Barack Obama unveils $100mln brain mapping initiative to battle Alzheimer's

The Obama administration is set to announce a 100 million dollars effort to map the human brain in hopes of discovering new ways to treat Alzheimer's, epilepsy and other brain injuries and diseases.

President Barack Obama formally unveiled the project that he promised in the State of the Union.

According to Politico, in the speech, Obama said that it was time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race.

The BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative is funded by about 100 million dollars in the president's 2014 budget, which will be unveiled later this month.

The National Institutes of Health plan to spend about 40 million dollars, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to spend 50 million dollars and the National Science Foundation 20 million dollars, the report said.

Four private foundations and institutions have also pledged to support the BRAIN Initiative's work.