41 experts from leading institutions contributed their knowledge and insights to this report.
Adam Glaser
Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics
Pioneer of open-top light-sheet microscopy (OTLS) and expansion-assisted selective plane illumination microscopy (ExA-SPIM).
Profile
Adam Marblestone
Convergent Research
CEO and Schmidt Futures Innovation Fellow. Former Google DeepMind researcher. MIT TR "35 Innovators Under 35" (2018).
Scholar
Anders Sandberg
Institute of Futures Studies
Co-author of the seminal 2008 "Whole Brain Emulation: A Roadmap" with Nick Bostrom. Provides critical continuity to this updated report.
Profile
Andrew Payne
E11 Bio
Founder and CEO. Developing PRISM technology for scalable optical connectomics at mammalian scale. 2024 Foresight Fellow.
Profile
Andy McKenzie
Apex Neuroscience
MD/PhD with expertise in neuropsychiatric disorders, brain preservation/biostasis, and computational biology.
Website
Anshul Kashyap
Wispr Flow
ML Research Engineer working on brain-computer interfaces and neural speech synthesis.
Scholar
Camille Mitchell
MIT Boyden Lab
PhD Candidate developing techniques for understanding neurological disorder mechanisms.
Profile
Christian Larson
OpenWorm Project
PhD in neuroscience from UC San Diego. Works on simulating C. elegans for whole brain emulation.
OpenWorm
Claire Wang
MIT
Undergraduate in EECS and Neuroscience working on whole nervous system emulation of C. elegans using deep learning.
Website
Connor Flexman
Independent Researcher
Generalist researcher with physics background. Active in AI alignment community; research spans physics and AI forecasting.
LinkedIn
Daniel Leible
MIT
PhD student researching neuronal connectivity mapping and in vivo imaging.
MIT BCS
Davi Bock
University of Vermont
Leading expert in synaptic connectomics. Senior author on landmark FlyWire connectome papers mapping 139,255 neurons.
Scholar
Davy Deng
Harvard-MIT HST
Doctoral student working on reverse engineering C. elegans whole nervous system.
Kording Lab
Ed Boyden
MIT
Y. Eva Tan Professor of Neurotechnology and HHMI Investigator. Pioneer of optogenetics and expansion microscopy.
MIT
Florian Engert
Harvard University
Professor achieving first brainwide imaging at single-cell resolution in a living vertebrate.
Harvard
Glenn Clayton
Mark Two Venture Studio
Tech entrepreneur focused on seed-stage deep tech and AI startups.
LinkedIn
James Lin
MIT Boyden Lab
Develops expansion microscopy tools for brain-mapping. Supported by Magnificent Grants and Emergent Ventures.
Website
Jianfeng Feng
Warwick & Fudan
Developed the world's first Digital Twin Brain (DTB) platform for simulating spiking neuronal networks.
Warwick
Jordan Matelsky
Johns Hopkins APL
Develops scalable graph analysis tools for connectomics including BossDB, Motif Studio, and Grand.
Website
Ken Hayworth
HHMI Janelia
President of Brain Preservation Foundation. Co-inventor of Tape-to-SEM process for neural circuit imaging.
BPF
Kevin Esvelt
MIT Media Lab
Pioneer of CRISPR gene drive technology. Director of Sculpting Evolution group; major focus on biosecurity.
MIT
Konrad Kording
University of Pennsylvania
Nathan Mossell Professor. Co-founder of Neuromatch; leading C. elegans nervous system reverse engineering efforts.
Lab
Lei Ma
Computational Neuroscience
Contributor to the Brain Emulation Report.
Logan Trasher Collins
Washington University
PhD Candidate and Foresight Fellow. Published on insect brain emulation and imaging methods for connectomics.
Blog
Michael Andregg
Eon Systems PBC
Founder and CEO. Expert in computational requirements for brain emulation and optical computing hardware.
LinkedIn
Michael Skuhersky
MIT Boyden Lab
2017 Foresight Fellow. Focuses on recording and simulating complete neural circuitry of C. elegans.
MIT
Michal Januszewski
Google Research
Key contributor to flood-filling networks, Drosophila connectome, and H01 human brain sample (1.4 petabyte dataset).
Google
Nicolas Patzlaff
Max Planck Institute
Doctoral researcher in neuroimaging methodology development.
LinkedIn
Niko McCarty
Asimov Press
Founding Editor. Former biological engineer at Caltech. MS in Bioengineering; MA in Science Journalism from NYU.
Website
Oliver Evans
Independent
Contributor to the Brain Emulation Report.
Ons M'Saad
Yale / Panluminate
Developer of pan-Expansion Microscopy (pan-ExM), enabling light microscopy comparable to electron microscopy.
LinkedIn
Patrick Mineault
Amaranth Foundation
NeuroAI Lead. Founding CTO of Neuromatch Academy. Former positions at Google, Meta, and Mila.
Website
Quilee Simeon
MIT Boyden Lab
PhD Candidate specializing in multimodal neural data modeling using transformer architectures.
Website
Richie Kohman
Eon Systems PBC
Former CSO at Wyss Center. Co-led the IARPA MICrONS brain connectomics project.
Website
Srinivas Turaga
HHMI Janelia
Group Leader pioneering AI for connectomics, developing deep neural networks for brain connectivity mapping.
Janelia
Tomaso Poggio
MIT CBMM
Founder of computational neuroscience. Students include Demis Hassabis (DeepMind) and Christof Koch (Allen Institute).
MIT
Viren Jain
Google Research
Leads Google Connectomics Team. Key contributions to the 1.4 petabyte human brain connectome (2024).
Website
Xander Balwit
Asimov Press
Editor-in-Chief. Science writer specializing in biotechnology and brain research, including connectomics.
Asimov
Yangning Lu
MIT Boyden Lab
Develops expansion microscopy and dense membrane labeling techniques for ultrastructure visualization.
MIT
Zeguan Wang
MIT Boyden Lab
Specializes in whole-brain voltage imaging at 200.8 Hz across entire larval zebrafish brains.
MIT
Robert Bolkow
Independent
Contributor to the Brain Emulation Report.