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Connectomics: Promises and Challenges | BenchTalk, Episode 2

In this episode, researchers Olaf Sporns and Sebastion Seung join host Andrew S. Wiecek to discuss the developing field of connectomics. Also, science writiers Sarah C.P. William and Ashley Yeager join our roundtable discussion on the recent headlines in the life sciences.

Featured in this Episode
	Olaf Sporns is professor and associate chair in the department of psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University.
	Sebastion Sueng is professor of computational neuroscience at MIT and author of the recent book Connectome: How the Brain’s Wiring Makes Us Who We Are.
	Sarah C.P. Williams is a freelance science writer based out of Kailua, Hawaii. You can follow her latest work at http://www.facebook.com/sarahcpwilliams.
	Ashley Yeager works in the Office of News and Communications at Duke University and is also a freelance science writer. You can follow her at https://plus.google.com/104786459743651414888/about.
	Andrew S. Wiecek is news editor at BioTechniques and host of the monthly podcast BenchTalk.You can follow him at http://www.biotechniques.com/news.
Episode Notes & Links
	Olaf Sporns Interview In the November 2011 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, Dr. Sporns published a study on the rich-club organization of the human connectome. Dr. Sporns is a professor in the Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at Indiana University. In addition, Dr. Sporns is part of the NIH’s five-year $38 million Human Connectome Project. Sebastian Seung Interview In February 2012, Dr. Seung published a book entitled Connectome: How the Brain’s Wiring Makes Us Who We Are. In a 2010 paper published in Current Opinions in Neurobiology, Dr. Seung highlights the need for improved image analysis techniques. EyeWire allows citizen scientists to help identify the twists and turns of neurons in connectome images. The Seung Lab at MIT seeks “to model the neural networks of the brain using mathematical theories, computer simulation, and circuits of biological neurons in vitro.” In 2010, Dr. Seung gave a TED Talk on connectomics. Science Roundtable In March, Ashely covered a new phosphorous-based MRI technique that has provided some insightful 3-D images of bones and mouse brains. Earlier this month, Sarah wrote about a new method that has shown that neurons are organized in the human brains in a grid pattern rather than chaotic. Last month, Ashley Yeager wrote a story about Japanese researchers who have taken scanning electron microscopy images of living ticks for the first time. Also last month, Sarah wrote about how researchers were able to make a brighter cyan fluorescent protein by studying its structure.