Connectomics is the production and study of comprehensive maps of an organism’s nervous system. It uses high-throughput imaging and histological procedures to map neural connections – the underlying premise being that, to understand (and repair) a circuit, it is necessary to obtain its “wiring diagram”. Connectomic studies of cortical tissue show substantial promise to make advances in understanding brain disorders such as dementia, a major translational focus of the CDT in Neurotechnology for Life and Health.

The Centre for Neurotechnology has, thanks to equipment funds from the EPSRC, together with contributions from a number of research laboratories at Imperial, recently been able to establish a cellular resolution Connectomics Facility based on a TissueVision TissueCyte1000 serial two photon tomography platform. This platform allows axon tracing to be performed, with single cell resolution, in whole mouse brains, or large sections of a human brain.

The facility is open for use by any member of the Centre for Neurotechnology; to enquire about the equipment, please contact Simon Schultz.