STM publisher Elsevier, Netherlands, has announced that it will showcase the new features it is rolling out for its BrainNavigator research tool at the Society for Neuroscience’s Neuroscience 2009 event in Chicago. Recently adopted by the US’ National Institutes of Health (NIH), BrainNavigator is an online, interactive, 3D software tool that maps images of brain anatomy. It seeks to help neuroscience researchers to save time and improve the quality of their daily research.
BrainNavigator helps locate the position of structures within the brain, similar to a GPS system, making visualisation and communication about scientific findings about the brain easier. After unveiling the prototype version at the Society for Neuroscience’s Neuroscience 2008 tradeshow last November, the version including mouse and rat brains is now available at www.brainnav.com.
The product was developed in collaboration with the Allen Institute for Brain Science and under the editorship of Prof. George Paxinos, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, Sydney and Charles Watson, Professor of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth and Senior Professorial Research Fellow Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, Sydney. Offering both free and subscription-based content, it is used by NIH and other research institutions. It seeks to offer an easy-to-use online system that allows the institutions to browse, compare and label high-resolution material as well as to create virtual sections from sophisticated 3D models of the brain. Users can also annotate atlas drawings and share their annotations with colleagues.
New features include the ability to export and print 2D and 3D images; ‘Injection Planner’ - a feature that allows users to select a point for injection of an electrode or pharmacological substances via a syringe, and visualise the path for the injection in the 3D model of the brain; and an image overlay function which will allow users to place the atlas drawing over the stained image.
BrainNavigator will be showcased at Elsevier’s booth (#112) at Neuroscience 2009, and hourly demonstrations will be given. Free trials of the product, including new features, will be available beginning November 13, 2009.
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