Background
The THOR Center for Neuroinformatics was established April 1998 at
the Department of Mathematical Modelling, Technical University of
Denmark. Besides pursuing independent research goals, the
THOR Center hosts a number of related projects concerning neural
networks, functional neuroimaging, multimedia signal processing,
and biomedical signal processing.
The Center is funded by the Danish Research Councils through
the THOR plan for
Technology by Highly Oriented Research
 .
The THOR Center
was established in collaboration with Professor Olaf B. Paulson,
Neurobiological Research Unit, Rigshospitalet and the Danish Center
for Magnetic Resonance, Hvidovre Hospital, and Professor
Benny Lautrup,
Computational Neural Network Center (CONNECT), Niels
Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.
Neuroinformatics is a research field rooted in classical disciplines
like signal processing, biology, physics, computer science and engineering.
Neuroinformatics combines learning from the brain and learning about
the brain. By studying information processing in the brain
neuroinformatics invents new computing paradigms (e.g., artificial
neural networks) with the objective of understanding the dynamics of the
conscious mind.
Neuroinformatics is a key component of a US research program, the
Human Brain Project
which is supported by all the major American
governmental funding agencies and hosted by the National Institute of
Health. The geographically and scientifically distributed nature of
the collaborating research groups involved in this interdisciplinary
neuroscience effort calls for new visual and interactive means of
communication. A point strongly emphasized in this program is the
need for using the World Wide Web for communication and dissemination
of results. Scientific uses of multimedia techniques are now
beginning to appear.
Artificial neural networks is an
active neuroinformatics research field, which
combines many approaches to adaptive signal processing in solving
real world problems. Our first experience with neural nets dates
back to an industrial application in 1987. In 1989 we began using
neural networks for general nonlinear adaptive signal processing.
Since 1991 the CONNECT groups have
participated in the development of neural computing as an advanced, non-linear
statistical tool, which has been applied to forecasting within dynamical systems,
pattern recognition, and medical image analysis, particularly functional
neuroimages.
While neural computing has largely been viewed as a black box
approach, we have initiated research aimed at opening this black box,
using hypertext, multimedia, and interactivity. Our key objective is
to convert abstract models into intuitive knowledge through
interactive visualization.
Glossary
- Neuroinformatics:
- Research field that develops informatics
tools inspired by the brain and applies these to the study of the brain.
-
- Neural Networks:
- Information processing in large networks of simple computers.
-
- Bio-medical signal processing:
- Algorithms and systems for understanding biological signals.
-
- THOR:
- What is THOR ?
Major research grants
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like signal processing, biology, physics, computer science and engineering.
Neuroinformatics combines learning from the brain and learning about
the brain. By studying information processing in the brain
neuroinformatics invents new computing paradigms (e.g., artificial
neural networks) with the objective of understanding the dynamics of the
conscious mind.
combines many approaches to adaptive signal processing in solving
real world problems. Our first experience with neural nets dates
back to an industrial application in 1987. In 1989 we began using
neural networks for general nonlinear adaptive signal processing.
Since 1991 the CONNECT groups have
participated in the development of neural computing as an advanced, non-linear
statistical tool, which has been applied to forecasting within dynamical systems,
pattern recognition, and medical image analysis, particularly functional
neuroimages.
