Paul Allen’s Institute for Brain Science in Seattle announced today it has mapped the brain. The mouse brain, that is. And though it's smaller, it's applicable to us, because humans and mice share about 99% of their genes. The relevance: the recently completed mapping of the human genome tells us what genes are in our body.

This project tells us where in the brain other cells are switched on. The map is now available online free to everyone at brainatlas.org. It's a kind of an electronic atlas that will be a basic sourcebook for scientists for years to come.

I talked to the chief scientific officer of the Institute, Allan Jones, who said his biggest surprise was just how very complicated the brain is. And how many genes -- about 80 percent, not the 60 percent previously thought -- are active in the mouse brain. He likened this atlas to the difference between seeing a land mass of Seattle from outer space vs. being able to zoom in a la Google to a single house. The next step for the group he says is mapping the human neocortex -- the outer rind of the brain where most advanced cognitive processes likely occur.

We will have the brain atlas story and the interview with Allan Jones on KING 5 news at 5 tonight. Meantime what would you most like to know about the brain, where depression starts? How to stop dementia? Are men’s and women’s brains really different? This atlas is a big step toward forward.

1 Comments

Bob said:

Who selects Jean Enerson's wardrobe?
Queen Victoria?

September 28, 2006 6:08 PM

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