A scalable computational framework for large-scale imaging of neural circuits

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre 

The NIH BRAIN Initiative Connectivity across Scales (CONNECTS) program was launched in 2023 to produce wiring diagrams of mammalian brains at unprecedented resolutions. Here we report on data standardization, integration, and visualization efforts in the center for Large-scale Imaging of Neural Circuits (LINC), a CONNECTS-funded consortium focused on the macaque and human brain. The LINC center will scale up novel optical and X-ray microscopy techniques to image a large brain volume (~12/360 cc in macaque/human) that contains cortico-subcortical projections targeted by neuromodulation for motor and psychiatric disorders. This volume will be imaged with: polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT; Liu, 2023) at 6μm; lightsheet microscopy (LSM; Voleti, 2019) at 0.6μm; and hierarchical phase-contrast tomography (HiP-CT; Walsh, 2021) at 0.87-17μm. Mesoscopic diffusion MRI (dMRI; Huang, 2021) in the same brains will provide the link to noninvasive neuroimaging.