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09-27-06, 02:00 PM
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Online 3D map tracks genes at work in mouse brain
<!-- END HEADLINE --><!-- BEGIN STORY BODY -->Wed Sep 27, 9:00 AM ET
A 3D map tracking genes at work in the mouse brain has been completed and posted online, a boon for researchers studying neurological disorders, the institute founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen announced.
The Allen Brain Atlas is a World Wide Web-based, three-dimensional map plotting the regions in which 21,000 genes "express" themselves in the brain of the mouse, 90 percent of which are the same as in the human genes.
"This project is an unprecedented union of neuroscience and genomics," said Allen, whose 100 million dollars launched the project in 2003.
"The comprehensive information provided by the atlas will help lead scientists to new insights and propel the field of neuroscience forward dramatically," he said in a statement.
Because humans share more than 90 percent of their genes with mice, researchers can refer to the map to try to understand Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, epilepsy, schizophrenia, autism, addiction and other disorders affecting about 26 percent of US adults, some 58 million persons.
The map pinpoints regions in which certain genes are active, or "expressed," in the brain and links them to brain functions, most of which are the same in mammals.
"This is a multidisciplinary project of unprecedented scale," said Allan Jones, the Institute's scientific officer.
"It combines the scientific disciplines of math, physics, neuroscience and genomics to define where those 21,000 genes are expressed and activated in the brain. There's no other information set like this."
In the course of the study, researchers discovered that about 80 percent of genes are turned on in the brain, more than the 60-70 percent previously known.
In a related discovery, very few genes are turned on in only one region of the brain, providing opportunities for understanding benefits and side effects of brain treatments.
Access to the atlas is free to the general public and is found at www.alleninstitute.org.
Online 3D map tracks genes at work in mouse brain
<!-- END HEADLINE --><!-- BEGIN STORY BODY -->Wed Sep 27, 9:00 AM ET
A 3D map tracking genes at work in the mouse brain has been completed and posted online, a boon for researchers studying neurological disorders, the institute founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen announced.
The Allen Brain Atlas is a World Wide Web-based, three-dimensional map plotting the regions in which 21,000 genes "express" themselves in the brain of the mouse, 90 percent of which are the same as in the human genes.
"This project is an unprecedented union of neuroscience and genomics," said Allen, whose 100 million dollars launched the project in 2003.
"The comprehensive information provided by the atlas will help lead scientists to new insights and propel the field of neuroscience forward dramatically," he said in a statement.
Because humans share more than 90 percent of their genes with mice, researchers can refer to the map to try to understand Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, epilepsy, schizophrenia, autism, addiction and other disorders affecting about 26 percent of US adults, some 58 million persons.
The map pinpoints regions in which certain genes are active, or "expressed," in the brain and links them to brain functions, most of which are the same in mammals.
"This is a multidisciplinary project of unprecedented scale," said Allan Jones, the Institute's scientific officer.
"It combines the scientific disciplines of math, physics, neuroscience and genomics to define where those 21,000 genes are expressed and activated in the brain. There's no other information set like this."
In the course of the study, researchers discovered that about 80 percent of genes are turned on in the brain, more than the 60-70 percent previously known.
In a related discovery, very few genes are turned on in only one region of the brain, providing opportunities for understanding benefits and side effects of brain treatments.
Access to the atlas is free to the general public and is found at www.alleninstitute.org.