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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Science Bad Brains

Posted by Charles Mudede on Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 2:07 PM

Episode 61 of the Brain Science Podcast features the Chief Science Officer (Allen Jones) of the Allen Institute for Brain Research.

The institute, which is based in Seattle, began by mapping where "the approximately 20,000 genes in the mouse genome are turned on in the adult mouse brain." The rich information from this inaugural project, which was completed in 2006, is now offered to the public for free. Jones explains the importance of the map:

The brain is really all about those functional divisions, and it’s very important to understand how those functional divisions relate to the underlying biochemistry of those places. The underlying biochemistry of those places is driven by the genes that are turned on in them.

The institute is currently doing for the human brain what it did for the mouse brain. But, of course, to map the human brain, you need human tissue; and to get human tissue, you need dead humans. No guessing is required to know why my favorite section of the generally excellent interview concerns this aspect of the institute's research—obtaining the brains of dead humans:

I would say that every aspect poses its own unique challenge in scaling to the human brain. Right out of the gate it’s just getting human brain tissue. Obviously human brain tissue is coming to us postmortem, and the postmortem tissue—especially from what we’re gunning for, which is normal human brain tissue from people that are between the ages of 20 and 60—those are typically coming from accidental death of some sort. So, there’s a lot of logistics that have to happen to make sure that you can get high-quality human The longer that a brain is sitting there after death and before we’re actually able to obtain the tissue and freeze it down, you have issues where the tissue is starting to degrade, and the RNAs that we would like to measure—which are telling us at what level a gene is turned on—are starting to degrade. So, there are important things that relate to that.

And what is a normal brain? Meaning, what is not a bad brain?

[One that has] no history of psychiatric disease. You certainly don’t want [one with] a history of drug abuse or a history of alcoholism. So, there are a number of things that we’re screening for up front that we want to avoid.

A good dead brain must be very hard to come by.

Comments (8) RSS

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Dr. Frankenstein: Now that brain that you gave me. Was it Hans Delbruck's?
Igor: No.
Dr. Frankenstein: Ah! Very good. Would you mind telling me whose brain I DID put in?
Igor: Then you won't be angry?
Dr. Frankenstein: I will NOT be angry.
Igor: Abby Someone.
Dr. Frankenstein: Abby Someone. Abby who?
Igor: Abby Normal.
Dr. Frankenstein: Abby Normal?
Igor: I'm almost sure that was the name.
Dr. Frankenstein: [chuckles, then] Are you saying that I put an abnormal brain into a seven and a half foot long, fifty-four inch wide GORILLA?
[grabs Igor and starts throttling him]
Dr. Frankenstein: Is that what you're telling me?

Posted by Cracker Jack on September 30, 2009 at 2:08 PM

Actually, a normal brain is one that has no more impacts than one would expect in a normal person of that approximate age.

You know, no Pick's Disease, no Alzheimer's Disease, etc.

It's a qualitative measure.

Obviously, we avoid ones from Stranger staffers ...

Posted by Will in Seattle

on September 30, 2009 at 2:12 PM

The solution is a good bloodletting and leeches. And check the Astrological signs for diseases. Then extract the brain thru the nose with a large hook.

Posted by Vince on September 30, 2009 at 2:40 PM

Another thing to consider is consent. Let's face it, we chop off the heads and take the brains from mice without their consent (especially ones that natter on about Gaston appearing to them and telling them to cook - they're annoying).

But humans? Some of the brains are from way back when and many modern consent issues weren't addressed at the time the subject died, and we can't find their relatives anymore ...

Posted by Will in Seattle

on September 30, 2009 at 2:47 PM

@4: I would point out that a rat (not a mouse) that is hallucinating about dead French chefs giving them career advice probably fails the "no history of psychiatric disease" test anyway.

Regarding human consent, I propose the Monty Python method of organ harvesting. We can start with anyone who honestly believes in Death Panels. I mean, they're expecting it anyway, right? (Though the "no history of psychiatric disease" thing might come into play again...)

Posted by Cracker Jack on September 30, 2009 at 3:04 PM

@4 You did not understand this article at all. The brains are not from "way back when". Like zombies, scientists need very fresh brains with RNA and protein still intact (DNA survives much longer, but gives less information). The Allen Institute is not digging up old corpses of people who did not consent to have their organs used for science. They are mapping global gene expression, with spatial resolution (cell-specific) and temporal resolution (tracking development- and age-related changes). This sort of large-scale, non-hypothesis-driven science establishes a base of knowledge upon which many further studies, from comparative biology to early disease diagnosis, can proceed.

Posted by B. Betherton on September 30, 2009 at 4:02 PM

@6: Oh, that's just dumbass Will being Will. None of us take anything he says seriously.

The good news? He'd never be a candidate for this type of study, because he doesn't have a brain.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty