Medicine, neurotechnology and artificial intelligence require precise maps of the human brain. The Julich Brain Atlas provides a new foundation: a multimodal atlas mapping brain regions based on cellular architecture and capturing inter-individual variability with probabilistic maps.
Unlike traditional brain atlases, the Julich Brain Atlas represents brain regions probabilistically, capturing anatomical variability across individual brains. The atlas thus combines a more realistic representation of brain organization with high anatomical precision. Researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich are developing this multimodal brain atlas at the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine / Structural and Functional Organization of the Brain (INM-1).
With more than 200 mapped brain regions, the atlas provides a uniquely detailed reference of the human brain's microstructure. Its maps provide an important foundation for neuroscience research as well as potential clinical applications, including improved interpretation of brain imaging data and future support for surgical planning and monitoring.
The creation of the Julich Brain Atlas relies on high-resolution microscopy, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing (HPC). Building the atlas requires imaging thousands of histological brain sections at microscopic resolution, generating massive datasets. AI methods, computer vision and neuroinformatics tools are used to analyse these data and reconstruct detailed three-dimensional maps of the human brain. High-performance computing (HPC) systems, with JUPITER as their flagship, are essential for processing datasets ranging from hundreds of terabytes to petabytes and for developing ultra-high-resolution models of the entire brain.
The Julich Brain Atlas forms the centrepiece of the open-access Multilevel Human Brain Atlas within the European digital research infrastructure EBRAINS, which emerged from the Human Brain Project (HBP). Through EBRAINS, the atlas and its associated tools are available to the global research community and support advances in neuroscience, medicine and neurotechnology.
More information: https://julich-brain-atlas.de/
Postdoctoral researcher Coordination & Dissemination
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