Sten Linnarsson
Professor of Molecular Systems Biology
Department of Medical Biochemistry & Biophysics
Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Molecular Anatomy of the Mouse Brain by Single-cell RNA-seq
The brain is arguably the most complex organ in all biology. To understand how it works, at a minimum, we need to learn how it’s built: what are the components, how are they connected, and how do they talk to each other? With the recent development of single-cell RNA-seq, it’s become increasingly feasible to map the cell types of the brain without the use of predefined markers. Recently, we applied this strategy to the mouse cortex and hippocampus and discovered a total of 47 cell types, including novel types of neurons, glia and vascular cells. Generalizing this strategy, it will be possible to create a complete molecular anatomy of the mouse brain – that is, a complete and detailed inventory of the parts from which a brain is built.
