The California budget signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on June 20 created a statewide research grants program called Cal-BRAIN, an initiative led by UC San Diego. With an initial allocation of $2 million, Cal-BRAIN—short for California Blueprint for Research to Advance Innovations in Neuroscience—is a state complement to the federal BRAIN Initiative announced by President Barack Obama in April 2013. It aims to accelerate the development of brain mapping techniques, including the development of new technologies.

UC San Diego now will lead the state effort to revolutionize understanding of the brain and the diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders of all kinds. By improving the ability to see what goes on in the brain in much greater detail and at a much faster timescale, UC San Diego aims to make discoveries around autism, Alzheimer's, PTSD and other behavioral health issues and injuries.

UC San Diego will guide the collaboration among the UC campuses and currently is discussing a significant financial investment of non-state, university resources in Cal-BRAIN.

Ralph Greenspan, director of UC San Diego's Center for Brain Activity Mapping, established at the university in May 2013, is co-author with Paul Alivisatos, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, of a proposal to the University of California Office of the President and to the state legislature that served as a blueprint for the bill just signed into law.

The proposal calls for organizational hubs in southern and northern California, at UC San Diego and Berkeley Lab, to coordinate research activities, facilitate communication and seek additional funds from private and industry partners.

Both Cal-BRAIN and the national initiative are expected to spur not only a new academic discipline but also a new industry cluster of "neurotechnology." And the tools and inventions needed for mapping the brain also likely will have broad applications to a range of disease monitoring beyond the brain and even to fields beyond health.

"UC San Diego's leadership role in Cal-BRAIN is of vital importance—not only to the university and the San Diego region but for the state as a whole," said UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. "We will be developing the next technology cluster in 'neurotech' just as we did in high-tech, clean-tech and more, creating high paying jobs and world renowned results. I am confident that, with our strengths in neuroscience and biotechnology in San Diego, we will be producing ground-breaking research with significant social impacts."