
Hydrogel process developed at Stanford creates transparent brain  - theoutlander
http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2013/april/clarity.html
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robot
This is a very impressive (yet simple) methodology in that before this there
was no understanding of where certain neurons were projecting in the brain,
due to the fat tissue blocking any imaging possibilities. After this many
connections were uncovered that were not well understood for years.

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hodder
<http://longbets.org/1/>

"Second, this phenomenon of ongoing exponential growth through a cascade of
S-curves is far broader than computation. We see the same double exponential
growth in a wide range of technologies, including communication technologies
(wired and wireless), biological technologies (e.g., DNA base-pair
sequencing), miniaturization, and of particular importance to the software of
intelligence, brain reverse engineering (e.g., brain scanning, neuronal and
brain region modeling)." -Kurzweil

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jmatthis
A video explaining and showing the technique:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-NMfp13Uug>

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solox3
Whole organ decellularization is not new - we've had transparent heart ECMs
for quite some time. By loading the brain here with monomers, they kill the
organ, whereas you can still use the transparent heart if you reload it with
cells. Similar thing, different purposes.

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RVijay007
Just to clarify, this is not whole organ decellularization. The brain tissue,
with it's neurons, glia, ECM, are left all in tact, along with their proteins,
mRNA, etc.

Now, instead of having to slice the brain into micrometer slices just to
understand architecture at a localized level, you can understand the
architecture of the whole brain's network down to the cellular level, as well
as do both immunohistochemistry and in-situ hybridization to probe what kind
of proteins and molecular markers are present throughout the brain. This is
nothing short of a revolution in experimental technique not only for
neuroscience, but all of pathology.

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slacka
This is huge for the fields of AI and Neuroscience. I would gladly donate my
brain( preferably when I'm done with it) to give neuroscientists a map of the
human brain. This map would be a great first step to creating strong AI.

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kragen
Summary: infuse brain with hydrogel monomers, polymerize to form permeable
polymer matrix, remove lipids with vigorous electrophoresis, bingo,
transparent brain.

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ritonlajoie
do you think they are going to try to do it on a live mouse brain?

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graycat
Boy, sounds like that process would result in one super Excedrin headache
number 195,455,223,391. Go ahead. I'll give up my place in line. You first!

