A decade ago, a small piece of human brain was sent to Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman’s lab at Harvard. The sample came from an epilepsy patient undergoing surgery to reduce seizures. Over the years, Lichtman’s team meticulously reconstructed the complex wiring patterns of the brain using a $6 million device to slice the sample into extremely thin pieces. With images from electron microscopy, they recreated the intricate connections between individual brain cells.
The end result is a groundbreaking digital map known as a “connectome” of the human brain ever created. This comprehensive map offers valuable insights into how brain cells are connected to each other and how the brain functions.
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