Unfolded brain, MRI

Healthy human adult brain viewed from the side, tractography

Brain tractography

White matter innervation of the neocortex, MRI

Brocke and Wernicke areas of brain, MRI

Healthy adult human brain viewed from below, tractography

Healthy adult human brain viewed from above, tractography

Healthy adult human brain viewed from the side, deep dream

Healthy adult human brain viewed face on, tractography

Healthy brain, composite of tractography and MRI

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Bird's eye (superior) view of connections in the brain of a healthy 29 year old female human. The front of the brain is facing the right side of the image and the back of the brain is on the left. Brain cells communicate with each other through these nerve fibres, which have been visualised using diffusion imaging tractography. Diffusion weighted imaging is a specialised type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan which measures water diffusion in many directions in order to reconstruct the orientation of bundles of axons. Tractography is used to indirectly model these bundles of axons (nerve fibres), which transmit information between cortical regions at the brain's surface. Since these images are in 3D, colours have been used to represent the direction of the neural tracts. For example, connections that run from the motor cortex and somatosensory cortex down to the corticospinal tract in the brain stem are visible in blue/purple. The brain measures approximately 18 cm from front to back.

Side view of connections in the brain of a healthy 29 year old female human as interpreted by Google's Deep Dream software. The brain is viewed as if looking through the head from a person's right ear. The front of the brain is facing the right side of the image and the back of the brain is on the left. This image was created by first visualising nerve fibres in the brain using diffusion imaging tractography. The resulting image was then passed through Google's Deep Dream software. Diffusion weighted imaging is a specialised type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan which measures water diffusion in many directions in order to reconstruct the orientation of bundles of axons. Tractography is used to indirectly model these bundles of axons (nerve fibres), which transmit information between cortical regions at the brain's surface. The brain measures approximately 18 cm from front to back.

The image shows a reconstruction of the physical connections between the different regions in an adult human brain. Via these connections, brain activity can travel from one part of the brain to another. The data for this image was obtained using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging - a non-invasive neuroimaging method that allows us to build detailed representations of brain connections in vivo.

The geometry of these connections in the adult brain is of a daunting complexity. At the time of their formation, however, the brain is smaller and its shape simpler. To produce this image we deformed the brain in an attempt to recover this original simplicity. Using similar tools as those of ancient cartographers, we deformed the brain to combine multiple points of view into a single image showing the global structure of the brain's connections.		 	 	 		

The image shows a mercator transformation of the 3D space embedding a dense human brain tractography. The tractography was computed from high-angular resolution diffusion weighted imaging data. The unfolding was performed from a ventral point of view and shows the arrival of white matter fibres to the neocortex. The cerebellum is at the bottom of the image at the midline, immediately to the sides are the left and right temporal lobes, and the interhemispheric margin appears at the left and right borders of the image. One major fibre bundle has been selected for colorful representation of the inferior longitudinal fasciculus, which links the visual areas in the occipital lobe with those related to object recognition in the temporal lobe.



Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) is a neuroimaging technique where signal intensity at different brain regions is modulated by the local anisotropy of water diffusion. Using DWI data we can evaluate the existence of large white matter fibre bundles, estimate their local direction, and reconstruct their pathways. The resulting reconstruction of the macroscopic structure of brain connections is very complex. We developed a computer program which performs a mercator transformation of the reconstructed streamlines. Our aim was to simplify their geometry to obtain a more intuitive representation of the global brain connectivity.

Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus, tractography

The image shows a reconstruction of the physical connections between the different regions in an adult human brain. Via these connections, brain activity can travel from one part of the brain to another. The data for this image was obtained using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging - a non-invasive neuroimaging method that allows us to build detailed representations of brain connections in vivo.

The geometry of these connections in the adult brain is of a daunting complexity. At the time of their formation, however, the brain is smaller and its shape simpler. To produce this image the brain was deformed in an attempt to recover this original simplicity. Using similar tools as those of ancient cartographers, multiple points of view were combined into a single image showing the global structure of the brain's connections.		
 	 	 		

The image shows a mercator transformation of the 3D space embedding a dense human brain tractography. The tractography was computed from high-angular resolution diffusion weighted imaging data. The unfolding was performed from a ventral point of view and shows the arrival of white matter fibres to the neocortex. The cerebellum is at the bottom of the image at the midline, immediately to the sides are the left and right temporal lobes, and the interhemispheric margin appears at the left and right borders of the image. One major fibre bundle has been selected for colorful representation of the extreme capsule fibre system, which links the two most important language areas: Broca's area - related to language production, and Wernicke's area - related to language comprehension.

Connections in the brain of a healthy 29 year old female human viewed from the front, face on (anterior view). The top of the brain is at the top of the image. Brain cells communicate with each other through these nerve fibres, which have been visualised using diffusion imaging tractography. Diffusion weighted imaging is a specialised type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan which measures water diffusion in many directions in order to reconstruct the orientation of bundles of axons. Tractography is used to indirectly model these bundles of axons (nerve fibres), which transmit information between cortical regions at the brain's surface. For example, the bundles of fibres (tracts) closest to the viewer are travelling to the frontal lobe of the brain. Connections travelling from the corticospinal tract to the motor cortex are visible in blue/purple. The brain measures approximately 18 cm from front to back.

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Tractography

Images

Works

Healthy adult human brain viewed from above, tractography

Healthy adult human brain viewed from the side, deep dream

Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus, tractography

Brocke and Wernicke areas of brain, MRI

Healthy adult human brain viewed face on, tractography

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Wellcome uses cookies.

Tractography

Images

Works

Healthy adult human brain viewed from above, tractography

Healthy adult human brain viewed from the side, deep dream

Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus, tractography

Brocke and Wernicke areas of brain, MRI

Healthy adult human brain viewed face on, tractography

Wellcome Collection

Today’s opening times