Taipei Times
Taiwanese researchers at a biotechnology fair in Taipei have showcased the initial results of their efforts to map fruit flies’ brains, which they said will pave the way for mapping the human brain to find treatments for diseases that cannot be cured today.
“Just like humans, fruit flies can also suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism,” said Chiang Ann-shyn (江安世), director of National Tsing Hua University’s Brain Research Center, on the sidelines of the Bio Taiwan fair that runs from Thursday to today.
More understanding
“When we understand the neural circuits of a fruit fly’s brain, we will be able to know which neuronal cells or genes go wrong and then fix them,” he said.
Chiang, in charge of the project, said the research team’s Âtechnology allows 3D visualization of internal structures at cellular and sub-cellular levels, with high resolution and without tissue embedding and sectioning.
The same concept can be applied to eventually mapping and understanding the human brain, Chiang said.   more …
