Mouse Resources: Anatomy & Development

A combination of RNA in situ hybridization data, detailed Reference Atlases and informatics analysis tools are integrated to provide a searchable digital atlas of gene expression. Together, these resources present a comprehensive online platform for exploration of the brain at the cellular and molecular level.

Building upon the foundation established by the original Allen Mouse Brain Atlas, the Allen Developing Mouse Brain Atlas provides a framework to explore temporal and spatial regulation of gene expression, effectively a 4D atlas, with a highly accessible and easily navigable free online database. This Atlas offers gene expression data across seven new developmental stages.

The general goals of the High Resolution Brain Atlas project are 1) to construct atlases of the brain of the mouse, an animal that is becoming increasingly important for neuroscience, particularly because of its position as the mammal of choice in genetic research, and 2) to use the brain of this small, relatively inexpensive and readily available animal as the test case on which to work out issues of capture and integration of multidisciplinary data, of 3D reconstruction from serial slices, and of data dissemination, in the expectation that the lessons learned will become applicable directly to the much larger normal and diseased human brain.