Dr Dimitri Perrin, QUT : "Whole-brain 3D imaging and quantitative analysis"
Speaker:
Dr Dimitri Perrin
Senior Lecturer, Biomedical Data Science Group, Queensland University of Technology
Title: "Whole-brain 3D imaging and quantitative analysis"
Abstract: Slicing a brain damages it, and computational reconstruction is slow and error-prone. Yet, until recently it was the only way to investigate complex brain functions at the level of individual cells: lipids make the brain opaque, and tools like EEG and fMRI only allow measurements of cell groups or indirect observation of overall activity patterns. Tissue clearing, by contrast, removes these lipids and allows high-resolution whole-brain imaging, therefore preserving important structures. Initially clearing was incomplete, or rapidly quenched the fluorescence proteins used to monitor cell activity. Several methods have now addressed this, and are efficient on the brain and most other organs. Clearing is only the first step: the value is in the quantitative analysis of the samples. In this presentation, I will give an overview of the CUBIC clearing and imaging protocol, and will discuss how the data is processed and analysed to identify region-specific neuron activation patterns in the brain.
About Neuroscience Seminars
Neuroscience seminars at the QBI play a major role in the advancement of neuroscience in the Asia-Pacific region. The primary goal of these seminars is to promote excellence in neuroscience through the exchange of ideas, establishing new collaborations and augmenting partnerships already in place.
Seminars in the QBI Auditorium on Level 7 are held on Wednesdays at 12-1pm, which are sometimes simulcast on Zoom (with approval from the speaker). We also occassionally hold seminars from international speakers via Zoom. The days and times of these seminars will vary depending on the time zone of the speaker. Please see each seminar listed below for details.