Making the Connections: Reconstructing Biosystems From the Outside In
Flow State Researchers use diffusion-spectrum MRI to generate images of the brain's complex system of neural axons. The device does not capture the fleshy material itself but rather the water within it. The bundles show how subdivisions of the brain connect. Courtesy Van Wedeen/Ruopeng Wang at Martinos Center/MGH/Harvard/MIT/Patric Hagmann/CHUV/EPFLThe human genome was just the start In 2003, scientists with the Human Genome Project announced the completion of their 13-year effort to identify the three billion base pairs that form the chemical rungs in DNA's signature twisted-ladder shape. This first attempt to create a comprehensive map of a human biological system was more than just a breakthrough for geneticists, though. It also marked the launch of a new era of "-omic"-based research, in which biologists began shifting their attention from the individual parts within a system to studying the system itself. "The Human Genome Project has given us a foundational change in the...