'First Comprehensive Gene Map' of the Brain Shows How Genes Express Themselves Neurologically
The Allen Institute for Brain Science has completed what it is calling the first comprehensive gene map of the human brain as part of its development of the Allen Human Brain Atlas, a public resource that it hopes will accelerate clinical understandings of how the human brain works. The genetic mapping of two human brains showed a striking 94 percent similarity between the two, which could help researchers establish patterns and otherwise figure out in which parts of our brains to look for different expressions of genetic differences. The idea behind the brain atlas is to develop a tool that researchers can access to determine how the genome is expressed in the brain, a process which is--needless to say--complex. Over four years, the ABI crunched more than 100 million data points to pinpoint 1,000 different anatomical sites in the brain that exhibit particular gene expression. Related ArticlesIBM Researchers Create the Most Detailed...