SYNAPSE: A roadmap to human brain imaging

X-ray image reconstruction of part of the connectome of a mouse brain

Just published in Physics Reports, SYNAPSE: An international roadmap to large brain imaging, Anton P.J. Stampfl et al., discusses the challenges, progress, and strategies towards mapping a human brain down to the neuron level with the view of producing a full connectome of the human brain.

Challenges are:

• >1 exabyte of data for one human brain, currently impossible to collect and analyse
• No present technique can image all neurons and their connections

Our solution: 

Coordinated multi-site use of new radiological techniques and advanced microscopies and spectroscopies

• For overall connection mapping: microtomography with 0.3 μm resolution in 3 dimensions and imaging at speeds >1 mm³/min
• To obtain detailed mapping in special regions: nanotomography with <10 nm resolution and cryo-electron microscopy with nm resolution
• For single-molecule mapping: super-resolution with tissue clearing
• ...plus other tasks using frontline techniques (photon, electron, and neutron-based)