Ed Boyden Talks About the Importance of Neuroscience

 Neuroscience  

Optogenetics pioneer, Ed Boyden recently sat down for a discussion on the importance of neuroscience research on the Singularity 1 on 1 podcast.

One of the main presenters at last year’s Global Future 2045 Conference in New York was neuroscientist, Dr. Ed Boyden. Boyden’s impressive work in neuroscience in general and optogenetics in particular, may have profound implications it would have on our ability to understand and manipulate the brain.

Recently Nikola Danaylov interviewed Boyden on the podcast Singularity 1 on 1.

"Our approach is very much focused on the technologies that will allow us to numerate, and describe the mechanistic processes through which neural circuits interact."

During the conversation with Boyden, the pair covered a variety of topics such as: his interesting career path from chemistry to physics to electrical engineering and into neuroscience; the loop of understanding and why the brain is where we need to go; and the importance of philosophy.

Boyden also covers his work in optogenetics and whether the brain is a classical computer or not. A major goal of Boyden’s current work is to manipulate individual nerve cells using light. To do this, he takes advantage of naturally occurring light-sensitive proteins from various microorganisms, which can be artificially expressed in brain cells using genetic technology. By controlling these proteins with an implanted fiber-optic device, Boyden is developing on/off switches for brain activity. This will be a powerful way to test theories of brain function in experimental animals, and could also open the door to new clinical therapies for conditions such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, or blindness.

The pair discuss the Penrose-Hameroff theory of consciousness; and the Human Brain Project.

Boyden and Danaylov also touch on Randal Koene's Whole Brain Emulation project; the definition and importance of consciousness; neuroplasticity and Norman Doidge’s The Brain That Changes Itself. They also talk about free will and mind-uploading.

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Boyden is Associate Professor of Biological Engineering and Brain and Cognitive Sciences, at the MIT Media Lab and the MIT McGovern Institute. He leads the Synthetic Neurobiology Group, which develops tools for analyzing and engineering the circuits of the brain. These technologies, created often in interdisciplinary collaborations, include ‘optogenetic’ tools, which enable the activation and silencing of neural circuit elements with light, 3-D microfabricated neural interfaces that enable control and readout of neural activity, and robotic methods for automatically recording intracellular neural activity and performing single-cell analyses in the living brain. He has launched an award-winning series of classes at MIT that teach principles of neuroengineering, starting with basic principles of how to control and observe neural functions, and culminating with strategies for launching companies in the nascent neurotechnology space. He also co-directs the MIT Center for Neurobiological Engineering, which aims to develop new tools to accelerate neuroscience progress.

Amongst other recognitions, he has received the Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award (2013), the Grete Lundbeck European “Brain” Prize, the largest brain research prize in the world (2013), the Perl/UNC Neuroscience Prize (2011), the A F Harvey Prize (2011), and the Society for Neuroscience Research Award for Innovation in Neuroscience (RAIN) Prize (2007). He has also received the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (2013), the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award (twice, 2012 and 2013), and the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (2007), as well as the New York Stem Cell Foundation-Robertson Investigator Award (2011) and the the Paul Allen Distinguished Investigator Award in Neuroscience (2010). He was also named to the World Economic Forum Young Scientist list (2013), the Wired Smart List “50 People Who Will Change the World” (2012), the Technology Review World’s “Top 35 Innovators under Age 35″ list (2006), and his work was included in Nature Methods “Method of the Year” in 2010.

His group has hosted hundreds of visitors to learn how to use neurotechnologies, and he also regularly teaches at summer courses and workshops in neuroscience, as well as delivering lectures to the broader public at TED and at the World Economic Forum. Ed received his Ph.D. in neurosciences from Stanford University as a Hertz Fellow, where he discovered that the molecular mechanisms used to store a memory are determined by the content to be learned. Before that, he received three degrees in electrical engineering, computer science, and physics from MIT. He has contributed to over 300 peer-reviewed papers, current or pending patents, and articles, and has given over 240 invited talks on his group’s work.



SOURCE  Singularity Weblog

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