The Department of Structural and Functional Organization of the Brain (INM-1) is developing a three-dimensional digital atlas of the human brain. For this purpose, areas of the cerebral cortex, subcortical core areas, as well as fiber webs in post-mortem brains are mapped. In order to do justice to the enormous complexity of the human brain, our approach consists in the integration of cyto- and receptorarchitectural, genetic and functional as well as PLI-based maps into a multi-modal atlas of the brain. For this purpose, we develop methods for image analysis and 3D reconstruction, artificial neural networks and big-data analysis with supercomputing.
The „BigBrain“, an ultra-high resolution brain model, and the Julich-Brain, a cytoarchitectural atlas reflecting variations in brain structure, are results of our research.We make our brain maps available to the scientific community. They are part of the HBP Human Brain Atlas and can be merged with neuroimaging data via the Anatomy Toolbox.
With our research we want to contribute to understanding the basics of mental abilities and to identify the underlying mechanisms and structures.
