BrainMaps is an NIH-funded interactive zoomable high-resolution digital brain atlas and virtual microscope that is based on more than 140 million megapixels (140 terabytes) of scanned images of serial sections of both primate and non-primate

brain A brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as Visual perception, vision. I ...

s and that is integrated with a high-speed

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases ...

for querying and retrieving data about brain structure and function over the internet. Currently featured are complete brain atlas datasets for 16 species; a few of which are: '' Macaca mulatta'', '' Chlorocebus aethiops'', '' Felis silvestris catus'', '' Mus musculus'', '' Rattus norvegicus'', and ''

Tyto alba The barn owl (''Tyto alba'') is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds, being found almost everywhere except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalaya ...

''. The project's

principal investigator In many countries, the term principal investigator (PI) refers to the holder of an independent grant and the lead researcher for the grant project, usually in the sciences, such as a laboratory study or a clinical trial. The phrase is also often u ...

was

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institu ...

neuroscientist Ted Jones from 2005 through 2011, after which the role was taken by W. Martin Usrey.

Description

BrainMaps uses multiresolution image formats for representing massive brain images, and a dHTML/Javascript front-end user interface for image navigation, both similar to the way that

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets (Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...

works for geospatial data. BrainMaps is one of the most massive online neuroscience databases and image repositories and features the highest-resolution whole brain atlas ever constructed. Extensions to interactive 3-dimensional visualization have been developed through OpenGL-based desktop applications. Freely available image analysis tools enable end-users to datamine online images at the sub-neuronal level. BrainMaps has been used in both research an
didactic
settings.

Additional images

Image:Brainmaps3.jpg, Massive brain images are formatted as multiresolution image pyramids, enabling rapid navigation by loading small image tiles instead of the entire image. Image:Brainmaps4.jpg, Datasets as a function of species at BrainMaps.

References

External links

{{Commons category, BrainMaps
BrainMaps.org

BrainMaps featured in ''Science'' Magazine

BrainMaps images featured in ''Discover'' Magazine article, "10 Unsolved Mysteries Of The Brain"

BrainMaps-related Publications
Online databases Anatomy websites Biological databases

Description

Additional images

See also

References

External links