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Researchers decode patterns that make our brains human
The human brain may be the most complex piece of organized matter in the known universe, but Allen Institute researchers have begun to unravel the genetic code underlying its function. Research published this month in Nature Neuroscienceidentified a surprisingly small set of molecular patterns that dominate gene expression in the human brain and appear to be common to all individuals, providing key insights into the core of the genetic code that makes our brains distinctly human.
"So much research focuses on the variations between individuals, but we turned that question on its head to ask, what makes us similar?" says Ed Lein, Ph.D., Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. "What is the conserved element among all of us that must give rise to our unique cognitive abilities and human traits?"
Researchers used data from the publicly available Allen Human Brain Atlas to investigate how gene expression varies across hundreds of functionally distinct brain regions in six human brains. They began by ranking genes by the consistency of their expression patterns across individuals, and then analyzed the relationship of these genes to one another and to brain function and association with disease.
"Looking at the data from this unique vantage point enables us to study gene patterning that we all share," says Mike Hawrylycz, Ph.D., Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. "We used the Allen Human Brain Atlas data to quantify how consistent the patterns of expression for various genes are across human brains, and to determine the importance of the most consistent and reproducible genes for brain function."
Despite the anatomical complexity of the brain and the complexity of the human genome, most of the patterns of gene usage across all 20,000 genes could be characterized by just 32 expression patterns. While many of these patterns were similar in human and mouse, the dominant genetic model organism for biomedical research, many genes showed different patterns in human. Surprisingly, genes associated with neurons were most conserved across species, while those for the supporting glial cells showed larger differences.
The most highly stable genes--the genes that were most consistent across all brains--include those that are associated with diseases and disorders like autism and Alzheimer's and include many existing drug targets. These patterns provide insights into what makes the human brain distinct and raise new opportunities to target therapeutics for treating disease.
The researchers also found that the pattern of gene expression in cerebral cortex is correlated with "functional connectivity" as revealed by neuroimaging data from the Human Connectome Project. "It is exciting to find a correlation between brain circuitry and gene expression by combining high quality data from these two large-scale projects," says David Van Essen, Ph.D., professor at Washington University in St. Louis and a leader of the Human Connectome Project.
"The human brain is phenomenally complex, so it is quite surprising that a small number of patterns can explain most of the gene variability across the brain," says Christof Koch, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. "There could easily have been thousands of patterns, or none at all. This gives us an exciting way to look further at the functional activity that underlies the uniquely human brain."
Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Allen Institute. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference:
- Michael Hawrylycz, Jeremy A Miller, Vilas Menon, David Feng, Tim Dolbeare, Angela L Guillozet-Bongaarts, Anil G Jegga, Bruce J Aronow, Chang-Kyu Lee, Amy Bernard, Matthew F Glasser, Donna L Dierker, Jörg Menche, Aaron Szafer, Forrest Collman, Pascal Grange, Kenneth A Berman, Stefan Mihalas, Zizhen Yao, Lance Stewart, Albert-László Barabási, Jay Schulkin, John Phillips, Lydia Ng, Chinh Dang, David R Haynor, Allan Jones, David C Van Essen, Christof Koch, Ed Lein.Canonical genetic signatures of the adult human brain. Nature Neuroscience, 2015; DOI: 10.1038/nn.4171
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151116120617.htm
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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