posted on May, 24 2010 @ 06:03 PM
I thought I would pass this along to anyone as interested in genetics/genomics as I am. A new anatomy and genetics atlas of the brain has been brought
online, allowing users to visualize activity for any gene they wish across all regions of the brain. This is especially useful when exploring what
effects a given defect or mutation might have in neurologic function.
Mouse and Human Brain Maps
Just as a quick example, here's the brain expression profile for a gene I helped sequence in mice a few years ago:
Human activity of CDKN1B/p27 - You can see from the microarray data that it's highly active in the
limbic lobe (LL), and almost entirely inactive in the cerebellum.
You can also see a more
anatomically representative view of this data by using the "Mouse Brain"
link on the front page. The image I've linked to is using the same gene (cdkn1b/p27) and is a coronal slice through a more posterior portion of the
brain. You can see, the very dark purple staining region near the center of the brain (the limbic lobes) show a high level of activity, with the rest
of the brain showing relatively little, which is exactly what the human brain data showed in the first link.
Sorry if this isn't as interesting to others as it is to me...I just think this is an absolutely wonderful resource, both for furthering intricate
genetic research, as well as helping the general public understand the interplay between genetics and overall body functioning.