GB Magazine November 2021 | Page 59

The researchers , collaborating as part of the National Institute of Health ’ s BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network ( BICCN ), reported the new data in a special issue of the scientific journal Nature . The results describe how different cell types are organized and connected throughout the brain . “ Our first goal is to use the mouse brain as a model to really understand the diversity of cells in the brain and how they are regulated ,” Salk Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Joseph Ecker , co-director of the BICCN shared with GB Magazine .
The BICCN , one subset of the BRAIN Initiative , specifically focuses on creating brain atlases that describe the full plethora of cells - as characterized by many different techniques - in mammalian brains . Salk is one of three institutions that were given U19 Awards from the National Institutes of Health to act as central players in generating data for the BICCN .
“ This is not just a phone book for the brain ,” says Margarita Behrens , a Salk associate research professor who helped lead the new BICCN papers . “ In the long run , to treat brain diseases , we need to be able to home in on exactly which cell types are having trouble .”
Margarita Behrens
Complex network of neurons
“ In these foundational studies , we are describing the ‘ parts list ’ for the brain ,” adds Salk Professor Edward Callaway . “ Having this parts list is revolutionary and will open up a whole new set of opportunities for studying the brain .”
Measuring chemical markers to determine brain cell type
Ecker , Behrens and colleagues analyzed over a hundred thousand mouse brain cells using a scientific technique that identifies a chemical pattern . The scientists then applied this technique to thousands of cells from forty-five different regions of the mouse brain and identified 161 clusters of cell types . The team also showed that the patterns could be used to predict where in the brain any given cell came from - not just within broad regions but down to specific layers of cells within a region . This means that eventually drugs could be developed that act only on small groups of cells by targeting their unique epigenomics .
Overall , the new data on the mouse brain cells is the first step in creating a complete atlas of the mouse brain - let alone the human brain . But understanding what differentiates cell types is critical to future research and brain therapeutics .
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