BrainConnects
The pan-pacific collaboration community for researches in aging
What BrainConnects is? - Its outline
BrainConnects is a collaborative research community to explore a new field to merge aging neuroscience and cognitive engineering on the platform of neuroinformatics mostly in Asia-Pacific region. The main concern is to develop and exchange methods and technologies for delaying and modulating cognitive decline depending on aging or pathophysiologic changes to enhance and accelerate the projects promoted by the participants. For this purpose, we hold annual interdisciplinary workshop to provides an opportunity to introduce and review the ongoing investigations of the dynamics of neuronal circuits in response to cognitive interventions. BrainConnects is also intended to support young investigators have chances to present their works and widen their perspectives in international environments. We welcome participation of all research scientists and students interested in this exciting field so that discussion and collaboration of the relevant researchers will be strongly enhanced.
Aims
The aim of BrainConnects is to develop and share methods and technologies for delaying and modulating cognitive and physical decline depending on aging or pathophysiologic changes in older adults, evolving a new field, aging neuroinformatics, to merge neuroscience, cognitive engineering, neuro-robotics and clinical / social medicine towards social implementation of the outcomes. The activity of BrainConnects also aims to promote the collaborations of researchers, especially young investigators, in this field across the Asian and Pacific countries in which aging of the societies are rapidly progressing.
History
The activities of BrainConnects meetings emerged from collaborations between the Clinical Brain Lab at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore and the NeuroImaging & Informatics Lab at the National Center for Geriatrics & Gerontology (NCGG), Japan in 2014. The project was supported by the science and technology agreement between the two countries and funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and NTU/National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2014 and 2015. The collaboration included the Cognitive Engineering Lab at the Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE) at NUS and the Brain and Mind Research Center (BMRC) at Nagoya University. In 2016, this project was extended to include National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan (Taichung) and it was also bridged to Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Kuala Lumpur) in 2017, Malaysia with participants from more countries. Further facilities in the pan pacific area will participate in the future.
The main topic In the 2014 and 2015 workshop was application of neuroimaging to evaluation and estimation of physical / cognitive interventions for older adults. The methodological development was reviewed and the initial results were presented by young investigators. In 2015, technologies for field EEG recording, recently making advances as MoBI (mobile brain and body imaging) was also introduces. The new expansion in 2016 was neuro-robotics. The role of robots are increasing in aging societies consisteing of less younger generations, since more tasks and appropriate poweres are demanded to assisted their daily life activities and prevent potential risks such as fall. The 2017 workshop was held as a sattelite meeting of incf 2017, involving a new perspective, nutrition. The nutrition status in older adutls was focused since neuroendocrine such as BDNF is important to support functions and regeneration of neuronal system and it is also related to physical activities.
BrainConnects sprouted out from several international collaborations in medical informatics incubated the activities in BrainConnects, such as medical GRID project (Japan and the Philippines, 2003-2004) funded by NICT (Japan). ONCO-Media (ontology and context related medical image distributed intelligent access, 2006-7) Project (France, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, and Taiwan) funded by FP6 (EU), and several other bilateral collaboration projects funded by government level agreements. Through these collaborations in BrainConnects, a new interdisciplinary field ‘aging neuroinformatics’ has been grown up.
BrainConnects Meeting