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Recent years have witnessed the launch of several large-scale national and international initiatives that aim to transform our understanding of brain structure and function through collaborative research and the development and implementation of state-of-the-art neurotechnology. These projects are likely to have wide-ranging influences on all aspects of neuroscientific research, from its organization to its funding. Nature Reviews Neuroscience presents a series of Comment articles in which leading neuroscientists provide their thoughts on the issues, challenges and opportunities that these initiatives present.
Sean Hill explains why the growing importance of data-intensive neuroscience makes it crucial for the community to establish minimal metadata standards
Churchland and Sejnowski consider how the BRAIN Initiative will bring together theoretical and experimental neuroscience to drive the development of conceptual frameworks of brain function.
James Olds argues that gaining a true understanding of brain structure and function will require neuroscientists to adopt a team-based approach to research and considers some of the challenges that this presents for the field.