Whole brain insights in Harvard findings

Monday, July 10, 2017 - 10:22 in Biology & Nature

Scientists appear closer than ever to unlocking the black box that is the brain, and they’re doing it with the help of a fish less than half an inch long. Led by Jeff Lichtman, the Jeremy R. Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Santiago Ramon y Cajal Professor of Arts and Sciences, Florian Engert, a professor of molecular and cellular biology, and David Hildebrand, a postdoctoral fellow in Engert’s lab, a team of researchers has imaged every neuron in the brain of a larval zebrafish at nanoscale resolution. The breakthrough, described in a May paper in the journal Nature, will allow detailed investigation of how stimuli are processed by the brain and give rise to specific behaviors, the researchers said. Fundamentally speaking, Hildebrand said, the study serves as a proof of concept for a new approach to nanoscale brain imaging — by making some sacrifices in resolution, the team was able...

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