Chen Institute Holidays Update!



	中文

Dear Friends,

Happy Holidays to everyone. It’s hard to believe that another year has passed us by but what a year it was! We have so much to celebrate with you. For example, we just closed the applications portal for the inaugural “Chen Institute and Science Prize for AI Accelerated Research.” This exciting prize seeks innovative applications of AI in life or physical sciences. Winners will be announced mid-2025.

We also co-organized two very successful meetings in Shanghai. In November, we held the “Chen Institute and Science Joint Conference on AI & Mental Health” and in December, the “BCI Society | Chen Institute Joint BCI Conference.” Top speakers and engaged audiences resulting in a dynamic international conversation.

Finally, we were so happy to host our first cohort of Chen Scholars at our first Chen Scholars Retreat this October in Boston. The program supports physician scientists who are using AI to improve patient diagnosis and care.

As you scroll through the news below you’ll see even more interesting awards, research and news. It’s been a great year and we couldn’t be happier.

Thank you for your ongoing support and our best wishes to you for a Happy Holiday season.

Warmly,

Tianqiao Chen Chrissy Luo

Bringing the Global Community Together

Top International BCI Academic Conference Held in Asia for the First Time

The Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute and the BCI Society announced held the BCI Society & Chen Institute Joint BCI Meeting on Dec 6-7 in Shanghai, China, marking the first time that the world’s top academic conference in the field of brain-computer interfaces was held in Asia 25 years after its inception.

Chen Institute and Science Hold Innovative Conference in Shanghai Spotlighting Latest Developments in “Artificial Intelligence and Mental Health”

On Nov 7-8, 2024 in Shanghai, China, The Chen Institute and Science held the second of their annual conference series focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI). The meeting was co-hosted by Shanghai Mental Health Center.

TCCI News

Chen Institute Launches AI Talent Initiative to Find Global Leaders  in “AI for Science”

The Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute has unveiled its AI Talent Initiative, an ambitious program aimed at finding and fostering future leaders in AI-driven scientific research. This initiative offers a unique platform for aspiring talent to push the boundaries of research, collaborating with some of the world’s top scientists to advance the deep integration of AI within the scientific field. Participants will have a unique opportunity to become pioneers in the emerging “AI for Science” field.

The Tianqiao & Chrissy Chen Institute’s OMNE Framework for Long-term AI Memory Claims Top Spot on GAIA Leaderboard

Drawing on their deep knowledge of the brain and memory, the Chen Institute’s internal AI team achieved a major breakthrough in artificial intelligence, with their self-developed OMNE Multiagent Framework which took the top position on the GAIA (General AI Assistants) benchmark leaderboard (https://huggingface.co/spaces/gaia-benchmark/leaderboard), published by Hugging Face. This achievement builds on years of brain research at TCCI, equipping agents with Long-Term Memory (LTM) capabilities, which enable the framework to engage in deeper, slower thinking and enhance the decision-making capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) in complex problem-solving.

BBE Researchers Receive NIH Award for Transformative Research

An interdisciplinary team of Caltech researchers received an NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award from their Health’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program. Co-principal investigators on the award include Michael Elowitz, the Roscoe Gilkey Dickinson Professor of Biology and Bioengineering and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; and Lior Pachter, Bren Professor of Computational Biology and Computing and Mathematical Sciences; and Carlos Lois, research professor of biology. All three are affiliated faculty members with the TCCI for Neuroscience at Caltech.

Joe Parker Named MacArthur Fellow

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has selected Joe Parker, assistant professor of biology and biological engineering, Chen Scholar, and director of Caltech’s Center for Evolutionary Science, as a 2024 MacArthur Fellow. The MacArthur Fellowship is an $800,000, “no strings attached” grant awarded to individuals in a variety of fields who have shown “exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits.”

SfN Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Young Investigator Award: Nicholas Bellono and Catherine Jensen Peña

The SfN Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Young Investigator Award recognizes the outstanding achievements and contributions by young neuroscientists who lead independent research groups. The award is supported by TCCI and includes a $25,000 prize shared by the recipients. This year’s recipients are Nicholas Bellono, PhD, and Catherine Jensen Peña, PhD. Both researchers apply interdisciplinary approaches to basic-science investigations of how neural pathways in the brain are affected by factors in an organism’s environment.

AAAS/Science and Chen Institute inaugurate new prize recognizing innovative applications of AI techniques

In collaboration with the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is announcing the establishment of the Chen Institute and Science Prize for Al Accelerated Research. Winners have their work published in Science and will receive cash prizes. Applications recently closed and winners will be announced in July 2025.

Meeting Reports

Boston, October 7, 2024

Inaugural Chen Scholars Retreat

Supporting The Community

Second Annual N.E.W. Conference Brings Together Neuroscientists from Around the World

For the second year, the Neurophotonics Center cohosted the Neuroscience of the Everyday World conference alongside the Center for Brain Recovery and Hariri Institute, sponsored by the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute on August 26 and 27, 2024. This two-day conference featured presentations, panels, and posters showing neuroscience across the ages––literally.

