responsible for controlling complex movement.
This atlas applies equally to mice, monkeys and
humans. The motor cortex became the region of
focus as a first step toward more comprehensive
brain inventories because it is both well studied
and similar across species. Called the Brain
Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN), the
group comprises the efforts of many labs,
spearheaded by the Allen Institute for Brain
Science in Seattle. The findings, described
in 17 papers in Nature, represent a re -
source that will accelerate efforts to
understand brain function and provide
insight into brain diseases and disorders.
The project used the widest range of
tools for probing brain cells ever brought
to bear in a single, coordinated effort.
Studies document how these tools
measure different cellular properties, and
a flagship paper describes the integration
of data from 11 companion papers, to
produce a cross-species atlas of cell types.
A few studies push beyond the motor cortex
in the mouse to detail other regions and brain
networks. Still other studies ask questions
about how human brains are shaped by evolution
and during early development.
The research relied heavily on “genomic” technolo-
gies, such as “transcriptomics,” which measures gene
activity by sequencing RNA molecules in different cell
Allen Institute for Brain ScienceNEWS
Sunburst plot of the taxonomy of different cells from the mouse motor cortex.
Cell classes, subclasses and types are displayed from inner to outer rings.