Researchers get detailed images of every brain cell

Researchers at Columbia University and the Icahn School of Medicine began a project where they

will create a map of the entire human brain,including more than 180 billion organ cells. These data will help scientists understand the connection between the brain and human behavior and emotions both during illness and in health.

“We are developing technologies that will helpto make high-speed large-scale imaging of tens or even hundreds of human organs in the next five years. The unprecedented volumes of data that we hope to obtain should open the way to previously inaccessible knowledge about the human brain, ”the researchers note.

The team doesn't just want to count the cells. They want to create a map of the brain that will show the variety of different types of cells that make up the brain.

“We know that the brain contains billions of neurons,but there are many different subtypes of neurons, the scientists note. “We want to know how many there are, how they are organized, and how they differ in different areas of the brain and in different people.”

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But the brain is made up of more than just neurons. Its structure includes other types of cells, all of which are needed for normal brain function and contain important clues about what goes wrong in diseases.

“To make these datasets truly useful, we need to find a way to capture as much information as possible in whole-brain scans,” the scientists add. 

For this brain research project, theydevelop another new microscopy technique. It's called Human Brain Optimized Light Sheet Microscopy (HOLiS). The team chose this name to emphasize the importance of holistic imaging and analysis of the entire human brain of each individual.

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