International Brain Laboratory

International Brain Laboratory
Name	International Brain Laboratory
Established	2017
Focus	Systems neuroscience, decision-making
Headquarters	London, United Kingdom
Key people	Alexandre Pouget, Michael Häusser
Affiliations	Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Wellcome Trust, Simons Foundation

International Brain Laboratory. It is a large-scale, collaborative neuroscience consortium established to understand the neural basis of decision-making. The project brings together over 20 laboratories across North America and Europe to work on a single, standardized experimental paradigm. Its goal is to produce a comprehensive, reproducible model of brain-wide neural activity underlying a specific behavior.

Overview

Founded in 2017, this initiative represents a paradigm shift in systems neuroscience, moving away from isolated labs to a coordinated, team-science approach. It is modeled partly on large-scale projects in physics like those at CERN, applying similar principles of distributed collaboration to biological research. Core funding and support have been provided by major institutions including the Wellcome Trust, the Simons Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The consortium is co-directed by neuroscientists Alexandre Pouget of the University of Geneva and Michael Häusser of University College London.

Scientific Approach and Goals

The primary scientific goal is to dissect the brain-wide neural circuits that govern a fundamental cognitive process: decision-making. The consortium focuses on a standardized behavioral task where a mouse makes decisions based on visual stimuli, allowing for direct comparison of data across all participating labs. This approach aims to overcome the reproducibility crisis in science by generating a massive, shared dataset. The ultimate objective is to create a complete functional model linking sensory input, internal brain states, and behavioral output across multiple brain regions simultaneously.

Experimental Methods and Technologies

Researchers employ a unified experimental protocol where mice perform a visual decision-making task in virtual reality environments. Neural activity is recorded using high-density electrophysiology, such as Neuropixels probes, capable of monitoring hundreds of neurons across deep brain structures. This is complemented by advanced techniques like two-photon calcium imaging to observe population dynamics. All data, code, and protocols are managed through a centralized open-science platform, utilizing tools from the Flatiron Institute for analysis and sharing with the broader community.

Key Findings and Contributions

Early publications have demonstrated the feasibility of its large-scale collaborative model, reporting brain-wide neural recordings from hundreds of mice across continents. Key findings include detailed maps of how visual information is transformed into action across the cortex, thalamus, and midbrain. The project has made significant contributions to open science, releasing all its data, analysis pipelines, and hardware designs publicly. Its work has been published in high-impact journals like Nature and Neuron, setting new standards for data quality and transparency in neuroscience.

Organization and Collaboration Model

The consortium operates through a highly structured framework with dedicated teams for theory, experiments, data analysis, and software engineering. Laboratories are located at prestigious institutions worldwide, including Stanford University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and the Champalimaud Foundation. Regular collaboration is facilitated through shared digital workspaces and frequent meetings, akin to models used in the Human Genome Project. This structure is designed to integrate diverse expertise from molecular biology to theoretical physics.

Challenges and Future Directions

Major challenges have included aligning experimental protocols across different labs and managing the immense volume of data generated. Future directions involve incorporating perturbations like optogenetics to test causal mechanisms and expanding the behavioral paradigm to include more complex tasks. The long-term vision is to provide a foundational dataset and framework that can be built upon by the entire neuroscience field, potentially informing research into disorders treated at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Category:Neuroscience organizations Category:Research institutes