Computational biology refers to the use of data analysis, mathematical modeling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer science, biology, and big data, the field also has foundations in applied mathematics, chemistry, and genetics. It differs from biological computing, a subfield of computer science and engineering which uses bioengineering to build computers.
Terrence Joseph Sejnowski is the Francis Crick Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies where he directs the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory and is the director of the Crick-Jacobs center for theoretical and computational biology. He has performed pioneering research in neural networks and computational neuroscience.
Neuroinformatics is the emergent field that combines informatics and neuroscience. Neuroinformatics is related with neuroscience data and information processing by artificial neural networks. There are three main directions where neuroinformatics has to be applied:
The International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility is an international non-profit organization with the mission to develop, evaluate, and endorse standards and best practices that embrace the principles of Open, FAIR, and Citable neuroscience. INCF also provides training on how standards and best practices facilitate reproducibility and enables the publishing of the entirety of research output, including data and code. INCF was established in 2005 by recommendations of the Global Science Forum working group of the OECD. The INCF is hosted by the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. The INCF network comprises institutions, organizations, companies, and individuals active in neuroinformatics, neuroscience, data science, technology, and science policy and publishing. The Network is organized in governing bodies and working groups which coordinate various categories of global neuroinformatics activities that guide and oversee the development and endorsement of standards and best practices, as well as provide training on how standards and best practices facilitate reproducibility and enables the publishing of the entirety of research output, including data and code. The current Directors are Mathew Abrams and Helena Ledmyr, and the Governing Board Chair is Maryann Martone
Neurosecurity has been defined as "a version of computer science security principles and methods applied to neural engineering", or more fully, as "the protection of the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of neural devices from malicious parties with the goal of preserving the safety of a person’s neural mechanisms, neural computation, and free will". Simply put, Neurosecurity is, at least in principle, an antivirus and firewall for the mind. Neurosecurity also refers to the application of neuroscience to behavioral information security to better understand and improve users' security behaviors. Neurosecurity is a distinct concept from neuroethics; neurosecurity is effectively a way of enforcing a set of neuroethical principles for a neural device. Neurosecurity is also distinct from the application of neuroscience to national security, a topic that is addressed in Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense by Jonathan D. Moreno.
Arno Villringer is a Director at the Department of Neurology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany; Director of the Department of Cognitive Neurology at University of Leipzig Medical Center; and Academic Director of the Berlin School of Mind and Brain and the Mind&Brain Institute, Berlin. He holds a full professorship at University of Leipzig and an honorary professorship at Charité, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. From July 2022 to June 2025 he is the Chairperson of the Human Sciences Section of the Max Planck Society.
The Faculty of Biology is one of the eleven faculties of the University of Freiburg in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is part of a strong life sciences network including institutions such as the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, the Bernstein Center Freiburg (BCF), the Center for Applied Biosciences and the Center for Biological Systems Analysis, which started operations in 2008 as offspring of the Freiburg Initiative for Systems Biology (FRISYS), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
The Center for Neurotechnology (CNT) is an Engineering Research Center funded by the National Science Foundation to create devices to restore the body's capabilities for sensation and movement. The center is based at the University of Washington. The center's core partner organizations are Massachusetts Institute of Technology and San Diego State University.
The White House BRAIN Initiative is a collaborative, public-private research initiative announced by the Obama administration on April 2, 2013, with the goal of supporting the development and application of innovative technologies that can create a dynamic understanding of brain function.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to brain mapping:
The Bernstein Network is a research network in the field of computational neuroscience; this field brings together experimental approaches in neurobiology with theoretical models and computer simulations. It unites different scientific disciplines, such as physics, biology, mathematics, medical science, psychology, computer science, engineering and philosophy in the endeavor to understand how the brain functions. The close combination of neurobiological experiments with theoretical models and computer simulations allows scientists of the Bernstein Network to pursue innovative approaches with regard to one of the most complex structures nature has created in the course of evolution: the natural brain.
Ryan C.N. D'Arcy is a Canadian neuroscientist, researcher, innovator and entrepreneur. D'Arcy co-founded HealthTech Connex Inc. where he serves as President and Chief Scientific Officer. HealthTech Connex translates neuroscience advancements into health technology breakthroughs. D'Arcy is most known for coining the term "brain vital signs" and for leading the research and development of the brain vital signs framework.
The Research, Innovation, and Dissemination Center for Neuromathematics is a Brazilian research center established in 2013 at the University of São Paulo that is dedicated to integrating mathematical modeling and theoretical neuroscience. Among the core missions of NeuroMat are the creation of a new mathematical system to understanding neural data and the development of neuroscientific open-source computational tools, keeping an active role under the context of open knowledge, open science and scientific dissemination. The research center is headed by Antonio Galves, from USP's Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, and is funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). As of 2019, the co-principal investigators are Oswaldo Baffa Filho (USP), Pablo A. Ferrari (USP/UBA), Fernando da Paixão (UNICAMP), Antonio Carlos Roque (USP), Jorge Stolfi (UNICAMP), and Cláudia D. Vargas (UFRJ). Ernst W. Hamburger (USP) was the former director of scientific dissemination. NeuroMat's International Advisory Board consists of David R. Brillinger, Leonardo G. Cohen (NIH), Markus Diesmann (Jülich), Francesco Guerra, Wojciech Szpankowski (Purdue).
Conor Russomanno is an American entrepreneur, inventor, and public speaker, specializing in the development of advanced human-computer interfaces. He is the co-founder and CEO of OpenBCI, a company dedicated to open source innovation of brain-computer interface technologies. Russomanno has also served as an adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design and NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and as a Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Lab. In 2018, he was honored on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the category of Science. In April 2023, Russomanno delivered a TED Talk that featured a spectacular assistive technology BCI and AR demonstration to help a friend living with severe motor disabilities, Christian Bayerlein, fly a drone over the audience.
The Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) is the common platform for systems neuroscience at the University of Tübingen in Germany. It was installed as a cluster of excellence within the framework of the Excellence Initiative in 2007/2008. About 90 scientists with their research groups – 21 of which are currently supported with excellence initiative funds – form the CIN's membership.The focus of their work is on basic research in systems neurobiology. Based on an interdisciplinary and integrative approach, it encompasses projects rooted in biology, medicine, physics, computer science and engineering as well as cognition and neurophilosophy.
The NeuroGenderings Network is an international group of researchers in neuroscience and gender studies. Members of the network study how the complexities of social norms, varied life experiences, details of laboratory conditions and biology interact to affect the results of neuroscientific research. Working under the label of "neurofeminism", they aim to critically analyze how the field of neuroscience operates, and to build an understanding of brain and gender that goes beyond gender essentialism while still treating the brain as fundamentally material. Its founding was part of a period of increased interest and activity in interdisciplinary research connecting neuroscience and the social sciences.
Rafael Yuste is a Spanish–American neurobiologist and one of the initiators of the BRAIN Initiative announced in 2013. He is currently a professor at Columbia University.
John-Dylan Haynes is a British-German brain researcher.
Joshua T. Vogelstein is an American biomedical engineer. He is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, where he sits at the Center for Imaging Science. Vogelstein also holds joint appointments in the departments of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Biostatistics, and Neuroscience. He has appointments in the Institute for Data Intensive Engineering and Sciences, Institute for Computational Medicine, Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, and the Mathematical Institute for Data Science.
Tim P. Vogels is a professor of theoretical neuroscience and research leader at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria. He is primarily known for his scholarly contributions to the study of neuronal plasticity related to learning and memory in the brain.
