We all have one, we all use it. But the human brain remains an absolute mystery to most people – and a colossal challenge even for researchers. To meet this challenge, brain research has completely reinvented itself with the help of digitalization. A success that would not have been possible without Juliers.
Katrin Amunts has always been fascinated by the brain. “It is one of the most complex systems in the world, comparable to the universe. It not only has around 86 billion neurons, but also an almost unimaginable number of connections and different states that it can take*,” enthuses the director of INM-1, who has devoted herself to the brain since the beginning of her medical studies. “Back then, brain research was completely different than it is today,” recalls Katrin Amunts. In 1999, she joined Professor Karl Zilles at the FZJ as a postdoctoral fellow to help establish the research theme here. She had just spent four years creating new maps of two brain areas in the language centre. “But the language neural network in the brain is much larger. To really make progress, I had to know the whole brain as well as these two brain areas,” explains Katrin Amunts. “But this was not possible with the state of technology at the time and the complex mapping process.”
* It is estimated that 2 to the power of 10 to the power of 15 theoretical states are possible at any given time in the human brain. This is equivalent to a number containing about one-third of a quadrillion zeros.
A leap into the modern era
Today, 25 years later, brain research has taken a major step forward: “We already know many networks that are essential for our thinking and behavior. There are very precise 3D maps for more than 200 brain areas – and in a few years we will have covered the entire brain,” Amunts is pleased to say. “Most of these areas were represented for the first time in Jülich.” But where does this great leap in knowledge come from? The answer is digitalization. The digital 3D brain atlas, which Amunts developed in Jülich over two decades, has made possible many things that previously seemed completely unthinkable: “The Jülich brain atlas was the first to combine a wide variety of high-resolution 3D brain maps with countless interactive tools and functions.”
The Amunts Atlas is at the heart of the European digital infrastructure EBRAINS, which researchers can use worldwide since January 2024. Imaging techniques and, increasingly, AI are crucial moments in the digital revolution in brain research. “Our work requires images and maps of the brain that are as precise as possible.” From 1999, Amunts and Zilles used imaging and statistical methods for microscopic mapping and provided probability maps to an international consortium on human brain mapping. “This was the first step towards a new digital era.”
Difficult beginnings
But as image files grew larger and larger, data volumes grew and computers reached their limits. In 2011, the INM then entered the field of supercomputers with the BigBrain project. “At that time, this interdisciplinary collaboration was still very new in our field of research,” Amunts recalls. So in 2012, she joined forces with JSC Director Professor Thomas Lippert and Professor Markus Diesmann, now IAS-6. To bring neuroscience and supercomputers closer together, they launched a crucial Helmholtz project** in 2013, followed by a joint Simulation and Data Laboratory (SDL), which played an important interface role. “All of this helped to translate brain research problems onto large computing machines,” Amunts explains. “Because suddenly we had to take a completely different approach.” It was a difficult pioneering work for both parties. But in hindsight, we helped to open a new era in Jülich.”
** The Helmholtz project “Supercomputing and Modeling for the Human Brain” was then developed as a joint laboratory.
Timing is everything!
It is no coincidence that the INM and the JSC, and thus neuroscience and computer science, came together at that time: “This was important to have a chance in the rigorous selection process of the two EU flagship projects planned at the time, with unprecedented amounts of funding,” Amunts recalls. And these efforts were crowned with success, since the Human Brain Project (HBP), with a final amount of more than €600 million, was launched in 2013. The timing was crucial: “Neuroscience was sufficiently advanced to start bringing together the different levels of organization of the brain: from molecules, single cells and microcircuits to large networks and brain areas,” Amunts explains. “But supercomputers also had a long way to go to be able to handle our huge data sets and extremely complex tasks.”
A new generation
In retrospect, the HBP was a great opportunity for European brain research, says Amunts. “The brain is so complex that until then, its research was spread across many subdisciplines. Whether brain research, medicine, robotics or psychology, the HBP made it possible to systematically bring together the most diverse fields from all over Europe for the first time and combine them with computer science. This is how we have learned to discuss and work together over the last ten years. Because no one can do everything alone, but by working together, we can all achieve more.”
According to Amunts, this constantly expanding international cooperation beyond specialist disciplines is one of the greatest successes of the European project, which ended in 2023. “It has also enabled the training of a new generation of researchers who work precisely at these interfaces between neuroscience, medicine, computer science and technology.” But the most visible success is probably digital brain research itself: “We are continuing to advance this field in the new European project EBRAINS 2.0, as artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly important in this area,” says Amunts. “Digitalization will continue to open many doors in brain research in the future.”
“The transition from a small computer to a very large computing machine was huge for us – it was like driving a small car for years and suddenly finding yourself in a Formula 1 car.” – Prof. Katrin Amunts (INM-1)
Originally published in the employee magazine “Intern” of the Forschungszentrum Jülich.
Author: Hanno Schiffer
Contact person
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM)
- Structural and functional organization of the brain (INM-1)
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