Tracking embryonic development and neural activity software

NIH researchers prestigious journals "eLife" Ryan PatrickChristensen published jointly develop a new open software that helps trace nematode entire embryonic development and nerve cell activity of the body. Currently, biologists have some understanding of the brain, but there are many details yet to be revealed. An important challenge is to determine the complex neural structures in the human brain consists of billions of cells. Since there are many challenges biology, the researchers first simple organisms (eg nematodes), a study of this issue.
While scientists have identified a number of important proteins, they determine how neurons located in the brain formation process, however, all of these proteins in living organisms is how interactions is largely unknown. Model animal - even though they different from humans, has revealed a lot of information about human physiology because they are more simple and easier to understand. In this case, the researchers chose Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), because it has only 302 neurons, of which 222 are nematode or when an embryo is formed. Although some of these neurons locate nematode nerve ring (brain), they also spread along the ventral nerve cord, which is substantially the same as the human spinal cord. Nematode protein even has its own version, in more complex organisms (fruit flies, mice, or humans), these same proteins are used to guide the formation of the brain.