# Mapping the fruit fly brain

**URL:** <http://discourse.iapct.org/t/mapping-the-fruit-fly-brain/6708>\
**Category:** CSG2010\
**Created:** [May 13, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](http://discourse.iapct.org/t/mapping-the-fruit-fly-brain/6708 "2010-05-13T16:19:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tedcloak](http://discourse.iapct.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tedcloak](http://discourse.iapct.org/u/tedcloak)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](http://discourse.iapct.org/t/mapping-the-fruit-fly-brain/6708/1 "2010-05-13T16:19:45Z")

</div>

Science  
News

Mapping  
the fruit fly brain

New  
digital atlas demystifies complex neuron shapes and connections

By [Laura Sanders](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/authored/id/98/name/Laura_Sanders)

[May  
8th, 2010; Vol.177 #10](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/issue/id/58562/title/May_8th%2C_2010%3B_Vol.177_%2310) (p. 16)

[![image00114.gif](http://discourse.iapct.org/uploads/default/original/1X/13b4f316aedcea19cf825a9430a20986380a9435.gif)](http://www.sciencenews.org/index/generic)[![image00213.gif](http://discourse.iapct.org/uploads/default/original/1X/521ad99ebaa044e4e0e594de76fd46093b832dcb.gif)](http://www.sciencenews.org/index/generic)Text  
Size

[![image00313.jpg](http://discourse.iapct.org/uploads/default/original/1X/7fec50224a9a3b42ac4d730794d6606ed59143f2.jpeg)](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/access/id/58234/name/ls_fly_atlas.jpg)

![image0044.gif](http://discourse.iapct.org/uploads/default/original/1X/8e59c7ab97e44c34d60c2e95c650648a7a7d8eb4.gif)

> **···**
>
> [Enlarge](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/access/id/58234/title/ls_fly_atlas.jpg) ![magnify]()
> 
> A new analysis technique creates a digital neuron atlas of the  
> fruit fly brain, highlighting how individual brain cells link up.Hanchuan Peng
> 
> WASHINGTON  
> — A new computer-based technique is exploring uncharted territory in the  
> fruit fly brain with cell-by-cell detail that can be built into networks for a  
> detailed look at how neurons work together. The research may ultimately lead to  
> a complete master plan of the entire fly brain. Mapping the estimated 100,000  
> neurons in a fly brain, and seeing how they interact to control behavior, will  
> be a powerful tool for figuring out how the billions of neurons in the human  
> brain work.
> 
> The  
> program has already found some new features of the fruit fly brain, said study  
> coauthor Hanchuan Peng of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia  
> Farm Research Campus in Ashburn, Va. “We can see very beautiful and very  
> complicated patterns,” said Peng, who presented the results April 9 at  
> the 51st Annual Drosophila Research Conference. “If you look at neurons  
> at a better resolution, or look at regions you’ve never looked at before,  
> you’ll find something new.”
> 
> Peng and  
> his colleagues developed a method, also described in the April _Nature Biotechnology_,  
> which incorporates many different images of fruit fly brains. The brains come  
> from flies that were genetically programmed so that select neurons glow when  
> struck with a particular type of laser light. By combining thousands of these  
> digital images from different flies, the researchers can create maps of how  
> these different neuronal populations fit together. The full map of the fly  
> brain isn’t yet complete, but it will grow as more images are added.
> 
> These  
> kinds of large-scale studies that focus on how neurons are connected are  
> “very important for the future,” commented geneticist Wei Xie of  
> Southeast University in Nanjing, China. Understanding how all of the neurons  
> work together is much more meaningful than studying how a single brain cell  
> connects to another cell, Xie said. “Just a neuron is not enough.”
> 
> “What  
> we want to do in the next few years is to add more and more neuron  
> reconstructions into this map,” Peng said. He likened the process to a  
> Google Earth resource. “If you think about the fruit fly brain as the  
> Earth, the little neurons will be the streets. We want to map a lot of neuron  
> streets onto the Earth,” he said.
> 
> Peng and  
> his colleagues have started combing their preliminary brain map for interesting  
> features and comparing different flies’ brains to one another. For the  
> most part, patterns of neuron-connecting pathways don’t vary much from  
> brain to brain, the researchers found.
> 
> On the  
> other hand, the shapes of cells in the same brain structure can differ  
> dramatically. For example, the variety of shapes found in the neurons of a  
> wheel-shaped brain structure called the ellipsoid body “are just  
> amazing,” Peng says. In the same fly, some of the cells spread inside the  
> ring, while others point outward in a complex lock-and-key arrangement.
> 
> The  
> results are preliminary, but finding such unexpected variation could mean that  
> these neurons — which were thought to be nearly carbon copies of each  
> other — have important functional differences.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shannon\_Williams](http://discourse.iapct.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Shannon\_Williams](http://discourse.iapct.org/u/Shannon_Williams)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 2:20am UTC](http://discourse.iapct.org/t/mapping-the-fruit-fly-brain/6708/2 "2010-05-16T02:20:10Z")

