Gene expression mapped across mouse brain

Researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle have compiled a database of gene expression across the entire mouse brain, according to a report in Nature online this week. The open-access database, called the Allen Brain Atlas, contains searchable data and images from automated, high-throughput in situ hybridizations for nearly all of the mouse genome."It's very valuable information for people working on specific genes to be able to know where in the brain those genes are expressed," said Sacha Nelson of Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., who was not involved in the project. "To be able to do that for essentially any gene is an important accomplishment."Led by Ed Lein and Michael Hawrylycz at the Allen Institute, more than 100 researchers from several institutions collaborated to amass in situ data at cellular resolution for more than 20,000 mouse genes. The researchers analyzed mice from a single inbred...