Conference on Brain Network Dynamics, UC Berkeley, January 2007

人类大脑功能的研究可以说是我们社会在新世纪最重要的努力之一。尽管在基础神经生物学方面有大量的研究，但在理解大型大脑系统的功能方面进展有限。理解大脑的综合功能仍然是一个重大的科学问题。即使是“简单的感知”也涉及到许多分布的大脑区域，发现这些区域之间的网络相互作用对于理解神经科学、心理学、神经学和精神病学中的一系列问题非常重要。了解人类大脑功能的关键是详细了解神经元群的时空动态及其在认知功能中的相互作用。美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）将主办一次会议，召集一批顶尖的研究人员，从多学科的角度研究分布式大脑功能的动态，并在这一学科前沿的重要课题上教育下一代的研究人员。它将1)从不同的角度概述脑动力学的研究现状；2)脑科学领域的目标问题，通过多学科的密切互动可以促进进展；3)促进数理统计、网络科学、神经网络建模等工具的应用；4)概述将动态脑研究的见解应用于临床问题的途径，以改进疾病诊断生物标志物的开发。会议将在加州的旧金山湾区举行。

The study of human brain function is arguably one of our society's most important endeavors in this new century. Although there has been an explosive amount of research in basic neurobiology, progress in understanding the function of large brain systems has been limited. Understanding the integrated functioning of the brain remains a significant scientific problem. Even "simple perception" involves many distributed brain regions, and discovering the network interactions among these regions is important for understanding a range of issues in neuroscience, psychology, neurology, and psychiatry. Essential for understanding human brain function is a detailed knowledge of the spatio-temporal dynamics of neuronal populations and their interactions during cognitive function. The National Science Foundation will sponsor a conference to bring together a group of leading researchers to examine the dynamics of distributed brain function from a multidisciplinary approach, and to educate the next generation of researchers on important topics at the frontier of studies in this discipline. It will 1) present an overview of the present state of research on brain dynamics from various perspectives; 2) target issues in the brain sciences for which progress may be facilitated by the closer interaction of multiple disciplines; 3) promote the application of tools from mathematical statistics, network science, and neural network modeling; 4) outline avenues of approach to the application of insights from dynamical brain studies to clinical questions for the improved development of biomarkers for disease diagnosis. The conference will be held in California's San Francisco Bay area.