US Plans $4.5 Billion for Brain Research

HPCWire reports that new details have emerged on the Brain 2025 initiative announced by President Obama last year. The new initiative will support building computational tools and methods for studying the human brain with the goal of accelerating disease studies, advancing neuroscience, and stimulating research in surrounding disciplines. The initiative is sponsored by the US National Institute of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
The NIH working group for the brain project published a report that creates a roadmap for the project's NIH funding. After the initial investment of $100 million last year, the group has targeted a funding rate of $400 Million for the next five years and $500 Million per year for the five years that follow. The total $4.5 Billion funding is significantly higher than the $1 Billion originally envisioned for the project.
The report is based on the group's best estimates for the cost of reaching the project goals. NIH stresses that these numbers are provisional. Executive action or congressional cost-cutting could have a significant effect on the final funding. The first grants will be awarded in September of this year.