News

Surface of a human brain with analyses areas highlighted in different colors: visual system (purple line), auditory (orange) and motor area (dark grey), and the somatosensory area (green line)
Research

HBP researchers shed new light on human brain organisation

New brain maps show that cells, receptors and gene activity change along the same boundaries. The study, which was conducted by researchers of the Institute of Neurosciences and Medicine (INM-1) at Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), elucidates principles of human brain organisation for areas of the visual, auditory, somatosensory and motor systems.

Representation of the left hemisphere of the human brain with the six newly identified areas highlighted
Research

Six new brain areas involved in memory, language and music processing identified

Julich Brain Atlas researchers have identified six new areas that form a functional region with a crucial role in cognitive functions of the lateral prefrontal cortex of the human brain. The team from Forschungszentrum Jülich, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and RWTH Aachen University showed for the first time that the inferior frontal sulcus (IFS) and its junction (IFJ) are subdivided into six distinct areas, which are associated with working memory, language and music processing, among other functions.

MR images showing progressive degeneration of brain tissue in a Parkinson’s disease patient. Image adapted from Pieperhoff et al. 2022 .
Research

New study reveals how the volumes of brain regions change in Parkinson’s disease

Researchers of the Human Brain Project (HBP) found that in Parkinson’s disease the volumes of certain brain regions decrease over time in a specific pattern that is associated with clinical symptoms and largely coincides with the pattern described in Braak’s famous staging theory. The new study published in Cortex provides a detailed description of the structural changes over a long period of time and with an unprecedented spatial detail.