SMHB General Assembly 2017

Jülich, November 8 2017 – Neuroscientists and Supercomputing experts met in Jülich, on November 7th and 8th , for the General Assembly of the Helmholtz Portfolio Theme „Supercomputing and Modeling for the Human Brain” (SMHB). With the Portfolio program the Helmholtz Association funds topics of high strategic relevance. As such, the SMHB started in 2013 and integrates activities in neuroscience, simulation, data science and High-Performance Computing (HPC).

For this, three Forschungzentrum Jülich institute divisions of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1, INM-6 and INM-7) and the Jülich Supercomputing Center (JSC) work together with RWTH Aachen University, German Cancer Research Centre (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg), Helmholtz Zentrum München, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, McGill University (Montreal) and the Institut Neuroscience de la Timone (CNRS Marseille). The SMHB is guided by a scientific advisory board of high-ranking international experts from multiple disciplines.

Vice-Chairman of the Forschungszentrum Jülich Board of Directors, Dr. Karsten Beneke, welcomed the members and stressed the SMHB’s role as a bridge between HPC and Neuroscience. “It is as a remarkable success story made possible by the unique constellation in Jülich”, said Beneke. In 2015 the program became part of the regular POF funding, giving it a permanent place in the scientific spectrum at Forschungszentrum Jülich. It also serves as an important pillar of the new strategic focus on the topic of “Information” for the research centre. Prof. Katrin Amunts also highlighted the SMHB’s central part in Jülich’s contribution to the European Union funded Human Brain Project, of which she has been the Scientific Director since 2016, and that SMHB will continue to be a key element for this in the long-term.

A keynote talk was given by Prof. Holger Gohlke, head of the new NIC Research Group "Computational Biophysical Chemistry" at JSC and at the Institute of Complex Systems (ICS-6). With the help of molecular simulations and structural biology methods his group investigates interactions of biomolecules in the body, with many of them in strong relation to brain function and –dysfunction.

The new website of the SMHB
http://www.fz-juelich.de/smhb/EN/Home/home_node.html
More information on the Helmholtz Portfolio Process
https://www.helmholtz.de/forschung/querschnittsaktivitaeten/
Information on the NIC research group "Computational Biophysical Chemistry"
http://www.john-von-neumann-institut.de/SharedDocs/Meldungen/NIC/EN/2017/2017-07-nic-rg-cbc-e.html