EAGER: Enabling Discovery and Scientific Collaboration on Human Memory via the Web-Based Atlas and Tissue Bank for Patient H.M.'s Brain

对人类大脑中支持记忆功能的特定神经网络的认识源于病人H.M.的案例。1953年，他接受了实验性的内侧颞叶切除术，希望减少癫痫发作的频率和严重程度。手术在这方面是成功的，但意外地使他无法创造新的记忆。在50多年的时间里，H.M.参与了数百项实验，他的案例在数千份科学出版物中被讨论过。他的大脑中包含了理解记忆如何运作的线索；然而，精确地确定哪些结构受损是不可能的，因为即使是最新的神经成像也不能清楚地分辨出颞叶的解剖结构。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Jacopo Annese博士将完成一个“开源”的、基于网络的H.M.显微图谱他的大脑在死后被捐赠给了科学研究所。嵌入工具的地图集将支持教学课程的创建，使学生能够接触到来自多种模式的原始神经成像数据，尖端的大脑映射算法，基于网络的探索工具，所有这些都是在H.M.作为个体的临床和传记背景下进行的。通过该项目创建的网络基础设施有望使全世界的参与者能够发现神经科学。具体来说，Annese博士和他的研究团队将(1)提供一个专门的支持基础设施来维护和管理H.M.的网络地图集的大脑;(2)通过增加数字化组织学切片的数量，显著提高图谱的精度，达到每切片间隔1 mm（从每切片间隔3mm）；(3)获取并传送图像堆栈，实现远程定量研究；(4)实施新的网络工具，以便处理来自不同实验室的远程请求和结果管理；(5)将图像转换为可使用消费品进行3d打印的格式。这样的网络基础设施将为新的回顾性研究提供有价值的H.M.数据，这可能进一步改变我们目前对记忆如何在人脑中建立的看法，并使使用“虚拟显微镜”在细胞水平上进行定量分析成为可能。由此产生的图谱将被世界各地的研究人员利用，根据明确的解剖学证据，重新解释H.M.生前进行的数百次神经心理学检查的结果。

Knowledge of a specific neural network supporting memory function in the human brain stems from the case of patient H.M. who, in 1953 underwent an experimental medial temporal lobectomy in the hope of reducing the frequency and severity of his epileptic seizures. The operation was successful in that respect, but it unexpectedly left him incapable of creating new memories. For more than five decades, H.M. participated in hundreds of experiments and his case was discussed in thousands of scientific publications. His brain contained the clues to understand how memory works; however, determining with precision which structures were damaged was not possible because even the latest neuroimaging could not clearly resolve the anatomy of the temporal lobes. With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Jacopo Annese will complete an 'open source', web-based microscopic atlas of H.M.'s brain which was donated to science post-mortem. The tools-embedded atlas will support the creation of teaching curricula that will expose students to raw neuroimaging data from multiple modalities, cutting edge brain mapping algorithms, web-based exploration tools, all within the clinical and biographical context of H.M. as an individual. The cyber infrastructure created through this project is expected to enable discovery neuroscience by participants world wide. Specifically, Dr. Annese and his research team will (1) provide a dedicated support infrastructure to maintain and manage the web atlas for H.M.'s brain; (2) significantly increase the accuracy of the atlas by increasing the number of digitized histological slices to achieve 1 mm per slice interval (from 3mm interval); (3) acquire and deliver image stacks to enable remote quantitative studies; (4) implement new web tools to enable the handling of remote request and curation of results from different laboratories; (5) convert the images into formats that can be 3-D printed using consumer products. Such cyber infrastructure will make the valuable H.M. data available for new retrospective studies that may further change our current view of how memory is established in the human brain and enable quantitative analyses at the cellular level using a 'virtual microscope'. The resulting atlas will be used by researchers worldwide to re-interpret, based on clear anatomical evidence, the results from hundreds of neuropsychological exams conducted when H.M. was alive.