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Indian scientists produce most detailed 3D atlas of the human brainstem

100 points

by BaudouinVH

6 hours ago

| past

| 4 comments

| bbc.com

| HN

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iandanforth

2 hours ago

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The article sometimes makes it sound like this is a diagnostic tool but am I wrong in thinking it's a reference constructed from a small number of individuals?

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deskamess

9 minutes ago

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Correct...

"Anchor is not a diagnostic tool. Instead, its greatest value lies in the questions it could help answer."

and

"Users can zoom from the whole brainstem seen on MRI down to individual neurons while maintaining their precise spatial relationships."

Thats pretty cool. The diagnosis/evaluation is still in the hands of another entity (doctor/scientist/AI assistant). More samples (via end of life donations) would help understanding, early diagnosis, and hopefully/eventually cures.

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pchangr

1 hour ago

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my understanding is that they took 3 specimens, aged 25 gestational weeks, 9 and 54 years old.. did “800 serial histological sections” and manually tagged them. But you can check out the information yourself here: https://anchor.humanbrain.in/

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rramadass

3 hours ago

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You can see the 3d atlas videos at the project website online - https://anchor.humanbrain.in/

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21asdffdsa12

3 hours ago

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+1 for indian public funded science being publicly available and feeling the need to justify their existence by explaining what they do to the public.

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porridgeraisin

40 minutes ago

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Other publications from the same place:

https://iitm.humanbrain.in/project.html

notably:

https://brainportal.humanbrain.in/publicview/index.html

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CubicalOrange

2 hours ago

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> The researchers have made the atlas freely available online

fuck yes. finally someone not gatekeeping lifesaving technologies so they can make shit ton of money out of it.

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pchangr

1 hour ago

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I believe this is how most publicly funded research and some private research institutes work. This research was conducted by a public Indian university (IIT Madras). Which, by the way is literally more selective than IVY league universities

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hsb3

1 hour ago

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Doesnt matter how selective they are if the Budget of 1 MIT is $5 Billion while the budget of all 23 IIT is less than $1 Billion. There is a reason why so many Indian scientists move out of India.

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porridgeraisin

35 minutes ago

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This particular lab happens to be primarily privately funded, donations, grants, etc,. Most big ticket research at IITM like this one are industry-funded or donation-funded. The public funds cover all the usual stuff and I don't mean to understate it.