Will Waterloo’s virtual brain replace lab rats?

Waterloo researchers hope Spaun, a simulated brain, will be used to test new drugs that lead to medical breakthroughs for brain disorders.

Testing the effects of different drugs on Spaun, a simulated brain developed by Waterloo researchers, could lead to breakthrough treatments for neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

Our hope is that you could try out different possible treatments quickly to see how the brain reacts and how each one changes behaviour before testing them in people. --Terrence Stewart

Terrence Stewart is a post-doctoral researcher with the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience at Waterloo and project manager for Spaun.

Stewart is giving a talk on the advantages of using whole-brain simulation as a tool to aid new discoveries in medicine at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Chicago from February 13 to 17. He will present new research on successfully simulating the effects of aging and Huntington’s disease in Spaun at a symposium panel, “Virtual Humans: Helping Facilitate Breakthroughs in Medicine.”

For full article: Waterloo Stories | February 14, 2014