from NIST 11/6/07 THE TECHNICOLOR BRAIN
By activating multiple fluorescent proteins in neurons, neuroscientists
at Harvard
University have developed a method to image the brain and nervous system
in a
plethora of colors dubbed a "Brainbow."

The technique, developed by Harvard scientists Jean Livet, Joshua R.
Sanes, and Jeff
W. Lichtman, allows researchers to tag neurons with roughly 90 distinct
colors, a
huge leap over the mere handful of shades possible with current fluorescent
labeling. By permitting visual resolution of individual brightly colored
neurons,
this method is expected to help scientists chart the brain and nervous
system.

"In the same way that a television monitor mixes red, green, and blue to
depict a
wide array of colors, the combination of three or more fluorescent
proteins in
neurons can generate many different hues," says Lichtman, professor in the
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and the Center for Brain
Science
in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "There are few tools
neuroscientists can
use to tease out the wiring diagram of the nervous system. Brainbow
should help us
much better map out the brain and nervous system's complex tangle of
neurons."

For more information, visit http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20071106A8