Developing bioinformatics for neuroscience Understanding brain-related diseases often requires the integration of multiple disciplines including bioinformatics. A European initiative utilised computer tools and applications to integrate neuroscience data and facilitate research results sharing. Digital Economy © Thinkstock To understand the complexity of brain structure and function it is critical to share research findings and techniques among the scientific community. This necessitates management and analysis of the plethora of data being published annually. A new research field known as neuroinformatics (NI) combines the development of computational and analytical tools for the analysis, sharing and integration of experimental data in neurosciences. The EU-funded ‘Neuroinformatics’ (INCF) project aimed to support and coordinate NI on a global level by bringing together research groups and stakeholders in the field from 16 countries. The infrastructure was developed to integrate data and link disease symptoms with underlying causes, aiming to understand and treat neurological disease. Software and neuroinformatics tools were also developed and made available from a central location. Project members developed software (Waxholm) for creating digital brain atlases which are important reference and analytical tools for neuroscience. Additionally, among the most popular INCF products was software (MUSIC) that allowed interconnection of large-scale neuronal network simulators and multiscale computational modelling. Overall, the INCF project focused on the development of software tools for management and analysis of neuroscience data. These tools are expected to address infrastructural issues among the neuroscience community and, through dissemination of research findings, improve our understanding of brain function and disease.
