EBRAINS showcases Brain Twin Technologies and Digital Neuroscience Tools at OHBM 2026

The 2026 Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) took place from June 14–18, 2026, at the Palais 2 l'Atlantique in Bordeaux, France and welcomed more than 3,000 attendees from nearly 40 different countries.  

EBRAINS participated in the event, engaging with the international brain mapping community and showcasing the latest developments in digital neuroscience, brain modelling and personalised medicine. Through its exhibition booth and scientific programme contributions, EBRAINS highlighted the services, tools and research advances available through its digital research infrastructure for neuroscience.

A highlight of the conference was the keynote lecture "From Brain Maps to Brain Twins" delivered by EBRAINS Chief Science Officer and Virtual Brain Twin (VBT) Coordinator Prof. Viktor Jirsa on 18 June. The presentation demonstrated how virtual brain twins combine multimodal neuroimaging, mechanistic brain models and advanced inference methods to create personalised and clinically actionable models of brain function. Using the Virtual Epileptic Patient (VEP) as a key example, Jirsa illustrated how brain twin technologies are supporting clinical decision-making and are being deployed through EBRAINS. 

Clinical applications of brain twin technologies were further explored by Dr. Huifang Wang in her session "Advanced Virtual Brain Twins for Clinical Applications" on Wednesday, 17 June.

Throughout the conference, researchers from the VBT project engaged participants through hands-on demonstrations at the EBRAINS booth:

Visitors had the opportunity to discover the Open Science Tools and Services available on EBRAINS infrastructure through a series of demonstrations led by researchers from the VBT project, as well as to learn about the EBRAINS-coordinated projects – EBRAINS 2.0 that is advancing the development and delivery of the infrastructure’s research technologies to the scientific community and the Virtual Brain Twin, which aims to optimise treatment for psychiatric conditions through an innovative multiscale brain modelling approach.

The demonstrations introduced the concept of Virtual Brain Twins, were presented by Camille Mazzara and Giacomo Preti from Viktor Jirsa 's team and showcased applications for personalised treatment strategies in schizophrenia and epilepsy, and provided hands-on experiences with The Virtual Brain platform - with a special emphasis on tools for modelling and simulation like The Virtual Brain. 

Together, these activities generated strong interest from the researchers and clinicians seeking advanced approaches for modelling, simulation and personalised neuroscience, and provided opportunities to discuss the future role of brain twins in research and precision medicine.

The conference provided an important opportunity to engage with the global neuroimaging and brain mapping community, strengthen collaborations and demonstrate how EBRAINS and the Virtual Brain Twin project are advancing the use of personalised brain models for research, clinical decision support and precision medicine.

Reflecting on the event, Prof. Viktor Jirsa commented: 

"OHBM 2026 in Bordeaux was fantastic with stunning science, where AI played a dominant role, clearly changing the way we do research."

EBRAINS hopes to see you at OHBM 2027 in Toronto, Canada!