Scientists from Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have created a perfect “atlas” of mouse brain, which could theoretically give geneticists more precise details on cells, their functions, and their particular locations. The research is hoped to lead to human brain discoveries that could lead to more effective treatment of a multitude of brain-related disorders.
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It’s a mind map – literally. American scientists have created a comprehensive ‘atlas’ of a mouse brain and they say one for the human organ isn’t far behind.
The map separates thousands of cell populations across the mouse brain and is believed to have successfully imaged around 90% of all cell types found within the animal’s ‘grey matter’.
Creating an ‘atlas’ for a mouse brain provides geneticists with a useful tool to identify cells for further study – including neurotransmitters and disease-causing genes – and where they are located in the brain.
The team from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in the US used spatial transcriptomics – a process that identifies the protein-making genes within an organism’s genome and plots their location – using a technique developed in the lead authors’ laboratories.