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A Proposal for a Coordinated Effort for the Determination of Brainwide Neuroanatomical Connectivity in Model Organisms at a Mesoscopic Scale
Open accessAbstract
In this era of complete genomes, our knowledge of neuroanatomical circuitry remains surprisingly sparse. Such knowledge is critical, however, for both basic and clinical research into brain function. Here we advocate for a concerted effort to fill this gap, through systematic, experimental mapping of neural circuits at a mesoscopic scale of resolution suitable for comprehensive, brainwide coverage, using injections of tracers or viral vectors. We detail the scientific and medical rationale and briefly review existing knowledge and experimental techniques. We define a set of desiderata, including brainwide coverage; validated and extensible experimental techniques suitable for standardization and automation; centralized, open-access data repository; compatibility with existing resources; and tractability with current informatics technology. We discuss a hypothetical but tractable plan for mouse, additional efforts for the macaque, and technique development for human. We estimate that the mouse connectivity project could be completed within five years with a comparatively modest budget.
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“This Connectivity Atlas has all the desired features summarized in a mesoscale connectome position essay18: brain-wide coverage, validated and versatile experimental techniques, a single standardized data format, a quantifiable and integrated neuroinformatics resource and an open-access public online database.”
From A mesoscale connectome of the mouse brain (2014) · cites this paper as [18]
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“This Connectivity Atlas has all the desired features summarized in a mesoscale connectome position essay18: brain-wide coverage, validated and versatile experimental techniques, a single standardized data format, a quantifiable and integrated neuroinformatics resource and an open-access public online database.”
From A mesoscale connectome of the mouse brain (2014) · cites this paper as [18]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Bohland, J. W., Wu, C., Barbas, H., Bokil, H., Bota, M., Breiter, H. C., Cline, H. T., Doyle, J. C., Freed, P. J., Greenspan, R. J., Haber, S. N., Hawrylycz, M., Herrera, D. G., Hilgetag, C. C., Huang, Z. J., Jones, A., Jones, E. G., Karten, H. J., Kleinfeld, D., Kötter, R., Lester, H. A., Lin, J. M., Mensh, B. D., Mikula, S., Panksepp, J., Price, J. L., Safdieh, J., Saper, C. B., Schiff, N. D., Schmahmann, J. D., Stillman, B. W., Svoboda, K., Swanson, L. W., Toga, A. W., Van Essen, D. C., Watson, J. D., & Mitra, P. P.
- Affiliations
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (US)
- Boston University (US)
- University of Southern California (US)
- Massachusetts General Hospital (US)
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Columbia University Irving Medical Center (US)
- Neurosciences Institute (US)
- University of Rochester Medicine (US)
- Allen Institute for Brain Science (US)
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Constructor University (DE)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Washington State University (US)
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Weill Cornell Medicine (US)
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bohland, Jason W.
- ORCID
- Bohland, Jason W.
- Wu, Caizhi
- Barbas, Helen
- Bokil, Hemant
- Bota, Mihail
- Cline, Hollis T.
- Doyle, John C.
- Greenspan, Ralph J.
- Haber, Suzanne N.
- Hawrylycz, Michael
- Hilgetag, Claus C.
- Huang, Z. Josh
- Jones, Allan
- Jones, Edward G.
- Karten, Harvey J.
- Kleinfeld, David
- Lester, Henry A.
- Mensh, Brett D.
- Safdieh, Joseph
- Saper, Clifford B.
- Schiff, Nicholas D.
- Schmahmann, Jeremy D.
- Stillman, Bruce W.
- Svoboda, Karel
- Swanson, Larry W.
- Toga, Arthur W.
- Mitra, Partha P.
- Venue
- PLoS Computational Biology
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2009-03-27
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e1000334
- ISSN
- 1553-734X (ISSN-L)
- 1553-7358
- PMC
- PMC2655718
- OpenAlex
- W2127695105
- Cited by
- 261
- References
- 145
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 30
- FWCI
- 12.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS Computational Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Institutional Repository (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Digital Commons@Becker (Washington University School of Medicine) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- OpenBU (Boston University) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- W. M. Keck Foundation
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH060974)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS033987)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Education › Undergraduate Neuroscience Education and Research
- Keywords
- neural circuit mapping, model organisms, tracer injection, human connectome, open access repositories
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain, Humans, Macaca, Models, Neurological, Nerve Net, Neuroanatomy, Research Design, Databases, Factual, Mice
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