Village of neurons 5
Village of neurons 5
Byunguk Kang, Egun Im, Nhan Huynh, Michael Murphy, Samouil L. Farhi, Ernest Fraenkel
MIT Department of Biological Engineering
This "village" on a dish showcases neurons with various genetic backgrounds, and is used to study neuronal morphology and health. The image was taken to characterize the effect of knocking down (reduced expression) genes associated with Huntington’s disease and aging-associated neurodegeneration. Researchers characterized how different genetic backgrounds influence neuron’s morphology such as neurite length and arborization (degree of branching). Furthermore, the team was also able to characterize pathways associated with genetic perturbations, by pairing images with their phenotyping antibodies (response to stress, organelle morphology, etc).