BME co-leads $16M grant to uncover the “wiring diagram” of the brain

September 26, 2023 — Researchers from the University of Minnesota and collaborators have received a $16 million grant to support the groundbreaking project of discovering how the brain's neurons are connected and communicate with each other.

Mapping out the brain

Funding is from the NIH Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative, which aims to better understand how complex neural pathways generate human behaviors. 

Their goal is to create accurate wiring diagrams using a multi-modal, cross-species, multi-scale approach. This will provide crucial insights into brain connectivity and its impact on cognition, behavior, and disease.

Understanding connectivity

To reveal the connectivity of the brain, the research team will use a serial optical coherence scanner developed by Taner Akkin, a Professor with the UMN Department of Biomedical Engineering and a PI of the grant.

It’s a label-free tool for fundamental research into the anatomical and connectional architecture of the brain that incorporates Polarization-Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) and a tissue slicer.

Combining advanced techniques

The team is taking earlier research efforts a step further by using advanced MRI together with other advanced tools that rely on optical imaging and cell labeling techniques. 

Combining cutting-edge techniques will provide a more detailed and much clearer picture of the brain's circuits than what’s possible through traditional methods.