Project 1: The Mouse Brain Library Project 2: Internet Microscopy (iScope) Project 3: Neurocartographer and Segmentation of the MBL Project 4: The Neurogenetics Tool Box



























 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

EXPERIMENTAL PLAN

 
 

Principal Investigator/Program Director Williams,Robert W.

 
 


Legacy data and other collections

In the context of the present proposal, the MBL is exclusively produced in-house. However, our approach is generic, and in the future we plan to incorporate material from other sources. For example, the entire Yakovlev-Hakem collection of human brains at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, which were also processed in celloidin and cut at 35 m, is an obvious candidate. Relaxation of the strict protocols for tissue processing and data collection imposed in Project 1 will

initially limit the scope of material that can be segmented with accuracy. Yet we believe that modification of the algorithms will eventually make it possible to incorporate a wider range of data sets without compromising the precision of segmentation. Certainly at this stage, accommodation of legacy data can made at the level of anatomical homology. Indeed, this mode of linkage may have the greatest repercussions in neuroscience and clinical research. At this level we may provide a gateway to genomics databases for other vertebrate brain phenotyping efforts. For example, consider the following scenario: An abnormality is discovered in a functional neuroimaging study (e.g., Gur et al. 1995) and indicates a serious structural abnormality (e.g., Arnold et al. 1995). If variations in the corresponding structures have already been identified in the MBL, then it may be possible to establish a link between relevant QTLs and genes in mouse that may underlie the abnormality in humans. Anatomical and genomic homologies are essentially cross-referenced.

 
   
   
   
 

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