Blue Brain Project - IBM Supercomputer to Simulate Human Brain

IBM and The Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) are today announcing a major joint research initiative - nicknamed the Blue Brain Project - to take brain research to a new level.

Over the next two years scientists from both organizations will work together using the huge computational capacity of IBM’s eServer Blue Gene supercomputer to create a detailed model of the circuitry in the neocortex - the largest and most complex part of the human brain. By expanding the project to model other areas of the brain, scientists hope to eventually build an accurate, computer-based model of the entire brain.

Using the digital model scientists will run computer-based simulations of the brain at the molecular level, shedding light on internal processes such as thought, perception and memory. Scientists also hope to understand more about how and why certain microcircuits in the brain malfunction - thought to be the cause of psychiatric disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and depression.

By using a Blue Gene supercomputer to run experiments in real time, Henry Markram, the EPFL professor heading up the project, anticipates a substantial acceleration in the pace of brain research. “With an accurate computer-based model of the brain much of the pre-testing and planning normally required for a major experiment could be done ‘in silico’ rather than in the laboratory. With certain simulations we anticipate that a full day’s worth of wet lab research could be done in a matter of seconds on Blue Gene.”

“Blue Gene is by far the fastest supercomputing system in the world, giving scientists access to unprecedented levels of computing power,” said Tilak Agerwala, Vice President of Systems, IBM Research. “What really matters is not the power itself, but how it is applied to accelerate innovation and discovery in science, engineering and business.”

The system that will be installed at EPFL will occupy the floor space of about four refrigerators, and will have a peak processing speed of at least 22.8 trillion floating-point operations per second (22.8 teraflops), making it one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world.

Elsewhere at EPFL, researchers will use Blue Gene to look at the use of plasmas as a possible method of energy production. Another team will use Blue Gene to research the folding of proteins and their role in the development of Creutzfeldt-Jakob (mad cow) and other diseases.