BrainsCAN: Brain health for life

引发人类思维的神经机制比宇宙中最遥远的地方更难探索。然而，了解大脑网络如何支持我们的行动、思想和情绪，以及这些如何在影响人类一生的疾病中被破坏，是根本上的重要问题。回答这些问题将深刻地影响我们如何理解自己、彼此以及我们所生活的社会。 西方大学的研究人员将与他们的国内和国际学术和商业合作伙伴一起，为脑部疾病的诊断和治疗提供循证评估和干预。这些方法将通过对我们如何学习、思考、移动和交流的基本方面的回答来提供信息。 了解更高的大脑功能对于诊断、分类和治疗精神和神经疾病；改善儿童学习和交流；优化神经外科干预；以及开发智能设备和算法至关重要。技术创新是理解高级大脑功能的关键，也将促进这种理解的应用。在这种创新中，存在着相当大的潜力来刺激以知识为基础的加拿大经济，并造福整个社会。 在几十年竞争性联邦拨款项目的成功基础上，在大量战略机构支持的推动下，西部大学已经成为一大批世界知名研究人员的家园，他们研究大脑功能，利用：最先进的工具来研究人类认知表现，独特的动物模型，以及可以跨物种成像的领先设施。 西方大学在认知神经科学和神经成像领域已经位居世界前列，在理解和干预大脑功能所需的认知、计算、临床、技术和翻译方法的广度方面表现出色。与加拿大第一卓越研究基金合作，Brainscan计划将加快大学提供有效解决方案的能力，以应对在整个生命周期中保持大脑功能的重大挑战。

The neural mechanisms that give rise to human thought are harder to probe than the farthest reaches of the universe. Yet, understanding how brain networks support our actions, thoughts and emotions, and how these become disrupted in disorders that affect humans across their lifespan, are fundamentally important questions. Answering these questions will profoundly impact how we understand ourselves, each other, and the societies in which we live. Researchers at Western University, along with their national and international academic and commercial partners, will deliver evidence-based assessments and interventions for the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the brain. These approaches will be informed by answers to fundamental aspects of how we learn, think, move and communicate. Understanding higher brain functions is central to diagnosing, classifying and treating psychiatric and neurological diseases; improving childhood learning and communication; optimizing neurosurgical interventions; and developing intelligent devices and algorithms. Technological innovation is a key to understanding higher brain functions, and will also further the application of that understanding. In such innovation, there lies considerable potential to stimulate a knowledge-based Canadian economy and benefit society as a whole. Building on decades of success in competitive federal grant programs, and fuelled by substantial strategic institutional support, Western University has become home to a large cluster of world-renowned researchers who study brain function, utilizing: state-of-the-art tools for investigating human cognitive performance, unique animal models, and leading facilities that can image across species. Already ranked amongst the best in the world in cognitive neurosciences and neuroimaging, Western University excels in the breadth of cognitive, computational, clinical, technological and translational approaches required for understanding and intervening in brain function. In partnership with the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, the BrainsCAN initiative will accelerate the university’s ability to deliver effective solutions to the grand challenge of maintaining brain function across the lifespan.