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In 2015, the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture opened the International school of brain cells & circuits dedicated to the Italian Nobel laureate “Camillo Golgi”.
The brain, with 1012 neurons interacting through 1015 synapses, is quite surely the most complex structure of the whole Universe. Neurosciences are systematically tackling brain functions at multiple complexity levels, from cells to microcircuits to the whole brain. Understanding the brain is a Grand Challenge for the Humankind with social implications in the biomedical and technological fields. This relevance has recently been acknowledged by the launch of the Human Brain Project in Europe and of the Brain Active Map Project in the USA as well as by the award of the 2014 Nobel Prize to Neuroscientists.
The school of brain cells & circuits will face hot topics in modern Neuroscience, providing the basics of understanding, fueling discussion and helping to form a critical perspective in the new generation of Neuroscientists. Our vision is that, in order to explain brain functions, it is fundamental to integrate molecular and cellular knowledge into microcircuits and large-scale network through the use of models.
Further reading can be found in the review article:
Modelling the brain: Elementary components to explain ensemble functions
Authors: Egidio D’Angelo, Claudia Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
DOI: 10.1393/ncr/i2017-10137-5