Human and Artificial Intelligence Join Forces to Study Complexity of the Brain

A team of scientists lead by prof. Stein Aerts (VIB-KU Leuven) is the first to map the gene expression of each individual brain cell during aging, though they started small: with the brain of a fruit fly. Their'cell atlas' provides unprecedented insights into the workings of the brain as it ages. Published today in the scientific journal Cell, the atlas is heralded as an important first step in the development of techniques that can help us gain a better understanding of human disease development. The brain of a fruit fly consists of some 100,000 different cells, and although that makes it much smaller than the human brain, it contains hundreds of different types of neurons and other cells forming a complex network, much like the human brain.