Six years and 32 million cells later, scientists have created the first full cellular map of a mammalian brain.
In a set of 10 papers in Nature today, a network of researchers unveiled an atlas cataloging the location and type of every cell in the adult mouse brain. Using advanced technologies that profile individual cells, the teams identified over 5,300 cell types – far more than known before – and pinpointed their locations within the brain’s intricate geography.
The collective work is a capstone for the National Institutes of Health’s BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network, or BICCN. Hundreds of researchers contributed to the project, which was funded by the NIH’s Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative, or The BRAIN Initiative®.
Additional coverage of these findings: