![]() Finally, all the images were digitally reconstructed to give a three-dimensional virtual model of the brain. All of the slices were then treated with antibodies that stain the cell bodies of the neurons, and then digitized to give a series of images, each 13,000 x 11,000 pixels in size. Next, they used a machine called a microtome to cut the brain into 7,400 ultra-thin slices, each just 20 micrometers thick. First, they took the brain of a 65-year-old woman who had recently died, and embedded the intact organ in paraffin wax. To create the BigBrain map, Amunts and her colleagues took advantage of recent advances in computing and image analysis. While existing brain atlases have a resolution of about 1 millimeter, the BigBrain map – which is described today in the journal Science – is about 50 times more detailed: with a resolution of 20 micrometers (or thousandths of a millimetre), it's almost detailed enough to see individual cells. Now an international team of researchers led by Katrin Amunts of the Jülich Research Center in Germany has created the most detailed map yet of the human brain.
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