Obama seeks $100M to study the brain

WASHINGTON (CNN) -

President Barack Obama on Tuesday unveiled a $100 million initiative to unlock the "enormous mystery" of the human brain in hopes of boosting the understanding and treatment of brain disorders.

"What if computers could respond to our thoughts? Or language barriers could come tumbling down? Or if millions of Americans were suddenly finding new jobs in these fields -- jobs we haven't even dreamt up yet because we chose to invest in this project? That is the future we are imagining. That is what we are hoping for," the president said in an event in the East Room of the White House.

The initiative, dubbed Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, or BRAIN, "aims to help researchers find new ways to treat, cure, and even prevent brain disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury," the White House said in a release issued in advance of the event.

"There is this enormous mystery waiting to be unlocked," Obama said, "and the BRAIN Initiative will change that by giving scientists the tools they need to get a dynamic picture of the brain in action and better understand how we think and how we learn and how we remember. And that knowledge could be -- will be -- transformative."

Obama said he will seek the $100 million funding in the budget he sends to Congress next week. In an environment where both parties are seeking significant spending cuts, the expenditure faces an uncertain reception.

In his remarks, Obama said the funding would be in line with a promise he made earlier this year to increase levels of research.

In his State of the Union address in February, he said, "If we want to make the best products, we also have to invest in the best ideas," and alluded to scientists "mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer's."

The money to study the brain would support research by the National Institutes of Health, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation.

The research would involve both federal research agencies and private partners.

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Obama seeks $100M to study the brain