Accelerating science with innovative computing

How daunting a task is it, in an age when it is possible to visualize structures and to see them at magnifications not even dreamed of a short time ago, to produce a "wiring diagram" of the human brain?

It is an extreme challenge when one considers that the amount of information that needs to be gathered, manipulated, and analyzed is "equal to all the written materials in all the libraries in the world," Jeff Lichtman, professor of molecular and cellular biology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, explained to those attending the inaugural symposium of Harvard's new Initiative in Innovative Computing.

Lichtman, one of the lead investigators of the IIC's "Conectome" project, whose goal is to map, store, analyze, and visualize neural circuitry, was one of more than a half-dozen scientists who presented overviews of their work to the approximately 175 attendees at the March 21 gathering at the Radcliffe Institute.