Utah People's Post

The Latest News from the Beehive State

Monday, June 27, 2022
Log in
  • National News
    • Female Caseworker Killed & Doctor Shot in Philadelphia
  • State News
    • Car Chase Leads to Drug Arrest
  • Tech & Science
  • Health
    • How to Prepare For Ticks Season
    • Magical Weight Loss Bean Scam
  • Sports
  • Business
You are here: Home / Tech & Science / MIT Discovered an Easier Way to Map Brain Cells

MIT Discovered an Easier Way to Map Brain Cells

January 19, 2015 Posted by Staff

map brain cells Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered a new and much easier method to enlarge and to map brain cells. The method makes use of a technique called expansion microscopy and allows scientists and researchers to take high resolution photos of the brain cells so that they can recreate the functions of each and every neuron inside the human brain.

Making the brain cells bigger would help with the mapping process and thus would prove very effective in examining the network of brain cells. If the mapping is successful, then we can better understand psychiatric diseases or even the way thoughts form in our minds.

Edward Boyden, MIT neuroscientist revealed:

One of our lab’s strategies is to do the opposite of what everyone else seems to be doing. One of the ideas we were kicking around was if you make a sample big enough, could you take a picture of viruses or something else really small with your cell phone? We’re nowhere near that, but it’s the kind of thinking we’re exploring now.

In 1986 the team behind the electron microscope won the Nobel Prize for science and in 2014 another team of scientists won the Nobel Prize for the invention of an optical microscopy that allowed detailed imaging of proteins and cells at a nanoscale to be observed.

Expansion microscopy at this moment isn’t accurate enough to win a Nobel Prize, but the scientists are making new and important improvements. The new technique discovered by MIT researchers works by tagging the exact molecules that the scientists need to magnify and then adding the building blocks of a polymer that helps remove the molecules that restrain the tissues. Once the molecules are gone and the tissues are bare, water is added and the polymer swells up. The polymer used in this scientific experiment is the same that is used in baby diapers for moisture absorption.

Once the tissues are swollen, they can be examined and dissected under conventional microscopes. When scientists approach tissue examination in this way, they can analyze the tissues in a 3D matter, which reveals interactions between molecules and cells that help to map brain cells and create a complete map to our brains.

Edward Boyden plans to detail the process in a website so that everyone can have access to the information.

Image Source: Blazing Systems

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email

Filed Under: Tech & Science Tagged With: map brain cells, map to the brain, MIT science, science news

Woman working out at the gym

Just 23% of Americans Are Working Out Enough in Their Spare Time

June 29, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Poliovirus Therapy Gives Brain Cancer Patients New Hope (Study)

June 29, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

United Airlines airplane

Passenger Mysteriously Dies on United Airlines flight Bound for Boston

June 28, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Breakfast sandwich

Here Are Some Foods No Nutritionist Would Ever Eat

June 27, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Poppy flower

UN Warns of Surge in Opium-based Drugs and Cocaine Supply

June 27, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

U.S.-Canada border

French Jogger Detained 2 Weeks for Accidentally Crossing Border

June 26, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Plus size model

Normalizing Plus Size Could Fuel Obesity Crisis (Study)

June 25, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Giant manta ray

Unique Manta Ray Nursery Spotted off Texas Coast

June 23, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

The rainbow flag

WHO Scraps Transgenderism from List of Mental Illnesses

June 22, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

456 People Dead at U.K. Hospital after Taking too Many Painkillers

June 21, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Kenyan girls dancing

Kenyans Facing Poor Nutrition as Supermarket Shopping Is on the Rise

June 20, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Staff
  • Terms and Conditions

Recent Posts

  • Just 23% of Americans Are Working Out Enough in Their Spare Time
  • Poliovirus Therapy Gives Brain Cancer Patients New Hope (Study)
  • Passenger Mysteriously Dies on United Airlines flight Bound for Boston
  • Here Are Some Foods No Nutritionist Would Ever Eat
  • UN Warns of Surge in Opium-based Drugs and Cocaine Supply
  • French Jogger Detained 2 Weeks for Accidentally Crossing Border
  • Normalizing Plus Size Could Fuel Obesity Crisis (Study)

Related Articles

  • Crosses on a wall

    Religious People Live Longer, Are Less Stressed than Atheists, Study

    Jun 15, 2018
  • Antineutrino Detector

    Scientists Discover an Even More Elusive Particle than Neutrinos

    Jun 5, 2018
  • Funny Albert Einstein

    Time Travel Is Already Here

    May 30, 2018
  • Planet 2003UB313

    Scientists Found Evidence that Elusive Planet 9 May Be Real

    May 18, 2018
  • Kuiper Belt Object

    This Asteroid in Kuiper Belt Is Nothing Scientists Have Seen Before

    May 11, 2018
  • Elephant raising its trunk

    Elephants Communicate with Their Feet, Scientists Confirm

    May 9, 2018
  • Starbucks store

    Black Men Settle for $1 Each after Racist Arrest at Starbucks

    May 3, 2018
  • Tech addiction

    Facebook Pioneers Forming Coalition to Lobby Against Tech Addiction

    Feb 5, 2018
  • Kaspersky Co-founder Natalia Kasperskaya

    Kaspersky Boss: Bitcoin Was Created by U.S. Govt to Fund CIA’s Black Ops

    Feb 1, 2018
  • Amazon Go shopper

    Amazon Gets Rid of Cashiers at Its Check-Out Free Store

    Jan 30, 2018

Categories

  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • National News
  • Nature
  • Provo
  • Salt Lake News
  • Science
  • Sports
  • State News
  • Tech & Science
  • Technology
  • Uncategorized
  • West Jordan
  • West Valley City
  • World

Copyright © 2022 utahpeoplespost.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Site Map · Contact