Collaborative Research: Accessing Comparative Brain Collections

合作研究：访问比较性大脑收藏

• 批准号: 9528326
• 负责人: John Johnson
• 金额: $ 5.45万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1995
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1995-09-01 至 1998-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9528326&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Accessing; Comparative; Brain

This collaborative project integrates and makes more accessible for research two major collections of comparative vertebrate brain material. These collections, at the University of Wisconsin and at Michigan State University, contain over 275 sectioned and stained brains representing more than 150 species, from 50 taxonomic families from 17 different orders of mammals, selected for their research and evolutionary significance. These brain libraries, containing more than half a million sections mounted on microscope slides, are unique and priceless, involving a preparation investment of millions of dollars over decades. They are the largest collection of their kind in the world prepared by standardized techniques, and contain samples from many rare and now endangered species that could never be duplicated. This project will enhance the accessibility of these samples for neuroscience research and education. New optical and electronic techniques are used to produce a catalog of the collections to publicize and promote the availability of this material for study. Production of this catalog, and subsequent transfer of the two collections together to the Washington DC area to join other major collections of human brain specimens, will be first steps toward integrating a major neuroscience resource in a single site, with adequate research facilities. Further plans include electronic dissemination of the catalog internationally, to allow some study of the general appearance and overall organization of a variety of brains, and decisions about whether to visit the collections themselves for more detailed direct study. The preservation, stabilization and centralization of these valuable specimen will have a major long-term impact beyond simply comparative neuroscience, and will provide a unique contribution by NSF to the Decade of the Brain.

该协作项目集成并使研究更容易用于研究脊椎动物脑材料的两个主要集合。 这些收藏在威斯康星大学和密歇根州立大学，其中包含275多个分割和染色的大脑，代表150多种物种，来自17个不同哺乳动物的50个分类家庭，从17种不同的哺乳动物中选出，他们的研究和进化意义。 这些大脑图书馆包含在显微镜幻灯片上安装的超过500万个部分，是独特而无价的，涉及数十年来数百万美元的准备投资。 它们是由标准化技术编制的世界上最大的收藏品，并且包含许多稀有且濒临灭绝的物种的样品，这些物种永远无法复制。 该项目将增强这些样本对神经科学研究和教育的可及性。 新的光学技术和电子技术用于生产集合的目录，以宣传和促进该材料的可用性。 该目录的生产以及随后将这两个藏品一起转移到华盛顿特区，以加入其他主要的人脑标本集合，将是将主要神经科学资源整合到单个站点的第一步，并将其与足够的研究设施相结合。 进一步的计划包括对国际目录的电子传播，以允许对各种大脑的一般外观和整体组织进行一些研究，以及关于是否访问收藏品本身进行更详细的直接研究的决定。 这些有价值标本的保存，稳定和集中化将在简单的比较神经科学之外产生重大的长期影响，并将提供NSF对大脑十年的独特贡献。