Connectomics — a technique that maps physical connections between neural cells — is expensive and inefficient. E11 Bio, a non-profit research group, is designing a tool to expedite progress.
One aspect of this connectomics progress that my PhD dissertation is centered around is what connectomics + large language models means for the future of brain research. The richness of connectomics data allows you to perform purely computational hypothesis testing. This means you can come up with a theory, and come up with a structurally-based testable hypothesis, and then test it, without ever having to put in the time and resources for a physical experiment.
The current crop of large language models is rapidly advancing in their ability to generate bioinformatics code, and useful hypotheses. This means that in the future you will be able to propose some high-level theory about how some part of the brain functions. Then you would press a button and instantly have 100 or 1,000 hypotheses tested, get a report of which hypotheses have falsified your theory, and then go back to the drawing board and build a more robust theory, all without expending significant time or resources.
This would be huge for the acceleration of brain research. I am building out a proof-of-concept of this system for the fruit fly connectome, but my long-term career-level goal is to be able to implement this system on the mouse, and eventually human connectome as the data continues to be developed.
Yeah I believe this was confused with the idea that the resolution of the image is set by the wavelength of the electron (and the aperture of the imaging system). The FlyWire dataset, for instance, has nanometer-scale resolution
"FlyWire’s reconstruction is based on a full adult fly brain (FAFB) dataset9 of 4 × 4 × 40 nm^3 images acquired by serial section transmission electron microscopy (ssTEM)"
Couple of things though... "...structure determines function..." that's bit of an outdated concept now days, even in neuroscience. It's actually-
LIGHT determines both structure AND function. 😉
As for brain disorders, like Bipolar I&II, Alzheimer's, Dementia, etc- these are also "light disorders", specifically influenced by circadian rhythms, so E11 Bio's director should look into the effects of light if he really wants to understand those diseases.
I think its a worthy investment in E11Bio, particularly in the new climate of politics in USA, but personally, I think it will end up exactly like the Human genome project- outdated (and fairly irrelevant) before it even finishes! BTJMO😉
Great investment and or research impact for the Tech Bro's though...🤔😉
One aspect of this connectomics progress that my PhD dissertation is centered around is what connectomics + large language models means for the future of brain research. The richness of connectomics data allows you to perform purely computational hypothesis testing. This means you can come up with a theory, and come up with a structurally-based testable hypothesis, and then test it, without ever having to put in the time and resources for a physical experiment.
The current crop of large language models is rapidly advancing in their ability to generate bioinformatics code, and useful hypotheses. This means that in the future you will be able to propose some high-level theory about how some part of the brain functions. Then you would press a button and instantly have 100 or 1,000 hypotheses tested, get a report of which hypotheses have falsified your theory, and then go back to the drawing board and build a more robust theory, all without expending significant time or resources.
This would be huge for the acceleration of brain research. I am building out a proof-of-concept of this system for the fruit fly connectome, but my long-term career-level goal is to be able to implement this system on the mouse, and eventually human connectome as the data continues to be developed.
great piece! one question:
> The resultant images — black and white and just a single electron in width — prove challenging to read.
can this be true? an image surely can't be a single electron in width
Yeah I believe this was confused with the idea that the resolution of the image is set by the wavelength of the electron (and the aperture of the imaging system). The FlyWire dataset, for instance, has nanometer-scale resolution
"FlyWire’s reconstruction is based on a full adult fly brain (FAFB) dataset9 of 4 × 4 × 40 nm^3 images acquired by serial section transmission electron microscopy (ssTEM)"
thank you for the clarification!
Very interesting and overall good piece😊
Couple of things though... "...structure determines function..." that's bit of an outdated concept now days, even in neuroscience. It's actually-
LIGHT determines both structure AND function. 😉
As for brain disorders, like Bipolar I&II, Alzheimer's, Dementia, etc- these are also "light disorders", specifically influenced by circadian rhythms, so E11 Bio's director should look into the effects of light if he really wants to understand those diseases.
I think its a worthy investment in E11Bio, particularly in the new climate of politics in USA, but personally, I think it will end up exactly like the Human genome project- outdated (and fairly irrelevant) before it even finishes! BTJMO😉
Great investment and or research impact for the Tech Bro's though...🤔😉
What do you mean by "LIGHT determines both structure and function"? Do you mean literal light? I've never heard of the concept before.