Every great exploration refines the map, and in the case of the massive BRAIN initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health, that new draft of the map has just been released.
In a special collection of 17 new papers appearing Wednesday in the journal Nature, an international consortium of more than 250 neuroscientists is describing in unprecedented detail the structure – cell by cell -- of the motor cortex in the mouse, marmoset monkey, and human brains. The effort has also produced a comprehensive cellular-level wiring diagram of the mouse primary motor cortex.
Duke’s Josh Huang, professor of neurobiology, has been one of the ring-leaders of the four-year effort. Huang is one of 13 corresponding authors and one of three principal manuscript editors on the flagship paper that describes the contents of 16 projects, and is also lead author on two other articles of the package.