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Scientists complete first map of an insect brain
In the quest to understand how we think, 'everything has been working up to this'
Researchers have completed the most advanced brain map to date, that of an insect, a landmark achievement in neuroscience that brings scientists closer to true understanding of the mechanism of thought.
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The international team led by Johns Hopkins University and the University of Cambridge produced a breathtakingly detailed diagram tracing every neural connection in the brain of a larval fruit fly, an archetypal scientific model with brains comparable to humans.
The work, likely to underpin future brain research and to inspire new machine learning architectures, appears today in the journal Science .
"If we want to understand who we are and how we think, part of that is understanding the mechanism of thought," said senior author Joshua T. Vogelstein, a Johns Hopkins biomedical engineer who specializes in data-driven projects including connectomics, the study of nervous system connections. "And the key to that is knowing how neurons connect with each other."
The first attempt at mapping a brain -- a 14-year study of the roundworm begun in the 1970s, resulted in a partial map and a Nobel Prize. Since then, partial connectomes have been mapped in many systems, including flies, mice, and even humans, but these reconstructions typically only represent only a tiny fraction of the total brain. Comprehensive connectomes have only been generated for several small species with a few hundred to a few thousand neurons in their bodies-a roundworm, a larval sea squirt, and a larval marine annelid worm.
This team's connectome of a baby fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster larva, is the most complete as well as the most expansive map of an entire insect brain ever completed. It includes 3,016 neurons and every connection between them: 548,000.
"It's been 50 years and this is the first brain connectome. It's a flag in the sand that we can do this," Vogelstein said. "Everything has been working up to this."
Mapping whole brains is difficult and extremely time-consuming, even with the best modern technology. Getting a complete cellular-level picture of a brain requires slicing the brain into hundreds or thousands of individual tissue samples, all of which have to be imaged with electron microscopes before the painstaking process of reconstructing all those pieces, neuron by neuron, into a full, accurate portrait of a brain. It took more than a decade to do that with the baby fruit fly. The brain of a mouse is estimated to be a million times larger than that of a baby fruit fly, meaning the chance of mapping anything close to a human brain isn't likely in the near future, maybe not even in our lifetimes.
The team purposely chose the fruit fly larva because, for an insect, the species shares much of its fundamental biology with humans, including a comparable genetic foundation. It also has rich learning and decision-making behaviors, making it a useful model organism in neuroscience. And for practical purposes, its relatively compact brain can be imaged and its circuits reconstructed within a reasonable time frame.
Even so, the work took the University of Cambridge and Johns Hopkins 12 years. The imaging alone took about a day per neuron.
Cambridge researchers created the high-resolution images of the brain and manually studied them to find individual neurons, rigorously tracing each one and linking their synaptic connections.
Cambridge handed off the data to Johns Hopkins, where the team spent more than three years using original code they created to analyze the brain's connectivity. The Johns Hopkins team developed techniques to find groups of neurons based on shared connectivity patterns, and then analyzed how information could propagate through the brain.
In the end, the full team charted every neuron and every connection, and categorized each neuron by the role it plays in the brain. They found that the brain's busiest circuits were those that led to and away from neurons of the learning center.
The methods Johns Hopkins developed are applicable to any brain connection project, and their code is available to whoever attempts to map an even larger animal brain, Vogelstein said, adding that despite the challenges, scientists are expected to take on the mouse, possibly within the next decade. Other teams are already working on a map of the adult fruit fly brain. Co-first author Benjamin Pedigo, a Johns Hopkins doctoral candidate in Biomedical Engineering, expects the team's code could help reveal important comparisons between connections in the adult and larval brain. As connectomes are generated for more larva and from other related species, Pedigo expects their analysis techniques could lead to better understanding of variations in brain wiring.
The fruit fly larva work showed circuit features that were strikingly reminiscent of prominent and powerful machine learning architectures. The team expects continued study will reveal even more computational principles and potentially inspire new artificial intelligence systems.
"What we learned about code for fruit flies will have implications for the code for humans," Vogelstein said. "That's what we want to understand -- how to write a program that leads to a human brain network."
Video: https://youtu.be/NXr0ZdoYgRw
Authors included: Michael Winding, Christopher L. Barnes, Heather G. Patsolic, Youngser Park, Tom Kazimiers, Akira Fushiki, Ingrid V. Andrade, Avinash Khandelwal, Javier Valdes-Aleman, Feng Li, Nadine Randel, Elizabeth Barsotti, Ana Correia, Richard D. Fetter, Volker Hartenstein, Carey E. Priebe, Albert Cardona, and Marta Zlatic.
