How do the brain’s neural networks store and process information? Related to the BRAIN Initiative, research at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus addresses fundamental questions such as this. To determine the answers, Janelia scientists are developing imaging and other tools that can reveal the structure and function of key brain regions and activity. 

About Janelia/HHMI

To resolve some of basic research’s most challenging problems, scientists need to collaborate across disciplines, developing and deploying new technologies to acquire and interpret data. HHMI opened its Janelia Research Campus in 2006 with the purpose of fostering teamwork between scientists who develop new technologies (‘tool builders’) and scientists who apply these technologies to important biomedical problems (‘tool users’). Janelia employs biologists, chemists, physicists, computer scientists, engineers and others.

Janelia scientists broadly study how the brain works in model organisms such as fruit flies, zebrafish, and mice. They design and use super-resolution microscopy, computational techniques, protein sensors, and related advances to reveal brain biology in greater detail than before possible. Janelia seeks to share these advances with the greater scientific community through distribution, on-site workshops, conferences, and an active visiting scientist program.