Learning from Primates

As explorers, we like to create maps of the worlds we discover. To better understand the world within our heads, an ambition for neuroscientists has been to map the architecture of the human brain and its connections. The brains of other mammals have already been tackled, but the recently created 3D model of the marmoset brain may provide us with a new level of detail. Based on several entire brains, the map was created by combining experimental and computational methods (pictured are connections in different colours, overlaid on MRI scans). With a smaller size and flatter surface than the brain of other primates the team could map marmoset brain neural connections with an unprecedented high level of detail. Similarities between the marmoset brain and our own, mean this new method and dataset could help us learn more about the complexity of human brain connectivity and how it’s affected by disease.

Written by Gaëlle Coullon

Gaëlle Coullon

Writer

Gaëlle is a consultant and trainer in research communication and commercialisation. As an ex-neuroscientist, she is always looking for new ways to combine her love of writing with everything brain related.

• Image from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, NY, USA
• Research from the RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako, Japan and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, NY, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in eLife, February 2019