Google Maps Male Fruit Fly Brain in Record-Breaking Connectome

Google Research has partnered with HHMI Janelia and collaborators to create the largest brain map to date, mapping the complete male fruit fly brain and central nervous system. The project, which took a decade to complete, includes over 166,000 neurons and 125 million synaptic connections.

The team used computing and AI to build cellular-scale maps of entire brains, advancing the field of connectomics. This new brain map complements the female fruit fly brain map, allowing researchers to compare the two and study differences in neurons between sexes.

The brain mapping process began with sectioning a brain into millions of thin slices, taking an image of each section, and using computers and AI to stitch the images together.