2014: The Novel NeuroTechnologies

In response to the President’s BRAIN initiative, Columbia University announces the creation of its NeuroTechnology Center (NTC). The center will include faculty from the School of Arts and Sciences (A&S), the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), the Zuckerman Mind, Brain, and Behavior Institute (Z-MBBI) and the Kavli Institute for Brain Science.

The mission of the NTC is to draw together interdisciplinary investigators to develop advanced optical, electrical and computational technologies for the study of complex neurobiological systems. To do so, the Center will foster and support the collaboration of groups with interdisciplinary skills across the university with the common goal of promoting the development of the next generation of advanced technologies for Neuroscience. This Center will provide scientific and intellectual cohesion to an already existing group of independent researchers in the biological and physical sciences and engineering. An additional mission is to facilitate the education and training of undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty on the newest neurotechnologies. A final goal is to help crystalize the formation of a novel neurotechnology industry in the New York City area.

The vision of the center is an interacting network of tool-building laboratories that will create new neurotechniques that serve the Columbia University and the scientific community at large, forming one of the strongest neurotechnology groups in the world.

Examples of projects encompassed within NTC’s mission include the development of novel in-vivo optical imaging methods or microelectrode technologies for use in neuroscience and of novel computational methods to analyze large-scale recordings of neuronal activity. These technologies will be developed in close integration with researchers in the Z-MBBI Institute, who will be natural users of these technologies. The generation of highly novel and complex data from NTC’s technologies will also lead to strong affiliations with Columbia’s Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering (IDSE), whose expertise in the analysis of large scale imaging databases will become critical.

The NTC is led by Rafael Yuste, Professor of Biological Sciences and Neuroscience, known for his work on the development of optical methods in neuroscience. Yuste was the leading author of the Brain Activity Map proposal that gave rise to the BRAIN initiative. The NTC is co-directed by Ken Shepard, Professor of Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, an expert in electrical design and nanofabrication who also participated in the Brain Activity Map workshops and proposals, and by Liam Paninski, Professor of Statistics and Neuroscience, an specialist in novel data analysis methods for neuroscience.

The NTC will be funded by a combination of internal and external sources, including a seed grant during the first three years from the Kavli Foundation. NTC activities will start on November 3^rd-4^th, 2014 with the inaugural Kavli Futures Symposium: The Novel NeuroTechnologies, which will become an annual event.

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