Neuroinformatics

Abstract

The foundations of neuroinformatics as a new multidisciplinary field of science were laid in the late 1980s as advances in both neuroscience and information science made their incorporation possible. Relating the complex structures and functions of the nervous system requires coordination among diverse domains of knowledge, integration across multiple levels of investigation, and fusion of seemingly disparate technical approaches, from molecules to behavior. The challenge of neuroinformatics is to provide a unified computational information framework to enable, facilitate, and foster such an enterprise. In practice, major advances in our understanding of the brain require the development and application of suitable electronic tools to handle, represent, transform, analyze, and synthesize digital neuroscience data. In turn, such a challenge is the key solution to preventing, diagnosing, and treating brain diseases.Neuroinformatics is still in its infancy, and it may be premature to attempt a historical perspective on a field in evolving and dynamic development. In this article, we present an overview of the status of neuroinformatics mostly by means of focused examples. We first state the main areas of neuroinformatics research in broad terms. Next, we describe some of the principal institutional initiative and resources, exemplifying both organizations and funding programs. We then offer several examples of ongoing efforts. This selection is not meant to (and could not possibly) provide a comprehensive account of current neuroinformatics; on the contrary, we wish to illustrate the diversity and breadth of this rapidly growing branch of science. To offer a sense of the depth involved in these programs, we present one specific case our own laboratory is contributing. Finally, we close by venturing a forecast of the future research landscape after the full maturation and blossoming of neuroinformatics.By its own nature, much neuroinformatics content exists on the World Wide Web and in fact mostly consists of its very online presence. It is, thus, impossible (and would be counterproductive) for this review to be devoid of direct references to uniform resource locators (URLs) corresponding to the described information; we therefore include an extensive list of websites. Internet content evolves dynamically, and a static text such as this can provide only a temporary snapshot of journalistic value, destined to age quickly. The same applies to the illustrations, which are all derived from material accessed in April 2007. Neuroinformatics: Premise and PromiseNeuroscience studies all aspects of the nervous system and its development to understand the biological principles of the mind and behavior. Modern neuroscience encompasses many diverse areas of investigation: from the brain's shape and cellular structure (neuroanatomy) to molecular manipulations and chemical composition (neurochemistry) and from bioelectrical plasticity and circuit dynamics (neurophysiology) to the personal and social organization of cognitive syste...

The Neural Odyssey: Unveiling the Potential of Neuroscience–ICT Convergence

“…Additionally, the fusion of biology and ICT has given rise to the field of neuroinformatics [ 11 ], which combines ICT tools and techniques/technologies with biological knowledge derived from neuroscience research, establishing a unified framework for data sharing, analysis, and collaboration. Comprehensive databases have been created, representing an important meeting point for research activities of all the world.…”