It's good that they are still trying. It would be really nice to know how biological neurons really work. That it's so hard, even with the connectome available indicates something important.
I used to think Open Worm was going to be a big deal. Top-down AI seemed to be stuck during the AI Winter. But machine learning got unstuck and Open Worm is still stuck.
When last time I hear about the neuron simulation project, they can not get new budget.