A Framework for A Framework for Communicating, Communicating,

Collaborating, and Collaborating, and Coordinating Coordinating

Michael HuertaCo-Chair, NIH Blueprint Coordinating

CommitteeAssociate Director, NIMH

Nervous System Disorders

• Account for 6 of the top 10 causes of death*

• Affect 1 in 3 Americans• Cost over $500 billion

per year**• Major impact on:

– academic performance

– workplace productivity

– social functioning– quality of life

Sources: *CDC; **SfN Fact Page

Urgent need to:Urgent need to:• Accelerate progress in Accelerate progress in

neuroscience neuroscience • Maximize bang for the research Maximize bang for the research

buckbuck

NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research

• 16 Institutes, Centers, Offices (ICOs)• Focus on cross-cutting activities• Communicate and adopt best practices• Coordinate the planning & funding of:

– Research and development of tools– Education, training, & career development– Research resources

• $26 million from ICOs (0.6 % neuroscience)

• $12 million from NIH Office of the Director

Neuroscience BlueprintParticipating ICOs

NCCAM NIDCDNCRR NICHDNEI NIDCRNIA NIGMSNIAAA NIMHNIBIB NINDSNIDA NINRNIEHS OBSSR

Fiscal Year 2005 Initiatives

• GENSAT (gene expression map) Expansion

• Microarray Consortium Expansion

• Pediatric MRI of Normal Development Expansion

• Neurobiology of Disease Curriculum Development

• International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility

• Neuroscience Information Framework

Fiscal Year 2006 Initiatives

• Neuromouse – repatriate, develop, and validate driver mouse lines for important genes

• Institutional Training Initiatives– Neuroimaging – Physics to Physiology– Computational neuroscience– Neurobiology of disease

• Interdisciplinary Core Facility Centers

• Neuroimaging Tools and Resources– Clearinghouse for informatics (NITRC)– Imaging activation in ms & mm resolution

• Neuroepidemiology Instrument

FY 2007: Neurodegeneration

• Biomarkers Research• Therapeutics

Delivery Strategies• Interdisciplinary

Career Development• Interdisciplinary

Postdoctoral Training

Human retinal degeneration

FY 2008: Neurodevelopment

Normal Brain Development, Age 5- 20

• Monoclonal Antibodies

• Tools for Marking Neural Circuits

• Gene Expression Map of the Primate Brain

FY 2009: Neuroplasticity

• Probes and instrumentation for monitoring and manipulating neuroplasticity

FY 2010: Blueprint Grand Challenges

Blueprint Grand Challenge:

The Human Connectome Project• Purpose -To develop and share knowledge about the

structural and functional connectivity of the healthy, adult human brain

• Goals - To have delivered at the end of five years:– Optimized non-invasive imaging tools and methods

to collect human connectivity data, in vivo– High-quality, well-characterized, multi-modal,

quantitative datasets of human connectivity linked to genetic & behavioral data from hundreds of subjects

– Dissemination of data, models, and tools to the research community via outreach activities and an informatics platform