For decades, neuroscientists have faced a trade-off in studying the brain: zoom in for cellular detail, or zoom out to see the big picture. Now, a new platform at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry is collapsing that divide - capturing both microscopic precision and whole-brain context in a single, unified view.
Ali Khan (Schulich Medicine & Dentistry)
With a $2.9-million investment from Brain Canada, the new Mesoscopic Integrated Neuroimaging Data (MIND) Platform will allow scientists to explore the brain in unprecedented detail, from whole-brain architecture to microscopic cellular changes.
Powered by two advanced technologies - 15.2 Tesla MRI and light sheet microscopy - the platform creates high-resolution images of brain structure and activity. While MRI captures images of living brains and their structure, light sheet microscopy allows researchers to image entire brain samples with striking clarity - revealing the pathological hallmarks of disease, such as amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's.
"For the first time, we can examine the entire brain, connect microscopic pathology with large-scale networks, and explore how disease spreads," said Ali Khan, a professor of medical biophysics. "It's a powerful step forward in understanding - and eventually treating - neurological disorders."
Khan, Canada Research Chair in Computational Neuroimaging, is the project lead for the MIND platform.
With its open science framework, custom-built software and adoption of global data standards, the platform is also poised to fuel collaboration across institutions and disciplines. Through an online portal, scientists around the world will be able to submit samples and analyze data using sophisticated, cloud-based tools, without the need for specialized equipment on-site.
Combining MRI and whole brain microscopy requires a multidisciplinary team of computational neuroscientists, physicists, microscopists and biologists working together.
"Western is internationally recognized for its strengths in neuroimaging, with a long history of innovation and collaboration," said Robert Bartha, vice-dean of research and innovation at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. "The MIND Platform builds on that foundation, pairing powerful imaging technologies with open science to push the boundaries of how we explore and understand the brain."
The MIND Platform is a multidisciplinary effort led by Khan and Schulich professors Marco Prado and Corey Baron. It's supported by the Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, MouseTRAP (Mouse Translation Research Accelerator Platform) and TRIDENT (TRanslational Initiative to DE-risk NeuroTherapeutics), as well as recent investments from Canada Foundation for Innovation and Ontario Research Fund.
