As the first phase of several genome projects approaches completion, researchers start shifting their attention from questions of genome structure to problems of gene function. Technological advances in imaging and molecular tagging are opening up exciting new ways to visualize gene expression patterns and to follow the consequence of protein interactions on site and in real time. One can anticipate that, in the future, neuroinformatics will include simulated models not only as exploratory tools, but also as a framework - to unveil complex causal relationships and to generate hypothesis for the operation of complex systems such as memory formation. It may be possible, for example, to simulate the transmission of an olfactory signal in flies from receptors of sensory neurons in the antennal to the 2nd relay projection neurons and further to the 3rd relay Kenyon cells in the central brain. Ultimately, one hopefully can simulate the decision-making processes within a virtual fly brain in response to an odor. This, of course, awaits for a comprehensive mapping of most if not all the genes, proteins, and neuronal circuits involved in not just learning and memory but brain functions as a whole.

Anticipating the arrival of genomic era, research team at the National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) has developed a series of novel imaging tools allowing an unprecedented 3D visualization of single-gene expression in single neurons within the whole Drosophila brain. We are building the first 3D Drosophila brain database of gene expression patterns at the molecular and circuitry level, for storage, retrieval and comparison. The established brain database will allow neuroscientists examining the expression patterns of any gene(s) at different time and location during development or under various physiological conditions, from all over the world. The analysis there after, can be used to generate and test hypotheses for the better understanding of how the brain works. At this moment, we focus on answering where and how the various gene products collaborate when the memory is formed, retrieved and washed away. We are also interested in using fly models to study human brain disease for its related genes or circuits and we also are searching for novel therapeutic drugs at the same time.

BRC is organized as an interdisciplinary research team. We integrate complementary fields of investigators of biology, engineering,photonics,and computer and information sciences from National Tsing Hua University(NTHU), National Yang Ming University ( NYMU ), National Chiao Tung University ( NCTU ), National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC), Academia Sinica, and National Health Research Institute (NHRI).

Neuroscience :

Ann-Shyn Chiang, Professor, Institute of Biotechnology, NTHU (江安世 生物科技研究所)

Tzu-Kang Sang, Assistant Professor, Institute of Biotechnology, NTHU (桑自剛 生物科技研究所)

Horng-Dar Wang, Assistant Professor, Institute of Biotechnology, NTHU (汪宏達 生物科技研究所)

Lin-Yi Chen, Assistant Professor, Institute of Molecular Medicine, NTHU (陳令儀 分子醫學研究所)

Engineering:

Wei-Lun Fang, Professor, Institute of Nanotechnology and Microsystems Engineering, NTHU (方維倫 奈米工程與微系統研究所)

Chien-Chung Fu, Assistant Professor, Institute of Nanotechnology and Microsystems Engineering, NTHU (傅建中 奈米工程與微系統研究所)

Shiue-Cheng Tang, Assistant Professor, Institute of Chemical Engineering, NTHU (湯學成 化學工程研究所)

Hsin Chen, Assistant Professor, Institute of Electrical Engineering, NTHU (陳 新 電機工程研究所)

Computation:

Chang-Huain Hsieh, Research Fellow, National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) (謝昌煥 國家高速網路與計算中心 )

Yung-Chang Chen, Professor, Institute of Electrical Engineering, NTHU (陳永昌 電機工程研究所)

Yu-Tai Ching, Associate Professor, Institute of Computer Science and Engineering, NCTU (荊宇泰 交通大學 資訊科學與工程研究所)

Hwu, Yeu-Kuang, Research Fellow, Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica (胡宇光 中央研究院 物理研究所)

International Collaboration:

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA
Brain Research Center in NTHU and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have formed strong alliance since 2002. Currently, Brain Research Center and CSHL are conducting the project“FlyBrain Neurogenomic”,which aims at mapping the 3D gene expression pattern and functional neural circuits in Drosophila.

Dr. Tim Tully, Adjunct Professor , Email tully@cshl.edu

Dr. Yi Zhong, Professor , Email zhongyi@cshl.edu

Dr. Josh Dubnau, Assistant Professor , Email dubnau@cshl.edu

Department of Neurobiology, Harvard University, USA
Dr. Edward Kravitz, Professor, Email: edward_kravitz@hms.harvard.edu

Department of Biology, University of Virginia, USA
Dr. Jay Hirsh, Professor,Email: jh6u@virginia.edu

Department of Neurobiology, UMASS Medical School, USA
Dr. Lee Tzumin, Associate Professor, Email: Tzumin.Lee@umassmed.edu

Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Austria
Dr. Barry Dickson, Scientific Director, Senior Scientist, Email:dickson@imp.ac.at

Institute for Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Dr. Michael J. Pankratz

National Institute of Biological Sciences, China
Dr. Yi-Rao, 北京生命科學研究所資深研究員, E-mail: raoyi@nibs.ac.cn