Friday, February 25, 2011

Harvard Researchers Illuminate Connections Among Brain Cells in Technicolor | Popular Science

Harvard Researchers Illuminate Connections Among Brain Cells in Technicolor | Popular Science: In 2007, Harvard scientists figured out how to combine fluorescent proteins to create an entire color palette, and then used it to make mouse neurons glow so they could be traced through the brain. The “Brainbow” technique has helped scientists follow neurons’ connections, which had been almost impossible to untangle.
Fruit fly researchers have now done the same thing, producing a dual Brainbow of methods for making Drosophila neurons glow. It is much simpler and faster than staining individual neurons, another method for mapping brain connections.

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