Cezary Mazurek
Title
Europe’s Digital Infrastructure – key enablers for transdisciplinary collaboration in brain science
Abstract
EBRAINS is a new digital research infrastructure, created as a result of the EU-funded Human Brain Project, which brings together a wide range of data and tools for brain-related research. It builds on the latest related advances in neuroscience, computer science, robotics and related technologies to help harness the latest scientific discoveries for medical and industrial innovation, for the benefit of patients and society.
The global challenge of neurodegenerative diseases today, which is closely linked to the problem of aging populations, is making global scientific policy increasingly focused on brain research and the dissemination of knowledge regarding the health of this most important organ for humans. These efforts have resulted in the initiation of an international partnership for brain health, in which Poland also plans to play an important role.
Polish scientists, clinicians and experts in cutting-edge information technology have already responded to this challenge by joining the EBRAINS European Association and establishing the EBRAINS-PL consortium, which included 19 Polish organizations (including SBŁ-PORT). Brain functions such as memory, attention, concentration, language and verbal communication arise from multi-level interaction and as a result of processes occurring at multiple levels of brain structure simultaneously.
Therefore, advances in understanding brain function are only possible with the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing or advanced multi-scale simulations. The presentation will provide insight into the features of digital infrastructure and examples of scenarios for its use in neuroscience.
Biography
Dr. Cezary Mazurek (PSNC – Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center) for over 30 years of professional activity has been involved in the development of Polish and European e-Infrastructure for science as well as in research and development focused on advancement of ICT technologies and their applications. He has participated in many national and international R&D projects.
His R&D work has focused on integrating various specialized software components into consistent systems for scientific experiments as well as into network services for end users. In recent years, he has been involved in the development of domain research infrastructures, such as for digital humanities, as well as for personalized medicine.
Cezary’s scientific activities mainly focus on applying machine learning methods to the diagnosis and early detection of risk factors underlying disease development. The greatest practical impact he achieved in the development of intelligent decision support technology for the functional diagnosis and therapy of glaucomatous neuropathy.
He is currently extending his interests to advanced methods of data collection and analysis in a digital twin model. He is author or co-author of over 100 papers in professional journals and conference proceedings. Since 2023 the member of GÉANT Association Board of Directors. In 2024 he initiated the establishment of a national consortium EBRAINS-PL and became the member of EBRAINS National Node Board. IEEE Senior Member, member of Computer Society as well as Computational Intelligence Society.