Improved imaging tools to better understand the brain

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced its first research grants through President Barack Obama's BRAIN Initiative, including three awards to the University of California, Berkeley, totaling nearly $7.5 million over three years. In addition, a $12 million public-private collaboration between ZEISS and UC Berkeley to support the Berkeley Brain Microscopy Innovation Center (BrainMIC) was made public.

The US Brain initiative is focused on advancing tool development in neuroscience including microscopy and advanced imaging technologies. Jim Sharp, President of the ZEISS business group Microscopy in North America, represented ZEISS at the White House BRAIN Initiative Conference on 30th September. New commitments and investments by the federal government, private sector companies, universities and non-profit organizations in response to the President’s call to action were announced.

Thanks to the collaboration with ZEISS, the BrainMIC at UC Berkeley will be able to fast-track microscopy development for emerging neurotechnologies and will run an annual course to teach researchers how to use the new technologies. Part of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, the program will generate innovative devices and analytic tools in engineering, computation, chemistry and molecular biology to enable transformative brain science from studies of human cognition to neural circuits in model organisms.

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