</div>

Very Cool! thanks for posting this.

> **···**
>
> On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 11:19 AM, Ted Cloak [tcloak@unm.edu](mailto:tcloak@unm.edu) wrote:
> 
> > Science News
> 
> > Mapping the fruit fly brain
> 
> > New digital atlas demystifies complex neuron shapes and connections
> 
> > By [Laura Sanders](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/authored/id/98/name/Laura_Sanders)
> 
> > [May 8th, 2010; Vol.177 #10](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/issue/id/58562/title/May_8th%2C_2010%3B_Vol.177_%2310) (p. 16)
> 
> > Text Size
> 
> > 
> 
> > [Enlarge](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/access/id/58234/title/ls_fly_atlas.jpg)
> 
> > A new analysis technique creates a digital neuron atlas of the fruit fly brain, highlighting how individual brain cells link up.Hanchuan Peng
> 
> > WASHINGTON — A new computer-based technique is exploring uncharted territory in the fruit fly brain with cell-by-cell detail that can be built into networks for a detailed look at how neurons work together. The research may ultimately lead to a complete master plan of the entire fly brain. Mapping the estimated 100,000 neurons in a fly brain, and seeing how they interact to control behavior, will be a powerful tool for figuring out how the billions of neurons in the human brain work.
> 
> > The program has already found some new features of the fruit fly brain, said study coauthor Hanchuan Peng of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Farm Research Campus in Ashburn, Va. “We can see very beautiful and very complicated patterns,” said Peng, who presented the results April 9 at the 51st Annual Drosophila Research Conference. “If you look at neurons at a better resolution, or look at regions you’ve never looked at before, you’ll find something new.”
> 
> > Peng and his colleagues developed a method, also described in the April _Nature Biotechnology_, which incorporates many different images of fruit fly brains. The brains come from flies that were genetically programmed so that select neurons glow when struck with a particular type of laser light. By combining thousands of these digital images from different flies, the researchers can create maps of how these different neuronal populations fit together. The full map of the fly brain isn’t yet complete, but it will grow as more images are added.
> 
> > These kinds of large-scale studies that focus on how neurons are connected are “very important for the future,” commented geneticist Wei Xie of Southeast University in Nanjing, China. Understanding how all of the neurons work together is much more meaningful than studying how a single brain cell connects to another cell, Xie said. “Just a neuron is not enough.”
> 
> > “What we want to do in the next few years is to add more and more neuron reconstructions into this map,” Peng said. He likened the process to a Google Earth resource. “If you think about the fruit fly brain as the Earth, the little neurons will be the streets. We want to map a lot of neuron streets onto the Earth,” he said.
> 
> > Peng and his colleagues have started combing their preliminary brain map for interesting features and comparing different flies’ brains to one another. For the most part, patterns of neuron-connecting pathways don’t vary much from brain to brain, the researchers found.
> 
> > On the other hand, the shapes of cells in the same brain structure can differ dramatically. For example, the variety of shapes found in the neurons of a wheel-shaped brain structure called the ellipsoid body “are just amazing,” Peng says. In the same fly, some of the cells spread inside the ring, while others point outward in a complex lock-and-key arrangement.
> 
> > The results are preliminary, but finding such unexpected variation could mean that these neurons — which were thought to be nearly carbon copies of each other — have important functional differences.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BUSINESS\_GAVIN\_HERMA](http://discourse.iapct.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/2acd7d/32.png) [@BUSINESS\_GAVIN\_HERMA](http://discourse.iapct.org/u/BUSINESS_GAVIN_HERMA)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 9:47am UTC](http://discourse.iapct.org/t/mapping-the-fruit-fly-brain/6708/3 "2010-05-16T09:47:34Z")

</div>

Yip I have this as my desktop picture.

