Sussex Neuroscience 4-year PhD programme www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/de...

Oops the original post was deleted! The news is here: bsky.app/profile/cham...

And here's the brain atlas link again, hopefully working this time: sites.google.com/view/snailbr...

sites.google.com/view/snailbr...

sites.google.com/view/snailbr...

Michael Crossley led the experimental work, supported by Anna Simon, @arndroth.bsky.social and
@enzomarra.bsky.social Thanks to @sussexneuro.bsky.social @leverhulme.bsky.social @ukri.org and @diamondlightsource.bsky.social for funding support. Thanks for reading! 10/10

Our approach should readily generalize to other model systems with comparable brain sizes (e.g. other molluscs, crustacea, annelids, insects). On its own, it won’t yield a full wiring diagram, but it does rapidly provide a detailed overview map for atlas building and comparative studies. 9/10

This provides the locations of principal feeding-circuit cell types, including motoneurons, CPG neurons and modulatory cells, alongside a detailed summary of their main functional properties. 8/10

We also brought together the anatomical mapping and functional information to establish the beginnings of a fully scalable functional cell atlas of the brain of Lymnaea stagnalis: sites.google.com/view/snailbr... 7/10

The consistent positioning of neurons across Lymnaea brains means the atlas can guide follow-up functional experiments. Targeting a non-superficial region led to the discovery of DINE (“Diamond Neuron”), an apt name 😜 because it activates the food ingestion circuitry. 6/10

The 3D reconstruction revealed the organization of neurons beneath the surface layer for the first time. It turns out around half the neurons (coloured orange) are non-superficial - a hidden world of circuit components that can now be studied. 5/10

We then used the excellent volume image-sharing, annotation, and reconstruction platform
@webknossos.org to fully reconstruct the buccal ganglia (one side is shown here) housing the main feeding circuitry, yielding the first accurate estimate of the total number of neurons: ~1100. 4/10

Michael Crossley led the experimental work, supported by Anna Simon, @arndroth.bsky.social and @enzomarra.bsky.social Thanks to @sussexneuro.bsky.social @leverhulme.bsky.social @ukri.org and @diamondlightsource.bsky.social for funding support. Thanks for reading! 10/10

Our approach should readily generalize to other model systems with comparable brain sizes (e.g. other molluscs, crustacea, annelids, insects). On its own, it won’t yield a full wiring diagram, but it does rapidly provide a detailed overview map for atlas building and comparative studies. 9/10

This provides the locations of principal feeding-circuit cell types, including motoneurons, CPG neurons and modulatory cells, alongside a detailed summary of their main functional properties. 8/10

We also brought together the anatomical mapping and functional information to establish the beginnings of a fully scalable functional cell atlas of the brain of Lymnaea stagnalis: sites.google.com/view/snailbr... 7/10

The consistent positioning of neurons across Lymnaea brains means the atlas can guide follow-up functional experiments. Targeting a non-superficial region led to the discovery of DINE (“Diamond Neuron”), an apt name 😜 because it activates the food ingestion circuitry. 6/10