The biggest ever EU funding programme – Horizon 2020 – is enabling the implementation of innovative research projects targeted towards excellent science, industrial leadership and addressing societal challenges. Here, we highlight a few momentous Horizon 2020 activity developments.
THE HUMAN BRAIN PROJECT’S EUROPEAN INFRASTRUCTURE
The Human Brain Project, a Horizon 2020 flagship programme, is entering its next phase following the launch of its new scientific infrastructure – developed over the last two and a half years by 24 countries.
The bigger picture is a shared European research infrastructure to tackle neurological and psychiatric disorders through the detailed simulation and analysis of brain organisation. For this, the Human Brain Project is designing neurosynaptic processors, alongside other new information technologies, based on the principles governing how the human brain works. The overarching intention of this endeavour is to drive progress in neuroscience, high-performance computing and robotics, and connect researchers through four large European supercomputer and data centres.
“Users and developers work together very closely,” says Professor Thomas Lippert, Director of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre and co-leader of the platform. “With leading manufacturers, we are developing the interactive supercomputer, which is as easy to use as a laptop and is one of the most crucial instruments for in silico experiments on virtual human brains.”
The JURECA supercomputer, for example, is already being used by the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine to develop a 3D brain model called BigBrain – the world’s most detailed reconstruction of cell structure of a full human brain.
A NEW PATTERN IN THE EARTH’S GLOBAL ENERGY FLOW
The Anthropocene study led by researchers at the University of Leicester resulted in the discovery of a ‘striking new pattern’ caused by human impact. Their study relates to how the planet’s global energy flow is pervasively influenced by humans, identified following the comparison of human patterns of production and consumption measured against the billion-year-old patterns of our planet.
“Very big changes to our planet’s pattern of biological production and consumption do not happen very often,” explains Professor Jan Zalasiewicz, co-leader of the geological study. “Other major events have happened since, such as five major mass extinctions, but even measured against these events, human-driven changes to production and consumption are distinctly new.”
Importantly, the researchers emphasise that a single species appropriating around one quarter of the net primary biological production of the planet is unprecedented, especially as this indicates that humans have become the top predator both on land and at sea.
“Modern human society is structured around economic production and consumption and our recent perturbation of the balance between the two, notably since the mid-20th Century, will leave a signal that will provide a lasting legacy of our existence on this planet,” comments Dr Colin Waters of the British Geological Survey.
BREAST CANCER PROJECT’S PIONEERING ANALYSIS TOOL
At Ulster University (UU), a multidisciplinary team of researchers working across computer science, health sciences and psychology has received over €550,000 from Horizon 2020 for the development of an innovative medical analysis tool to assist breast tissue and tumour characterisation.
Additionally, the team will contribute to the creation of a decision support system to provide doctors with personalised treatment advice based on existing comparable cases and the patient’s own genetic information.
“With an estimated one in 12 women developing breast cancer before the age of 75, the early diagnosis and treatment of the disease is vital when it comes to saving lives,” reveals Professor Hui Wang from UU, while emphasising that the project – known as DESIREE – will inform best practice in breast cancer units across Europe. “The aim is not to replace biopsy procedures or the specialist skills of doctors, but to support their interpretation of clinical data, medical images and tests.”
In 2012, around 464,000 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in Europe, representing the most common form of cancer on the continent for women. This underlining just how necessary pioneering developments such as this one are for patients.
HORIZON 2020
This week, International Innovation is dedicated to demonstrating the impact Horizon 2020 is having across STEM and beyond.
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