Israeli, US-based scientist create molecular 'Google map' of brain
The newfound technology will now enable scientists to enlarge tissues and detect the precise location of RNA molecules within them.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFToxoplasma gondii tissue is seen in a cyst in a mouse brain.(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A collaboration of researchers from Bar-Ilan University, Harvard University and MIT have created a molecular "Google map" of the brain.The newfound technology will now enable scientists to enlarge tissues and detect the precise location of RNA molecules within them.The molecules themselves are literally "blown-up" using expansion technology to create a visible picture for scientists to study and make their inferences from, presenting them in nanoscale resolution for clarity.The technology was created by merging two methods conceived by Harvard and MIT researchers six years ago. The Harvard researchers developed RNA mapping capabilities while the MIT researchers developed expansion technology.This could lead to the advancement of treatments for complex diseases such as Alzheimer's and cancer. For example, molecules of a healthy individual can now be compared side-by-side to that of a diseased individual – with the potential to reveal the cause of the disease.The location of molecules in the tissue affects processes such as learning and memory, and can clarify which molecules take part in these processes. Using the method, scientists can now determine if molecules or their location are damaged as a result of diseases such as Alzheimer's.It can also be used to detect the location of cancer cells within the tissue, relative to immune system cells, and their contents, since cancer cells tend to change their behavior depending on their neighboring cells."We now have a 'Google map' that allows measuring millions of RNA molecules within the tissue with nanoscale precision, without having to extract them as we did previously," said the study's lead author Dr. Shahar Alon of Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Engineering, Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center and Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials."Using expansion technology, researchers and medical doctors will be able to perform genomics analysis in 3D to obtain not only the identity of molecules, but also their location inside the tissue, and thus treat complex diseases better and more effectively," Alon said.The technology could be furthered even more by advances in the fields of image analysis, data analysis and genetics.The researchers published their findings on January 29 in the journal Science.
