For more than a decade, Google Research has been using AI to precisely map the connections between every cell in the brain in an endeavor called connectomics. Now, in collaboration with the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), we’ve helped develop a new method for brain mapping, called LICONN, that could make connectomics significantly more accessible. This work could help expedite new discoveries about the brain and neurological disease.
To develop LICONN, ISTA created a specialized technique to expand brain tissue while preserving its cellular structures so light microscopes can capture nanoscale features, like molecules, cells and their connections. Google Research then used our suite of open source image analysis and AI to reconstruct each of the cells and their connections. This wasn’t possible before without access to costly, specialized electron microscopes. Researchers have so far used LICONN to map mouse brain tissue with the aim of using it for human brains in the future.
Learn more about LICONN and how it's advancing the field of neuroscience with Google Research.
LICONN enables connectomics research using widely available light microscopes.
Manual reconstruction of 658 neuronal structures, revealing their complex shapes and interwoven arrangement. © Tavakoli, Lyudchik et al./Nature
Intricate architecture of a neuronal network. The image shows a 3D rendering of example cells from the mouse primary somatosensory cortex — a brain region that processes touch and body position sensations — produced with LICONN. © Tavakoli, Lyudchik et al./Nature
Deep learning techniques from Google Research predicting mouse neuronal structures and their positions within the brain tissue. © Tavakoli, Lyudchik et al./Nature
Illuminating the dark. ISTA researchers discuss a close-up image of the mouse hippocampus — a brain region responsible for memory formation and spatial navigation — in the microscopy room at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). © ISTA