RELATED TOPICS Health & Medicine Nervous System Brain Tumor Psychology Research Birth Defects Mind & Brain Brain-Computer Interfaces Brain Injury Neuroscience Intelligence
RELATED TERMS Inferiority complex Functional neuroimaging Computational neuroscience Cognitive neuroscience Neuroscience Memory Mirror neuron Positron emission tomography
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Story Source:
Materials provided by Johns Hopkins University . Original written by Jill Rosen. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference :
Michael Winding et al. The connectome of an insect brain . Science , 2023 DOI: 10.1126/science.add9330
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Follow: Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. Subscribe: RSS Feeds. advertisement. 2. Scientists complete first map of an insect brain. In the quest to understand how we think, 'everything has been working up to this' Facebook. Twitter. Pinterest. LinkedIN. Email. Researchers have completed the most advanced brain map to date, that of an insect, a landmark achievement in neuroscience that brings scientists closer to true understanding of the mechanism of thought. advertisement. The international team led by Johns Hopkins University and the University of Cambridge produced a breathtakingly detailed diagram tracing every neural connection in the brain of a larval fruit fly, an archetypal scientific model with brains comparable to humans. The work, likely to underpin future brain research and to inspire new machine learning architectures, appears today in the journal Science . "If we want to understand who we are and how we think, part of that is understanding the mechanism of thought," said senior author Joshua T. Vogelstein, a Johns Hopkins biomedical engineer who specializes in data-driven projects including connectomics, the study of nervous system connections. "And the key to that is knowing how neurons connect with each other." The first attempt at mapping a brain -- a 14-year study of the roundworm begun in the 1970s, resulted in a partial map and a Nobel Prize. Since then, partial connectomes have been mapped in many systems, including flies, mice, and even humans, but these reconstructions typically only represent only a tiny fraction of the total brain. Comprehensive connectomes have only been generated for several small species with a few hundred to a few thousand neurons in their bodies-a roundworm, a larval sea squirt, and a larval marine annelid worm. This team's connectome of a baby fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster larva, is the most complete as well as the most expansive map of an entire insect brain ever completed. It includes 3,016 neurons and every connection between them: 548,000. "It's been 50 years and this is the first brain connectome. It's a flag in the sand that we can do this," Vogelstein said. "Everything has been working up to this." Mapping whole brains is difficult and extremely time-consuming, even with the best modern technology. Getting a complete cellular-level picture of a brain requires slicing the brain into hundreds or thousands of individual tissue samples, all of which have to be imaged with electron microscopes before the painstaking process of reconstructing all those pieces, neuron by neuron, into a full, accurate portrait of a brain. It took more than a decade to do that with the baby fruit fly. The brain of a mouse is estimated to be a million times larger than that of a baby fruit fly, meaning the chance of mapping anything close to a human brain isn't likely in the near future, maybe not even in our lifetimes. The team purposely chose the fruit fly larva because, for an insect, the species shares much of its fundamental biology with humans, including a comparable genetic foundation. It also has rich learning and decision-making behaviors, making it a useful model organism in neuroscience. And for practical purposes, its relatively compact brain can be imaged and its circuits reconstructed within a reasonable time frame. Even so, the work took the University of Cambridge and Johns Hopkins 12 years. The imaging alone took about a day per neuron. Cambridge researchers created the high-resolution images of the brain and manually studied them to find individual neurons, rigorously tracing each one and linking their synaptic connections. Cambridge handed off the data to Johns Hopkins, where the team spent more than three years using original code they created to analyze the brain's connectivity. The Johns Hopkins team developed techniques to find groups of neurons based on shared connectivity patterns, and then analyzed how information could propagate through the brain. In the end, the full team charted every neuron and every connection, and categorized each neuron by the role it plays in the brain. They found that the brain's busiest circuits were those that led to and away from neurons of the learning center. The methods Johns Hopkins developed are applicable to any brain connection project, and their code is available to whoever attempts to map an even larger animal brain, Vogelstein said, adding that despite the challenges, scientists are expected to take on the mouse, possibly within the next decade. Other teams are already working on a map of the adult fruit fly brain. Co-first author Benjamin Pedigo, a Johns Hopkins doctoral candidate in Biomedical Engineering, expects the team's code could help reveal important comparisons between connections in the adult and larval brain. As connectomes are generated for more larva and from other related species, Pedigo expects their analysis techniques could lead to better understanding of variations in brain wiring. The fruit fly larva work showed circuit features that were strikingly reminiscent of prominent and powerful machine learning architectures. The team expects continued study will reveal even more computational principles and potentially inspire new artificial intelligence systems. "What we learned about code for fruit flies will have