The problem of integrating new information about the brain with existing knowledge is expanding exponentially. This project addresses the problem by creating a Brain Information Management System (BIMS) to make both kinds of information readily available to scientists, clinicians and students on the World Wide Web. Since most knowledge about the human brain is based on studies of nonhuman primates, the information is indexed to a computerized Template Atlas of the macaque brain which we established on the Web last year. In 1998 we greatly enhanced the website by adding NeuroNames, a glossary of brain structures developed in our laboratory and incorporated into the Unified Medical Language System of the National Library of Medicine. NeuroNames brings a new level of standardization to neuroscientific research by defining more than 7,000 classical neuroanatomical names in terms of a standard set of primary brain structures. These are illustrated in the nonhuman primate by links to the Template Atlas and in the human by links to another website, the Digital Anatomist of the Dept. of Biological Structure at the University of Washington. Future expansion of the BIMS was furthered by application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software to managing image information about the brain. Some 1500 illustrations from the literature were mapped to templates in the Atlas to display in a standard format the location of many kinds of neuroscientific data, e.g., particular kinds of nerve cell, areas of specific gene expression, and sites where electrical stimulation, chemical treatment or lesions influence specific aspects of behavior. In addition, original data for mapping were generated in a microscopic study of the distribution of type-1 adenylyl cyclase in the hippocampus of the macaque. FUNDING NIH grants RR00166 and LM/OD 06243. Bowden, D.M., Robertson, J.E., Dubach, J., Martin, R.F. (1998) NeuroNames/Template Atlas/Brain Information; Neurosciences Div., Regional Primate Research Center, University of Washington. (Website http://rprcsgi.rprc.washington.edu/neuronames/; contents equivalent to 500 page text) Robertson, J.E., Martin, R.F. Dubach, J.G. and Bowden, D.M. NeuroNames and the Template Atlas. WebNet '98 World Conference of the WWW, Internet & Intranet, Orlando, FL. November 7-12, 1998. (Abstract) Bowden, D.M., Martin, R.F., Robertson, J.E., and J.G. Dubach. NeuroNames and a template atlas of the macaque brain. Soc. for Neuroscience, 1998 Ann. Meeting. Los Angeles, CA. Nov. 7-12, 1998. (Abstract)
Showing the most recent 10 out of 320 publications
