A research team at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle, WA, has pioneered a new way, called Virtual Finger, to navigate digital 3D images of tiny structures like neurons and synapses using the flat surface of their computer screens. This cost- and time-efficient technology, allows scientists to digitally reach into three-dimensional images of small objects like single cells to access the information they need quickly and more intuitively than with other image analysis software, which usually works by dividing a 3D image into a series of thin slices viewed as a series of flat images.
In contrast, Virtual Finger allows scientists to digitally reach into three-dimensional images of small objects like single cells to access the information they need much and allows them to analyze the image in depth.
Scientists at the Allen Institute are already using Virtual Finger to improve their detection of spikes from individual cells, and to better model the morphological structures of neurons. In addition, the scientists explain that the technology has already been applied to perform 3D microsurgery to knock out single cells, study the developing lung, and create a map of all the neural connections in the fly brain.
They say that using Virtual Finger could make data collection and analysis between 10 and 100 times faster, depending on the experiment. It allows users to navigate large amounts of biological data in the same way that Google Earth allows them to navigate the world.
The Allen Institute’s data and tools are publicly available online at www.brain-map.org .
