International Brain Laboratory (360G-Wellcome-209558_Z_17_Z)

Understanding mechanisms of brain function is a scientific frontier with enormous potential benefits which is now within reach, thanks to recent exciting technical innovations. However, given the brain’s extraordinary complexity, effectively harnessing these tools is beyond the reach of single laboratories pursuing problems in isolation. This initiative - the International Brain Laboratory - will focus the efforts of 20 laboratories to understand the neural mechanisms supporting decision-making behavior in mice. As in real-world foraging contexts, mice will combine information from sensory stimuli with internal estimates of evolving reward availability. To understand how sensory signals are integrated across the brain and combined with an internal, dynamic understanding of reward structure, we will measure brain-wide neuronal activity using 2-photon imaging and high-yield electrophysiology with Neuropixels probes. Theorists and experimentalists will work closely together to interpret data, making use of standardized data processing pipelines and immediate cloud-based data sharing. This is a paradigm-shifting approach in terms of its large-scale collaborative structure and its aim to provide a mechanistic explanation of decision-making behavior across brain structures. Further, by harnessing strategies for sharing data and analyses to ensure tight collaboration and improved reproducibility, we aim to provide a new template for global neuroscience collaborations.