
Zeiss Sigma VP 3View Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscope
Kingsley Boateng, Tom Bargar, and Anna Dunaevsky
Anna Dunaevsky Laboratory
Funded by the National Institutes of Health
The central focus of this image is a 3D reconstruction of the connections between the two major cell types in the brain, neuron, and glia. As the brain develops, connections between cells are constantly forming, changing, and disappearing as new information and motor skills are learned. Difficulties with motor skill learning are common in children with autism and other developmental disorders; a close investigation of how these connections form and change during motor skill learning can help us better understand these disorders.