Visualizing a Worm's Neural Network
Apr 21, 2009, 11:17p - Science
For almost a year and a half, I've been working in Bob Horvitz' lab at MIT studying the nematode C. elegans. A microscopic worm of diminutive proportions (weighing in at only 1 millimeter in length), a single creature is just smaller than the size of an eyelash. These worms have been studied since the 1970s and much is known ... more »
Read comments (17) - Comment
Sundar
- Apr 22, 2009, 6:31p
Very cool, nice to see you doing great work. thanks for the chrome plug:)
Ruggero
- May 15, 2009, 12:46a
Simply fantastic.
Matej
- Sep 5, 2009, 4:33p
I'm involved in neural networks in computing (artificial NN in chips) and this is very interesting for me.. Nice!
Carlos
- Nov 30, 2009, 4:10a
Excellent iniciative!
Diablo
- Sep 5, 2010, 2:13p
Interesting.
Drew Barfield
- Oct 6, 2010, 2:12p
Awesome. A very useful tool.
Gokul Rajan
- Nov 16, 2010, 7:59p
This is simply fantastic! Now i know how your engineering skills are helping you here! :) great work!
Jason Toy
- Jan 30, 2012, 11:00p
great work
jaronimoe
- Jul 19, 2012, 12:35p
Hey nice work!
Did you by any chance publish an article about this tool of yours at a conference?
I would rather cite an article than a webpage ;)
nikhil
- Jul 21, 2012, 9:31p
Nope, no article yet. It's still a work in progress, and there are a few more features I want to add. I'll post a link here if I publish it in the old-school way.
What's wrong with citing a webpage?
jaronimoe
- Jul 24, 2012, 5:30a
There's nothing wrong with citing a webpage but my university prefers literature citations since articles are reviewed and webpages "grow in the wild" - e.g. anybody could state anything on a webpage.
But since I'm citing a visualization application and not some scientific statements it should be no problem.
Thanks again!
jaronimoe
- Jul 24, 2012, 5:36a
I forgot to ask:
what does the size of the arrow tip represent?
nikhil
- Jul 26, 2012, 8:26a
The size of the arrow is proportional to the number of chemical synapses between two neurons.
Likewise, the size of the orange bar is proportional to the number of gap junctions between the two neurons.
Often we assume that the more synapses that exist between a pair of neurons, the more likely the neurons are functionally connected. But this isn't necessarily the case, just a place to start thinking.
Harry C. Pedersen
- May 7, 2015, 5:09p
Good job! But why such a complicated organism? Why not some thing with only a single neuron? Yes, I know , it is not a "net", but, it does interact, with the environment, in some simple way. And it interacts, with the parent organism, in some way. Hopefully a simple to understand way. The knowledge thus gained, may just pave the way, to a little more complicated network, one, perhaps with 2 neurons. Thus, at last, we come to a neural nat work.But, with some use full knowledge. And maybe, if we are lucky, some sensible rules. This, is, of course, just a suggestion. I am not an expert, or any thing , but, may i suggest a possible starting point? The single celled organism, known as the "euglena
". these things operate as plants, when light is present, but act as animals, when light, is absent.How this happens, is not as simple, as it at first appears. Yes , the chlorophyl molecule, can act as a switch. But, what exactly gets switched? I asked this question , in high school biology class, and got booted out, as a "wise guy. But I guess my timing was off, as this was 1957, and I have to assume, that no one was quite ready to answer such questions, back then. At any rate, thanks for hearing me out. Harry
Nic
- Sep 9, 2021, 2:23a
Is this model now basically complete, in terms of the basic connectome?
nikhil
- Sep 9, 2021, 7:50a
The model is complete. However, as researchers generate and/or analyze new datasets, new and different connections are being found. See Cook..Emoons 2019. Whole-animal connectomes of both Caenorhabditis elegans sexes.
Available at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1352-7
Doublestar Rock
- Jun 2, 2023, 10:42a
very interesting work!
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