Circuit Neuroscience: The Road Ahead

It is difficult to write about grand challenges in our field without pontificating or pretending to show a degree of certainty in assessing the field that I do not possess. I would rather comment on a few of the issues that particularly worry me. Therefore, this article is just a snapshot of our field now, as I see it, and encourage readers to read it as the opinion of just one of their colleagues. My comments are aimed at Circuit Neuroscience. What exactly is Circuit Neuroscience? As stated in the mission statement of Frontiers in Neural Circuits, I follow the definition of Circuit Neuroscience as the understanding of the computational function of neural circuits, linking this function with the circuit micro-structure. Within this field, I will address three different types of challenges: scientific, methodological and sociological ones.