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The BRAIN Initiative: a pioneering program on the precipice

Nature Neuroscience volume 27, pages 2264–2266 (2024)Cite this article

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Launched in 2013, the BRAIN Initiative (BRAIN) in the United States aimed to unlock the mysteries of the brain and develop new treatments for neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. The success of this program is evidenced by the accelerated discoveries and development of interventions that are happening in real time. However, a recent 40% cut in funding for BRAIN threatens this once-in-a-generation opportunity to solve fundamental mysteries of the brain and achieve treatment breakthroughs that we once thought impossible.

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Fig. 1: Budgets, awards, and publications of BRAIN Initiative.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Cory T. Miller, Weizhe Hong.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cortical Systems & Behavior Lab, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Cory T. Miller

  2. Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Xiaoke Chen

  3. Department of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Zoe R. Donaldson

  4. Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Zoe R. Donaldson

  5. Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Bianca Jones Marlin

  6. Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Bianca Jones Marlin

  7. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Doris Y. Tsao

  8. Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Ziv M. Williams

  9. Department of Neurobiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Moriel Zelikowsky

  10. Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle, WA, USA

    Hongkui Zeng

  11. Department of Neurobiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Weizhe Hong

  12. Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Weizhe Hong

Authors
  1. Cory T. Miller
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  2. Xiaoke Chen
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  3. Zoe R. Donaldson
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  4. Bianca Jones Marlin
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  5. Doris Y. Tsao
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  6. Ziv M. Williams
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  7. Moriel Zelikowsky
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  8. Hongkui Zeng
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  9. Weizhe Hong
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Cory T. Miller, Xiaoke Chen, Zoe R. Donaldson, Bianca Jones Marlin, Doris Y. Tsao, Ziv M. Williams, Moriel Zelikowsky, Hongkui Zeng or Weizhe Hong.

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Competing interests

H.Z. is on the scientific advisory board of MapLight Therapeutics, Inc. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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Miller, C.T., Chen, X., Donaldson, Z.R. et al. The BRAIN Initiative: a pioneering program on the precipice. Nat Neurosci 27, 2264–2266 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01811-3

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