> **···**
>
> -----Original Message-----  
> **From:** Control Systems Group  
> Network (CSGnet) [[mailto:CSGNET@LISTSERV.ILLINOIS.EDU](mailto:CSGNET@LISTSERV.ILLINOIS.EDU)] **On Behalf Of** Shannon Williams  
> **Sent:** Sunday, 16 May  
> 2010 2:20 p.m.  
> **To:** CSGNET@LISTSERV.ILLINOIS.EDU  
> **Subject:** Re: Mapping the fruit fly  
> brain
> 
> Very  
> Cool! thanks for posting this.
> 
> On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 11:19 AM, Ted Cloak [tcloak@unm.edu](mailto:tcloak@unm.edu) wrote:
> 
> Science News
> 
> Mapping the fruit fly brain
> 
> New digital atlas demystifies complex  
> neuron shapes and connections
> 
> By [Laura Sanders](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/authored/id/98/name/Laura_Sanders)
> 
> [May 8th, 2010; Vol.177 #10](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/issue/id/58562/title/May_8th%2C_2010%3B_Vol.177_%2310) (p. 16)
> 
> Text Size
> 
> [Enlarge](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/access/id/58234/title/ls_fly_atlas.jpg)
> 
> A new analysis technique creates a digital  
> neuron atlas of the fruit fly brain, highlighting how individual brain cells  
> link up.Hanchuan Peng
> 
> WASHINGTON — A new computer-based technique is  
> exploring uncharted territory in the fruit fly brain with cell-by-cell detail  
> that can be built into networks for a detailed look at how neurons work  
> together. The research may ultimately lead to a complete master plan of the  
> entire fly brain. Mapping the estimated 100,000 neurons in a fly brain, and  
> seeing how they interact to control behavior, will be a powerful tool for  
> figuring out how the billions of neurons in the human brain work.
> 
> The program has already found some new features of the fruit  
> fly brain, said study coauthor Hanchuan Peng of the Howard Hughes Medical  
> Institute’s Janelia Farm Research Campus in Ashburn, Va. “We can see very  
> beautiful and very complicated patterns,” said Peng, who presented the results  
> April 9 at the 51st Annual Drosophila Research Conference. “If you look at  
> neurons at a better resolution, or look at regions you’ve never looked at  
> before, you’ll find something new.”
> 
> Peng and his colleagues developed a method, also described  
> in the April **Nature** \* \* Biotechnology\*\*, which incorporates many different images  
> of fruit fly brains. The brains come from flies that were genetically  
> programmed so that select neurons glow when struck with a particular type of  
> laser light. By combining thousands of these digital images from different  
> flies, the researchers can create maps of how these different neuronal  
> populations fit together. The full map of the fly brain isn’t yet complete, but  
> it will grow as more images are added.
> 
> These kinds of large-scale studies that focus on how neurons  
> are connected are “very important for the future,” commented geneticist Wei Xie of Southeast University in Nanjing, China. Understanding  
> how all of the neurons work together is much more meaningful than studying how  
> a single brain cell connects to another cell, Xie said. “Just a neuron is not  
> enough.”
> 
> “What we want to do in the next few years is to add more and  
> more neuron reconstructions into this map,” Peng said. He likened the process  
> to a Google Earth resource. “If you think about the fruit fly brain as the  
> Earth, the little neurons will be the streets. We want to map a lot of neuron  
> streets onto the Earth,” he said.
> 
> Peng and his colleagues have started combing their  
> preliminary brain map for interesting features and comparing different flies’  
> brains to one another. For the most part, patterns of neuron-connecting  
> pathways don’t vary much from brain to brain, the researchers found.
> 
> On the other hand, the shapes of cells in the same brain  
> structure can differ dramatically. For example, the variety of shapes found in  
> the neurons of a wheel-shaped brain structure called the ellipsoid body “are  
> just amazing,” Peng says. In the same fly, some of the cells spread inside the  
> ring, while others point outward in a complex lock-and-key arrangement.
> 
> The results are preliminary, but finding such unexpected  
> variation could mean that these neurons — which were thought to be nearly  
> carbon copies of each other — have important functional differences.