Coherent, bright and focused light to resolve neural circuits

One of the grand quests in neuroscience is to build complete maps of the brain, charting all of its cells and the connections between them. Such wiring diagrams, called connectomes, promise to shed light on how networks of neurons can give rise to thoughts, memories, and actions, and to help reveal the underlying causes of neurological diseases. However, due to the scale of mammalian brains new technologies are needed to comprehensively map them. In our previous LTP (LS2892, 2021-2023), we established X-ray coherent microscopy as a new technique for mapping of large tissue samples. We propose extending our LTP to use the techniques we recently developed to map several brain regions with unprecedented detail, including the neocortex, cerebellum, and hypothalamus. These datasets will reveal fundamental organizational principles of brain networks, and further establish X-ray microscopy as a critical technique for global efforts to completely map mammalian brains.