Researchers used AI to map the brain of an adult fruit fly The work will lead to a better understanding of the human brain It could also lead to tailored treatments for brain diseases, experts say WEDNESDAY, Oct. 2, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- The head of a Princeton team that mapped the brain of an adult fruit fly -- a watershed step in understanding the human brain -- explains the feat in a way that belies its complexity. "Just like you wouldn't want to drive to a new place without Google Maps, you don't want to explore the brain without a map," explained lead author , who received his Ph.
D. last year from Princeton and is now at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. "What we have done is build an atlas of the brain, and added annotations for all the businesses, the buildings, the street names.
" With this, he added in a Princeton news release, "researchers are now equipped to thoughtfully navigate the brain as we try to understand it." Likening it to a roadmap that traces every tiny alley as well as every superhighway, he said the new map -- called a "connectome" -- shows connections in the fruit fly brain at every scale. It could one day lead to tailored treatments for brain diseases.
Researchers described their work Oct. 2 in a special issue of the journal . They created a neuron-by-neuron and synapse-by-synapse map of the brain of an adult fruit fly ( ).
It identifies different types of neurons and chemical links -- or synapses -- between them and offers informa.