The Digital Brain Library at the University of California is being done with the help of some 300 brain donors.A unique library, a library of human brains, is being assembled in San Diego, US. It is being done with the help of some 300 brain donors, which include people from all walks of life, some of whom are healthy and some of whom have life-threatening brain disorders.The Digital Brain Library at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, is a unique attempt to understand human brain.
The actual effort began a few years ago when The Brain Observatory at UC San Diego was charged with the examination of the brain of Henry G. Molaison, an amnesic who famously could not hold any memory longer than twenty seconds. Molaison died in 2008, endowing his brain to The Brain Observatory, headed by neuroanatomist Jacopo Annese. "Its the most important brain in the modern history of medicine," Annese said.
The patients undertake a series of tests during the course of their lives - and then donate their brains when they die. Slices of their brain are scanned and the images are digitally preserved, allowing doctors to search for clues to both neurological diseases and the secrets behind human longevity.
Annese says the librarys wealth of information could also help doctors discover the telltale signs of serious brain illnesses long before they actually appear
