SAN DIEGO, CA — Researchers are developing a cell atlas — a comprehensive reference of all cell types, including their location, shape, and distribution — for the human brain. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2022, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.
Having a complete cell atlas is critical for observing changes in the brain, such as those caused by disease. A cell atlas for the entire mouse brain, which covers around 100 million cells, was recently developed. Now, the aim is to create an atlas for the non-human primate and human brain, which would cover billions of cells. As the non-human primate and human brains are particularly complex, researchers have developed advanced visualization techniques to catalog brain regions and cell types.
Today’s new findings show that:
"Ultimately the different data sets generated by different methods can be integrated together to provide a comprehensive description of the different properties of the cells that can go into
the same cell atlas," said Hongkui Zeng, director of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. "Ideally, in the end, we're all converging into the same system to make a holistic, complete cell atlas."
This research was supported by national funding agencies including the National Institutes of Health and private funding organizations. Find out more about mapping the brain on BrainFacts.org.
Press Conference Summary
- Each presentation showcases powerful new tools to investigate the nervous system’s complexity. Each tool allows researchers to achieve better resolution or accuracy in their studied neural circuits.
Brain Micro-Anatomy Revealed by 2-Photon Shadow Imaging In Vivo
U. Valentin Nägerl, valentin.nagerl@u-bordeaux.fr, Abstract 577.21
Analyzing the Molecular Basis Underlying Anatomic and Functional Complexity of the Mouse Brain With MERSCOPE™
Jiang He, jiang@vizgen.com, Abstract 083.03
A Whole Mouse Brain Transcriptomic Cell Type Atlas
Zizhen Yao, zizheny@alleninstitute.org, Abstract 684.04
Highly-Multiplexed Single Cell Spatial Biology for Neuroscience Research
Oliver Braubach, obraubach@akoyabio.com, Abstract 083.01
Whole Organ/Body Atlas of Mouse With a Single-Cell Resolution
Hiroki R. Ueda, uedah-tky@umin.ac.jp, Abstract 083.23