THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGES

Nenad BUNCIC, 2013-12-10 HISTORY

2005 - the Blue Brain Project (BBP) launched with EPFL and IBM (BlueGene/L)! 2009 - IBM BlueGene/P upgrade! 2010 - the (HBP) initiated! 2013 - the BBP project becomes a National Research Infrastructure Project funded by the ETH Board! 2013 - HBP awarded EU FET Flagship! 2013 - IBM BlueGene/Q acquired SOME NUMBERS

Rat Brain! Human brain!

~200M (2x108) nerve ~90B (1011) nerve cells! cells! ~90B glial cells! ~130M glial cells! ~O(1015) synapses! ~O(1012) synapses! ~O(10B) proteins/ ! nerve cell

! THE COLUMN

The !

basic unit of the cortex!

functional unit!

each column seems to perform a simple function!

essential first step toward achieving a complete virtual brain THE MODEL

The Blue Brain project team has succeeded in isolating 55 different types of within the cortical column!

They differ from each others in essential characteristics such as morphology, behavior, population density, etc.!

Simulations reproduce experiments that have already been performed in the lab THE CHALLENGE

Cellular+Human+Brain+ Par(cles+O(10J100x+memory)+ O(1,000x+Rat+Brain)+ Memory+Requirements+ Reac(onJDiffusion+O(1,000x+memory)+ GliaJCell+Integra(on+O(10x+memory)+ Vasculature+O(1x+memory)+ O(100+PB)+ Cellular+Rat+Brain+ Reac(onJDiffusion+O(1,000x+memory)+ O(100x+Mesocircuit)+ GliaJCell+Integra(on+O(10x+memory)+ Reac(onJDiffusion+O(100J1,000x+performance)+ Vasculature+O(1x+memory)+ GliaJCell+Integra(on+O(1J10x+performance)+ EEG+(1J10x+performance)+ Cellular+Mesocircuit+ Vasculature+O(1x+performance)+ O(100+TB)+ Plas(city+O(1J10x+performance)+ O(100x+NCC)+ Behavior+O(10J100x+performance)+ Reac(onJDiffusion+O(1,000x+memory)+ + Reac(onJDiffusion+O(100J1,000x+performance)+ GliaJCell+Integra(on+O(1J10x+performance)+ Vasculature+O(1x+performance)+ Electric+Field+Interac(on+O(1J10x+performance)+ O(1+TB)+ Plas(city+O(1J10x+performance)+ Cellular+Neocor(cal+Column+ Reac(onJDiffusion+O(100J1,000x+performance)+ O(10,000x+cell)+ Plas(city+O(1J10x+performance)+ Local+Field+Poten(als+(1x+performance)+ O(10+GB)+

Reac(onJDiffusion+O(1,000x+memory)+ 4Jrack+BlueGene/Q+

CADMOS+4Jrack+BlueGene/P+

Single+Cellular+Model+ EPFL+4Jrack+BlueGene/L+

Reac(onJDiffusion+O(100J1,000x+performance)+ Computa(onal+Complexity+ O(1+MB)+ O(Gigaflops)+ O(10+Teraflops)+ O(100+Teraflops)+ O(1+Petaflops)+ O(1+Exaflops)+ THE FACILITY

Worksta(ons*

Server/Cluster* Storage$Infrastructure$ O(100TB)$scalable$storage$ VM$Infrastructure$ Applica>on$&$DB$servers$ SMP$Node$ O(100)$cores$ Mul>ple$jobs$ $ up$to$32$cores$SMP$ up$to$1TB$Shared$RAM$

Capacity*HPC* Analysis$$ Cluster$ Viz$Cluster$ >500$cores$ Interac>ve,$batch$ Capability*HPC* >$5$TB$RAM$ ~150$cores$ 80$GPUs$ 64k$cores$ ~300$GB$RAM$ BlueGene/Q$ 39$GTX$580$ 64$Terabyte$RAM$ +$BGAS$ 128$TB$FLASH$ 4$PetaByte$Storage$ THE HUMAN BRAIN PROJECT

An EU FET Flagship 6 technology platforms Project! for collaborative :! Mission: A radically ! new strategy to Medical Informatics ! understanding the ! human brain and its High Performance diseases and developing Computing! brain-like technologies! Neuromorphic Computing! PARTNERS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & CONTACT

• The$Blue$Brain$Project$Team$ h2p://bluebrain.epfl.ch$ • The$Human$Brain$Project$Consor

! ! Contacts:! Prof.$Henry$Markram$$ Director$Blue$Brain$Project$$ Coordinator$Human$Brain$Project$ Email:$henry.markram@epfl.ch$ $ THANK YOU

WHY IS THAT IMPORTANT?

Answer questions about how we think, remember, learn and feel!

Discover new treatments for brain diseases!

better understanding of the way drugs act on the brain (the cost of developing a new drug is around 1.3 billion CHF)!

Build new computer technologies that exploit what we have learned about the brain