Join us on March 26th for an evening symposium organized around the rapidly developing field of foundation models for the brain.

This research area and its application spaces are moving fast, but continue to develop under very practical constraints across hardware, data, and real-world systems: what neural data is realistically available, what today's sensing can and can't capture, where the true bottlenecks are, and where the next improvements need to come from.

The evening brings together a multidisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners approaching the problem from distinct angles, spanning neural sensing, recording, and modeling through to real-world deployment, for two moderated panels and a closing reception with attendee-led discussion tables.

About the discussion tables At registration, you'll have the option to propose a topic for the closing discussion tables. Proposals can be as focused or exploratory as you like: a specific open problem, a methodological tension, or a question the field isn't discussing enough. We'll organize tables around what comes up and let accepted proposers know in advance so they can prepare.

Program

5:00 — Welcome and drinks

5:20 — Opening remarks Margot Hanley (NeuroNYC) · Peter Zhegin (e184)

5:30 — Panel 1: Original approaches and where progress is bottlenecked Moderated by Patrick Mineault (Amaranth Foundation). Vinay Jayaram (Alljoined) · Andreas Tolias (Stanford) · John Crary (Mount Sinai) · Liam Paninski (Columbia) · Cole Hurwitz (IBM) · Marcelo Mattar (NYU) · David Moses (UCSF)

6:05 — Break

6:20 — Panel 2: From research to real-world systems Moderated by Sean Escola (Protocol Labs)· Dimitris Sakellariou (Piramidal) · Mariam Khayretdinova (Brainify) · Qingyu Zhao (Weill Cornell) · Joe Futoma (Oura) · Eric Trautmann (Meta Reality Labs) · Surya Ganguli (Stanford, General Catalyst)

7:05 — Keynote: Andreas Tolias (Stanford)

7:30 — Closing perspective: Peter Zhegin (e184)

7:40-9 — Discussion tables and reception

Hosted by e184 × NeuroNYC, with Brown Rudnick as venue partner. Space is limited.

Foundation Models for the Brain | An Evening Symposium