar tests on humans will only be possible in around 15 years, while it will take many more decades to fully understand how our brains function.”

Bionic applications

However visionary the Brainleap project is, the scientists are already fully aware of the possible applications their research could lead to in neuroprosthetics and bionic applications. Giugliano tells me about the interest of Second Sight, an American company that develops implantable prosthetics that enable those with a visual impairment to achieve greater independence.

“These bionic eyes are still very primitive,” he says. “It is difficult for people to make sense of the visual images that are transmitted into their brain by a camera. By applying the Brainleap technology, we could dramatically improve their sight.” The working of cochlear implants for deaf people could similarly be fine-tuned.

For paralysed people, Giugliano envisions a day not too far in the future where they could type on a computer or control a robotic arm and their wheelchair with just the power of their mind. “There are already technologies that enable paralysed patients to move, for example, a cursor on a computer, but scientists constantly have to adjust the high-tech applications to keep them working properly. By controlling the activity of responsible neurons precisely, we can revolutionise the reliability of this assisting technology.” The international prosthesis producer Otto Bock is closely following the progress of the project.

The new method may also form a viable alternative for the deep, invasive brain stimulations that are now used to reduce the effects of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. “Instead of disturbing thousands of neurons by implanting an electrode of around a millimetre, we could select the necessary neurons with our smarter and smaller electrodes. This would reduce the risks and the side effects considerably,” Giugliano explains.

The matter of interfering with our brain movements also raises the ethical question of the degree to which we are becoming bionic human beings. “We are definitely moving in that direction, but I consider it a beneficial evolution because it helps us deal with numerous brain diseases and disorders,” says Giugliano. “The augmentation of our brain function, a popular science fiction theme, is certainly not our priority.”

www.brainleap.eu

The Human Brain Project in Flanders

Flemish universities are also participating in the prestigious Human Brain Project, one of the EU’s Future Emerging Technology Flagships. These are meant to form the scientific basis of future technological innovation and economic development in areas especially relevant to society.

For the next 10 years, the European Commission is allocating more than €1 billion to gather all existing knowledge on the human brain and to reconstruct its activity with models and simulations created by supercomputers.

The models have to lead to new insights on the working of the brain and on brain-related diseases, as well as advance breakthroughs on new computer and robotics technologies. One specific goal is the founding of a new platform for medical informatics, which will centralise valuable information from around the world. This platform should result in more objective diagnoses of brain diseases and faster development of treatments.

Computer systems and robots will be created that use detailed knowledge of the brain to take on the challenges of computing technology in the future: energy efficiency, reliability and the difficulties related to programming very complex computer systems.

Cross-border intelligence

The Human Brain Project is co-ordinated by the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne in Switzerland. More than 80 European, North American and Japanese research institutions are collaborating, among them the universities of Ghent and Leuven.

In Ghent, professor Benjamin Schrauwen of the Electronics and Information Systems Department is leading a research project to understand the underlying learning mechanisms in the brain that form intelligence in humans and animals. The team will create theoretical models or algorithms that can later be applied in robots and computers to establish intelligent behaviour or artificial intelligence.

Two research groups at KU Leuven, meanwhile, are participating with separate projects. Professor Thierry Voet of the Laboratory of Reproductive Genomics is organising a study on gene expression in the brain, while professor Cees van Leeuwen heads the Experimental Psychology team, which is performing a study on computational neuroscience.

The brain research of Neuro-Electronics Research Flanders (Nerf) labs could play an important role in future stages of the Human Brain Project. Nerf was established two years ago by nanotechnology research centre imec, the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) and KU Leuven.

www.humanbrainproject.eu