The decoding of complex neuronal networks of the brain
In the current special issue of the renowned journal “Science”, Prof. Markus Axer and Prof. Katrin Amunts from the Jülich Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine published a joint paper on connectivity in the brain. An image of the human brain taken by Markus Axer’s team was also chosen as the background image for the foreword of the special issue. The magazine with the review article will be published for the Society for Neuroscience 2022 meeting in November, a conference in San Diego, USA, where around 15,0000 neuroscientists meet every year to discuss the latest scientific developments. (Source: Forschungszentrum Jülich – Press Releases)
“In Science, we explain how our brain is networked, from the contact points of individual nerve cells to the connections between different brain regions – and what methods are needed to understand this nested organization,” explains Katrin Amunts. Important data is provided by a unique method developed by the team in Jülich: so-called three-dimensional polarized light imaging (3D-PLI). It allows the elongated projections of nerve cells, the so-called axons, to be visualized and studied in high resolution.
Detailed information about their course, especially in the human brain, has been lacking until now, but is crucial for the interconnection in the network and its function. 3D-PLI is part of the Julich Brain Atlas, the core of the human brain atlas of the digital research infrastructure EBRAINS, which was created in the Human Brain Project (HBP). EBRAINS brings together data and tools for analyzing and simulating the brain and provides free access to them for researchers worldwide.
The original press release can be found at:
Die Entschlüsselung komplexer neuronaler Netzwerke des Gehirns (only in german)
The original publication can be found at:
M. Axer, K. Amunts, Scale matters: The nested human connectome. Science, 3 Nov 2022, Vo 378, Issue 6619, pp. 500-504, DOI: 10.1126/science.abq2599
Localization in the Helmholtz Research Field Information:
Helmholtz Research Field Information, Joint Lab: Supercomputing and Modeling for the Human Brain (SMHB)
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Katrin Amunts
Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM)
Structural and Functional Organisation of the Brain (INM-1)
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461/61-4300
E-Mail: k.amunts@fz-juelich.de
Prof. Dr. Markus Axer
Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM)
Structural and Functional Organisation of the Brain (INM-1)
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461/61-6314
E-Mail: m.axer@fz-juelich.de
Contact for this press release:
Dr. Lisa Vincenz-Donnelly
Public Relations Officer
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461 61-9335
E-Mail: l.vincenz-donnelly@fz-juelich.de
