Mouse Brain Connectivity
How can we use viruses to untangle complicated brain networks?
The Allen Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas contains a brain-wide map of connections in the mouse brain, arguably the most comprehensive wiring diagram of a mammalian brain yet.
In this lab, students look at open-source data from viral tracing experiments in transgenic mice to investigate whether certain areas of the brain are connected.
Learning objectives:
Understand the primary ways that neuroscientists look for connectivity between brain regions, and the differences between these techniques
Develop a hypothesis about brain connectivity, based on prior knowledge & lecture
Test this hypothesis by analyzing open source data
Background
Using viruses to trace neural connectivity
The brain is probably the most complicated circuit in the universe. Thankfully, we can harness the ability of viruses to infect cells and produce proteins in order to trace neural circuits. For additional details on how this is done, see the slides at right and check out this handy guide to neural circuit tracing.
About this dataset
If you'd like more details about the dataset, check the detailed Allen Institute for Brain Science Documentation.
Lesson Plan
The full student protocol for this lesson can be found at right. Please feel free to download and modify for your purposes.
This lesson was inspired by another activity called “Neuroscience in Action” (Brown University) and Terry Gilbert.
Related Videos & Teaching Materials
You can find many more videos about the connectivity dataset on the Allen Institute's YouTube Channel.
Sample publications with this dataset
Oh et al. (2014). A mesoscale connectome of the mouse brain. Nature.
Henriksen et al. (2016). A simple generative model of the mouse mesoscale connectome. eLife.
Knox et al. (2019). High-resolution data-driven model of the mouse connectome. Network Neuroscience.