December 09-15, 2024

NeurIPS 2024

December 06-07, 2024

BCI Society – Chen Institute Joint BCI Meeting

November 07-08, 2024

2024 AI and Mental Health

October 16, 2024

Mass General Research Institute and Chen Institute Joint Symposium

October 05-09, 2024

Neuroscience 2024

September 29, 2024 - October 04, 2024

The 18th European Conference on Computer Vision ECCV 2024

September 22-26, 2024

2024 Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Joint Symposium

August 26-27, 2024

Neuroscience of the Everyday World Conference 2024

RESEARCH

Thinking Slowly: The Paradoxical Slowness of Human Behavior

Caltech researchers have quantified the speed of human thought: a rate of 10 bits per second. However, our bodies’ sensory systems gather data about our environments at a rate of a trillion bits per second, which is 100 million times faster than our thought processes. This new study in Neuron , “The Unbearable Slowness of Being: Why do we live at 10 bits/s?” raises major new avenues of exploration for neuroscientists, in particular: Why can we only think one thing at a time while our sensory systems process thousands of inputs at once?

New Study Demonstrates How Autonomic Neurons Control Digestive Functions

The autonomic nervous system orchestrates the functions of internal organs such as the heart and gut, serving as a connection between the brain and the rest of the body. It is classified in two divisions—the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, often described as the body’s accelerator and brake, respectively. Now, a new study called, “Organ-specific Sympathetic Innervation Defines Visceral Functions” from Caltech published in the journal Nature uncovers diverse neuron populations within the sympathetic nervous system and reveals how they control visceral functions in an organ-specific manner.

Decoding the Hidden Signals of Aggression and Arousal in the Brain

A series of three papers from neuroscientist David J. Anderson’s laboratory, two in the journal Nature and one in the journal Cell, reveal new insights into the neural signals underlying internal emotional states including aggression and sexual arousal. The studies show that the state of aggression in male mice and the state of arousal in female mice are both encoded by a common type of signal in the brain.

Thalamic transcranial ultrasound stimulation in treatment resistant depression

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disability worldwide with one-third of cases being treatment resistant. Symptom heterogeneity suggests variability across affected brain networks, prompting efforts to personalize circuit-based neuromodulatory interventions. Preliminary studies suggest that Transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) applied to classical TMS and DBS targets can improve anxiety, worry, avoidance and mood. To examine whether dynamically steered TUS may identify personalized therapeutic subregions in MDD, Chen Scholar, Joline M. Fan at UCSF worked with fellow researchers to employ a dual-phased array crossbeam focusing to stimulate subcortical mood-related circuitry.

Emerging Wearable Technologies Enhance Multisystem Monitoring and Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD), affecting nearly 90,000 people annually in the U.S., is difficult to diagnose and treat due to its variable symptoms. Wearable technologies are emerging as powerful tools for monitoring PD symptoms, both motor and nonmotor, outside clinical settings. These devices track symptom progression more effectively than traditional methods, offering real-time data on motor dysfunction, cognitive decline, gastrointestinal issues, and autonomic irregularities. For example, sensors can measure gait and tremors, while others track cognitive function and GI motility. Wearables provide objective, continuous data, potentially leading to earlier diagnosis, improved clinical trial assessments, and personalized treatment plans, ultimately enhancing the quality of life for PD patients.

Bringing Wearables from Bench to Bedside

Stanford University’s Professor Zhenan Bao developed a skin-like, wearable pressure sensor capable of non-invasively measuring vital signs such as blood pressure and pulse. To bring this innovation from lab to market, she co-founded PyrAmes Inc. with Dr. Xina Quan, who enhanced the device using machine learning algorithms and optimized its design for clinical use. Collaborating with neonatologist Dr. Anoop Rao, they validated the sensor’s effectiveness in critically ill infants. In September 2023, their Boppli® platform received FDA clearance for continuous, non-invasive blood pressure monitoring in neonates.

TCCI Original Content, Written for TCCI by Science Writer, Ben Whitford

Is Background Noise the Key to Beating Alzheimer’s?

The article discusses the innovative SoundMind project, led by Dr. Alexander Khalil and Dr. Gráinne McLoughlin, which explores the use of Augmented Audio Reality (AAR) to treat neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. The project was inspired by Khalil’s experience with his father, who had dementia. Khalil developed an AAR algorithm that subtly alters background noise to induce neuromodulation—a process that helps rewire the brain’s electrical rhythms. Supported by the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute, SoundMind aims to create wearable technologies that could slow or even reverse Alzheimer’s progression by continuously delivering therapeutic audio stimuli. Initial findings are promising, and future plans include clinical trials and potential applications for broader conditions and devices.

To Turbo-Charge Scientific Discovery, Researchers Are Turning to AI 

AI is revolutionizing scientific discovery, enabling breakthroughs that would have taken decades to achieve. Researchers are now using AI to tackle complex problems like protein engineering, material synthesis, and understanding brain function. For example, AI-powered tools have been crucial in developing next-generation vaccines and exploring neural mechanisms in both artificial and biological systems. The Chen Institute & Science Prize for AI-Accelerated Research recognizes early-career scientists pushing the boundaries of knowledge with AI. Supported by TCCI, this award aims to accelerate AI’s transformative potential across various scientific fields, offering $50,000 in prizes to encourage young researchers to explore new frontiers in life and physical sciences.

Will AI Help Solve the Global Mental Health Crisis?

The global mental health crisis leaves over two-thirds of affected individuals untreated. AI technologies are emerging as transformative tools in addressing this issue. At Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, AI analyzes linguistic patterns to identify suicidality with 90% accuracy and detect anxiety months earlier than traditional methods. Dr. Frederike Petzschner of Brown University highlights AI’s potential to provide personalized care and enhance treatment predictions. Advanced platforms like Woebot and Happify deliver AI-driven cognitive therapy and mindfulness exercises. However, challenges persist in building robust datasets, as psychiatry lacks clear diagnostic biomarkers, limiting AI’s ability to fully integrate into mental health care solutions.