implications for the code for humans," Vogelstein said. "That's what we want to understand -- how to write a program that leads to a human brain network." Video: https://youtu.be/NXr0ZdoYgRw. Authors included: Michael Winding, Christopher L. Barnes, Heather G. Patsolic, Youngser Park, Tom Kazimiers, Akira Fushiki, Ingrid V. Andrade, Avinash Khandelwal, Javier Valdes-Aleman, Feng Li, Nadine Randel, Elizabeth Barsotti, Ana Correia, Richard D. Fetter, Volker Hartenstein, Carey E. Priebe, Albert Cardona, and Marta Zlatic. RELATED TOPICS Health & Medicine Nervous System Brain Tumor Psychology Research Birth Defects Mind & Brain Brain-Computer Interfaces Brain Injury Neuroscience Intelligence. RELATED TERMS Inferiority complex Functional neuroimaging Computational neuroscience Cognitive neuroscience Neuroscience Memory Mirror neuron Positron emission tomography. advertisement. Story Source: Materials provided by Johns Hopkins University . Original written by Jill Rosen. Note: Content may be edited for style and length. Journal Reference : Michael Winding et al. The connectome of an insect brain . Science , 2023 DOI: 10.1126/science.add9330. Cite This Page : MLA. APA. Chicago. Print. Email. Share. 2. 3. 4. 5. Breaking. Evidence That Venus Is Volcanically Active. Resilient Bug-Sized Robots Keep Flying. Mild Fever Helps Clear Infections Faster. Where Did Earth's Water Come From? Cheesemaking in Neolithic Age. How Ancient Pottery Was Made. Mix-And-Match Kit for Lunar Exploration Bots. Rarely Seen Prelude to Supernova. Sneeze On Everest? Frozen Germs For Centuries. Spatial Patterns in Distribution of Galaxies. HEALTH & MEDICINE. Support from Others in Stressful Times Can Ease Impact of Genetic Depression Risk, Study Suggests. Gut Bacteria Affect Brain Health, Mouse Study Shows. Why Chocolate Feels So Good -- It Is All Down to Lubrication. MIND & BRAIN. Holding Information in Mind May Mean Storing It Among Synapses. It Isn't What You Know, It's What You Think You Know. Chess Players Face a Tough Foe: Air Pollution. LIVING & WELL. Good Hydration Linked to Healthy Aging. Coffee With Milk May Have an Anti-Inflammatory Effect. Video Game Playing Causes No Harm to Young Children's Cognitive Abilities, Study Finds. advertisement. HEALTH & MEDICINE. Humans Are Leaving Behind a 'Frozen Signature' of Microbes on Mount Everest. What 'Chornobyl Dogs' Can Tell Us About Survival in Contaminated Environments. Enhancing at-Home COVID Tests With Glow-in-the Dark Materials. MIND & BRAIN. Dizzy Apes Provide Clues on Human Need for Mind Altering Experiences. Virtual Reality Games Can Be Used as a Tool in Personnel Assessment. Will Future Computers Run on Human Brain Cells? LIVING & WELL. Edible Electronics: How a Seaweed Second Skin Could Transform Health and Fitness Sensor Tech. Wireless, Soft E-Skin for Interactive Touch Communication in the Virtual World. Want Healthy Valentine Chocolates? We Can Print Them. For Communication Between Brain Areas, Milliseconds Matter. June 10, 2022 — A Key Brain Region for Controlling Binge Drinking Has Been Found. Apr. 17, 2020 — A Molecular Map of the Brain's Decision-Making Area. Dec. 24, 2019 — The Brain Learns Completely Differently Than We've Assumed Since the 20th Century. Mar. 23, 2018 — advertisement. Toggle navigation. Menu. S D. S D Home Page Top Science News Latest News. Home Home Page Top Science News Latest News. Health View all the latest top news in the health sciences, or browse the topics below: Health & Medicine Allergy Alternative Medicine Cancer Cold and Flu Diabetes Diseases Heart Disease Infectious Diseases Obesity Stem Cells ... more topics Mind & Brain ADD and ADHD Addiction Alzheimer's Autism Depression Headaches Intelligence Psychology Relationships Schizophrenia ... more topics Living Well Parenting Child Development Stress Skin Care Men's Health Women's Health Nutrition Diet and Weight Loss Fitness Healthy Aging ... more topics. Tech View all the latest top news in the physical sciences & technology, or browse the topics below: Matter & Energy Aviation Chemistry Electronics Fossil Fuels Nanotechnology Physics Quantum Physics Solar Energy Technology Wind Energy ... more topics Space & Time Astronomy Black Holes Dark Matter Extrasolar Planets Mars Moon Solar System Space Telescopes Stars Sun ... more topics Computers & Math Artificial Intelligence Communications Computer Science Hacking Mathematics Quantum Computers Robotics Software Video Games Virtual Reality ... more topics. Enviro View all the latest top news in the environmental sciences, or browse the topics below: Plants & Animals Agriculture and Food Animals Biology Biotechnology Endangered Animals Extinction Genetically Modified Microbes and More New Species Zoology ... more topics Earth & Climate Climate Earthquakes Environment Geography Geology Global Warming Hurricanes Ozone Holes Pollution Weather ... more topics Fossils & Ruins Ancient Civilizations Anthropology Archaeology Dinosaurs Early Humans Early Mammals Evolution Lost Treasures Origin of Life Paleontology ... more topics. Society View all the latest top news in the social sciences & education, or browse the topics below: Science & Society Arts & Culture Consumerism Economics Political Science Privacy Issues Public Health Racial Disparity Religion Sports World Development ... more topics Business & Industry Biotechnology & Bioengineering Computers & Internet Energy & Resources Engineering Medical Technology Pharmaceuticals Transportation ... more topics Education & Learning Animal Learning & Intelligence Creativity Educational Psychology Educational Technology Infant & Preschool Learning Learning Disorders STEM Education ... more topics. Quirky Top News Human Quirks Odd Creatures Bizarre Things Weird World. Search. Get the latest science news in your RSS reader with ScienceDaily's hourly updated newsfeeds, covering hundreds of topics: List of All RSS Feeds. Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks: Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. 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