Convergent evidence has shown that brain functions can manifest on brain networks on different scales and brain malfunctions caused with most psychiatric disorders are faulty brain networks. In order to understand how the brain works and the pathophysiological mechanism of psychiatric disorders, it is necessary to integrate the multi-level network features obtained with various functional and anatomical brain imaging technologies on different scales. We proposed the brainnetome (brain-net-ome, www.brainnetome.org) as a new “-ome” in which the brain network is the basic research unit to investigate the hierarchy in human brain from genetics and neuronal circuits to behaviors. Since the two components of the brainnetome, nodes and their connections, can be defined at different scales with different techniques, the brainnetome is as complex as any other –ome, such as the genome and proteome. We define the essential components of brainnetome as network topological structure (connectome), performance, dynamics, manifestation of functions and malfunctions of brain on different scales, genetic basis of brain networks, and simulation and modeling brain networks on supercomputing facilities. It envisions that brainnetome will become an emerging co-frontier of brain imaging, information technology, neurology and psychiatry. Some long-standing issues in neuropsychiatry may be solved by combining brainnetome with genome.

The Second Symposium on Brainnetome Meets Genome (SBMG’2013) will be held on September 12-13, 2013, Beijing, China. It will be hosted by Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The aim of this symposium is to bring together experts in neuroimaging, network neuroscience, neuroscience methodology and experimental neuroscience with a special interest in understanding the relationships between brain networks, brain functions and malfunctions, and risk genes of neuropsychiatric diseases. The main topics are as follows:

• Structural Connectivity: From Micro to Macro
• Brain Connectivity Methods
• How Genes Modulated Cognitive Networks
• How Risk Genes of Neuropsychiatric Diseases Affects Brain Networks
• Clinical Applications of Brain Connectivity
• New Findings from GWAS 

The symposium is organized by Brainnetome Center of CASIA, Sino-Australian Laboratory of Brainnetome, and the Chinese Brainnetome Society. It is sponsored by the National Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.