The connectomics challenge

Year: 2013

Authors: Silvestri L., Sacconi L., Pavone FS.

Autors Affiliation: European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS) University of Florence, Italy; National Institute of Optics (INO-CNR), Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; Department of Physics, University of Florence, Italy; International Center for Computational Neurophotonics — ICON Foundation, Florence, Italy

Abstract: One of the most fascinating challenges in neuroscience is the reconstruction of the connectivity map of the brain. Recent years have seen a rapid expansion in the field of connectomics, whose aim is to trace this map and understand its relationship with neural computation. Many different approaches, ranging from electron and optical microscopy to magnetic resonance imaging, have been proposed to address the connectomics challenge on various spatial scales and in different species. Here, we review the main technological advances in the microscopy techniques applied to connectomics, highlighting the potential and limitations of the different methods.
Finally, we briefly discuss the role of connectomics in the Human Brain Project, the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Flagship recently approved by the European Commission.

Journal/Review: FUNCTIONAL NEUROLOGY

Volume: 28 (3)      Pages from: 167  to: 173

More Information: This work has received funding from LASERLAB-EUROPE (grant agreements no 228334 and 284464, EU’s Seventh Framework Programme) and has been supported by a Human Frontier Science Program research grant (RGP0027/2009), by the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research in the framework of the Flagship Project NANOMAX, and by the Italian Ministry of Health in the framework of the ’Stem Cells Call for Proposals’. This work has been carried out in the framework of the activities of the ICON foundation supported by Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze. This work is part of the activities of the European Flagship Human Brain Project.
KeyWords: brain imaging; connectomics; electron microscopy; light microscopy; Human Brain Project
DOI: 10.11138/FNeur/2013.28.3.167

Citations: 13
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