Zurich researchers want to watch brains learn

(CONNECT) The research group led by Professor Fritjof Helmchen from the Institute of Brain Research at the University of Zurich (UZH) has played a key role in advancing brain research worldwide. The instructions they have developed for the latest version of their special mesoSPIM microscope, which can create three-dimensional images of brain tissue in just a few minutes, are freely available on the Internet. According to a UZH report, research institutions all over the world are making extensive use of this. That is why 30 replicas already exist.

According to the information provided, Helmchen's group is one of the world's leading research groups in the further development of imaging technologies. She builds innovative objects and detectors for microscopes and programmes the corresponding software for data processing.

"With every technological advance, new insights into the brain can also be gained," the report quotes Esther Stoeckli, Professor at the Department of Molecular Life Sciences at UZH. Today, many different types of nerve cells are known in the brain. It has also been possible to reconstruct the fly brain as an overall network of all neurons with all their connections - the so-called connectome. Helmchen estimates that this will soon also be possible with the zebrafish larva model organism and in five to ten years with the mouse. "But we are still a long way from achieving this in humans."

One day, they both hope, it will be possible to watch the brain learn. Since 2021 and until 2028, a total of 23 UZH scientific teams from a wide range of disciplines have been researching what exactly happens in this process in the University Research Priority Program Plastic Brain Networks for Development and Learning. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the genetic, molecular and cellular processes involved in the development of neuronal networks and the role they play in animal and human behavior. ce/mm