PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS

     The Marmoset Brain CONNECTS project aims to establish an integrated experimental-computational platform to create the first comprehensive brain-wide mesoscale connectivity map in anon-human primate. It will do so by tracing axonal projections of RNA barcode-identified neurons brain-wide in the marmoset, utilizing a sequencing-based imaging method (Starmap) that also permits simultaneous transcriptomic cell typing of the identified neurons. This will help bridge the gap between brain-wide mesoscale connectivity data available for the mouse from a decade of mapping efforts using modern techniques and the absence of comparable data in humans and NHP. 

     This project brings together new viral barcode-based approaches (e.g. Starmap) with established tracer-injection based methods to collect an unprecedented data set which will permit comprehensive mapping of region-to-region axonal projections in the marmoset brain with cell-type specificity, apply this data to scientific questions regarding how brain connectivity differs between primates and rodents, address the relation between MRI-derived measures to ground-truth connectivity, and utilize web-based tools to engage the research community in annotating and using the resulting data. A diverse team of world-leading experts and pioneers in the problem domain who are already collaborating, spanning diverse institutions (MIT, Broad Institute, CSHL, UCLA) and disciplines (Neuroscience & Neuroanatomy, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics), and equipped with outstanding facilities and resources, will come together to assemble the enabling platform.