EyeWire Players Map A New Neuron!

J Cell 3 Mapped by EyeWirersPat yourself on the back! Barely a week after a new J Cell went live on EyeWire.org, the EyeWire community has completed it! J Cell #3 is one of many neurons mapped by gamers.  Other completed cells are the IFLS Neuron, J Cell #2, a giant Startburst Neuron as well as numerous neural networks.

Check it out in the YouTube video below or explore it (and several other neurons) in  beautiful 3D by logging into EyeWire and changing cell view to “J Cell #3.”

 

What does this mean for science?

We are reconstructing more examples of J cells in order to find out what aspects of their shape are invariant.

For example, J cell 3 looked like it was going to be symmetric at the beginning.
Indeed it turned out more symmetric than J cell 1 (now named IFLS Neuron), but it still has some asymmetry — note in the image below you can see more dendrites on one side of the cell body.
Symmetry Comparison EyeWire
Why the shape is important for the detection of visual motion is a longer and very important story about the relation of structure and function, which we will address in future posts.

 

We have some exciting hypotheses, which, to test, we need to know what aspects of shape are invariant.  By playing EyeWire, you help this discovery process.

 

What’s next?

Our dev ninjas are hard at work on an advanced level for starburst mapping. In the mean time, we’ve added a new J Cell to EyeWire — check out how much it’s grown in just 24 hours! Head on over to EyeWire.org and become a part of a revolution in neuroscience!

24h on eyewire

 

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