A collection of studies that chart how mammalian brain cells grow and differentiate is a \u2018very valuable\u2019 tool for neuroscientists.<\/p>\n
Developing human brain tissue containing rosette structures (pink and blue) surrounded by neurons (green).Credit: Nano et al.\/Nature Neurosci.; Jose Soto\/Bhaduri Lab\/UCLA<\/p>\n
Scientists have created the most detailed maps yet of how our brains differentiate from stem cells during embryonic development and early life. In a Nature collection including five papers published yesterday, researchers tracked hundreds of thousands of early brain cells in the cortices of humans and mice, and captured with unprecedented precision the molecular events that give rise to a mixture of neurons and supporting cells.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really the initial first draft of any \u2018cell atlases\u2019 for the developing brain,\u201d says Hongkui Zeng, executive vice-president director of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, Washington, and a co-author of two papers in the collection.<\/p>\n