Havana, March 1 (RHC)-- Cuba, China and Canada will join forces to develop new brain maps. The initiative emerged from a recent meeting on the issue at Cuba's Neuroscience Center (Cneuro).

Dr. Pedro Valdés Sosa, Coordinator of the Cuban Human Brain Mapping Project, started over a decade ago, told the press that among agreements adopted at the meeting, one stands out that will provide for joint research over the next three years on the early detection and management of brain aging. Another agreement provides for academic exchanges.

Notable attendees at the Havana meeting included Christine ST-Pierre, Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie of Quebec; Xiuping Liu, a member of the  National Natural Science Foundation of China and Maryse Lassonde, Scientific Director of the Quebec Natural Sciences and Technology Granting Agency and President of the Royal Society of Canada.

According to the definition established in 2013 by the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT), brain mapping is specifically defined, in summary, as the study of the anatomy and function of the brain and spinal cord through the use of imaging, immunohistochemistry, molecular and optogenetics, stem cell and cellular biology, engineering, neurophysiology and nanotechnology.