A major research initiative has catalogued thousands of types of brain cells and where they are located, producing a resource that should help study neurological diseases in fine detail
By Clare Wilson
12 October 2023
PET scans of a human brain
Utthapon wiratepsupon/Shutterstock
Researchers have drawn up the most detailed description ever created of the human brain, based on the thousands of different cell types that make it up.
The human brain cell atlas is a series of data sets about the various cell types within the brain and where they are located, defining this complex organ in more precise genetic and molecular detail than ever before.
The data comes from samples taken from deceased adults and children and from embryos and fetuses during pregnancy. The donors include some individuals who have certain medical conditions and others who don’t.
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Samples from chimpanzees, gorillas and monkeys have also been included in order to shed light on brain evolution.
The resource has been compared to the enormous effort that went into the Human Genome Project, which led to multiple medical advances.
It is designed to lay the groundwork for further research into conditions that affect the brain, including neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, as well as mental health problems such as depression and schizophrenia. “If you’re going to explore a new country, you need a map so you know where you’re going,” says Sten Linnarsson at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.