http://www.alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/brain-science/news-press/press-releases/allen-cell-types-database-updated-new-data-and-models
Updated computer models and new cells added to the database provide a robust look into the building blocks of the brain
March 16, 2017
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The Allen Institute for Brain
Science has released additional data and computer models of cell
activity for inclusion in the Allen Cell Types Database: a publicly
available tool for researchers to explore and understand the building
blocks of the brain.
“Comprehensive coverage of hundreds to
thousands of cells will be crucial for scientists who want to explore
the diversity of nerve cells in the brain, and provides a base from
which we can parse cells into meaningful types,” says Lydia Ng, Ph.D.,
Senior Director of Technology at the Allen Institute for Brain Science.
“This release is one more step in building a fundamental framework to
help make advancements in neuroscience.”
Models serve as a critical link between
observed data and theories about how cells work, enabling scientists to
understand the mechanisms that give rise to neuron function. Two types
of models have been added and updated as part of this release. The first
set are models that reduce the complexity of neurons and use cell
measurements to “predict” the activity and function of those cells,
which are now available for 633 neurons in the database. Additionally,
more sophisticated neuronal models based on cell shape, morphology and
subcellular components are now available for hundreds of neurons via an
interactive web browser.
The Allen Cell Types Database contains
detailed descriptive features gathered from individual neurons in the
mouse brain, including location, electrical activity and shape. For this
release, electrophysiological recordings from an additional 130 cells
from the cortex have been added to the database.
The Allen Cell Types Database (celltypes.brain-map.org)
is a fundamental resource of the Allen Institute’s ten-year plan to
understand how activity in the brain leads to perception,
decision-making and action. Understanding cell types—the brain’s
building blocks—is critical to making sense of both how the healthy
brain functions and what goes wrong in diseases such as autism,
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Additional updates to Allen Brain Atlas resources are planned for June and October of 2017.
About the Allen Institute for Brain Science
The Allen Institute for Brain Science is a division of the Allen Institute (www.alleninstitute.org),
an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit medical research organization
dedicated to accelerating the understanding of how the human brain works
in health and disease. Using a big science approach, the Allen
Institute generates useful public resources used by researchers and
organizations around the globe, drives technological and analytical
advances, and discovers fundamental brain properties through integration
of experiments, modeling and theory. Launched in 2003 with a seed
contribution from founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen, the Allen
Institute is supported by a diversity of government, foundation and
private funds to enable its projects. Given the Institute’s
achievements, Mr. Allen committed an additional $300 million in 2012 for
the first four years of a ten-year plan to further propel and expand
the Institute’s scientific programs, bringing his total commitment to
date to $500 million. The Allen Institute’s data and tools are publicly
available online at www.brain-map.org.
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