Elsevier launches ‘brain GPS’
- 15 July 2009
Elsevier has launched BrainNavigator, an online, interactive, 3D software tool described as similar to a GPS tool for the brain.
BrainNavigator maps brain images and anatomy, helping researchers, especially neuroscientists, save time and improve the quality of their research.
The neuroscience research tool helps locate the position of structures within the brain, similar to a GPS system, making visualization and understanding of the brain easier
BrainNavigator was developed in collaboration with the Allen Institute for Brain Science and under the editorship of Professor George Paxinos and Charles Watson, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, Sydney.
After unveiling the prototype version at the Society for Neuroscience’s Neuroscience 2008 tradeshow last November, the rodent brain version is now available at www.brainnav.com. Releases for other species are planned.
BrainNavigator is a collaboration between Elsevier and the Allen Institute for Brain Science, pairing Elsevier’s vast neuroscience content with technology derived from Allen Institute’s cutting-edge Brain Explorer 3D software.
All users will be able to browse images and structures. Paid subscribers get the benefit of using high resolution images, adjustable virtual slicing and have the ability to annotate and save their work and share it with their colleagues globally.
Traditionally, researchers use print atlases to help them identify structures, for example when viewing brain tissue under a microscope. Now, with BrainNavigator, which combines atlas maps in one easy-to-navigate web-based system, researchers can view detailed images of each brain section.
Brain images are no longer only shown as flat maps but also as objects with depth. A particular advance is the facility to create virtual sections from the 3D brain model at very high detail and quality to mimic the real situation in the biological tissue in the laboratory.
“Neuroscientists indicated a need for an easy-to-use online system that would allow them to browse, compare and label high-resolution material as well as create virtual sections,” said Johannes Menzel, publisher of science solutions and content strategy at Elsevier. He said BrainNavigator offered these features combined with the ability to collaborate online.
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