Mapping the brain at high resolution
Researchers have developed a new way to image the brain with unprecedented resolution and speed. Using this approach, they can locate individual neurons, trace connections between them, and visualize organelles inside neurons, over large volumes of brain tissue. The new technology combines a method for expanding brain tissue, making it possible to image at higher resolution, with a rapid 3-D microscopy technique known as lattice light-sheet microscopy. In a paper appearing in Science Jan. 17, the researchers showed that they could use these techniques to image the entire fruit fly brain, as well as large sections of the mouse brain, much faster than has previously been possible. The team includes researchers from MIT, the University of California at Berkeley, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital. This technique allows researchers to map large-scale circuits within the brain while also offering unique insight into individual neurons’ functions, says Edward...