EAGER: Enabling Discovery and Scientific Collaboration on Human Memory via the Web-Based Atlas and Tissue Bank for Patient H.M.'s Brain

George Mason University, Fairfax VA

Investigators

Abstract

Knowledge of a specific neural network supporting memory function in the human brain stems from the case of patient H.M. who, in 1953 underwent an experimental medial temporal lobectomy in the hope of reducing the frequency and severity of his epileptic seizures. The operation was successful in that respect, but it unexpectedly left him incapable of creating new memories. For more than five decades, H.M. participated in hundreds of experiments and his case was discussed in thousands of scientific publications. His brain contained the clues to understand how memory works; however, determining with precision which structures were damaged was not possible because even the latest neuroimaging could not clearly resolve the anatomy of the temporal lobes. With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Jacopo Annese will complete an 'open source', web-based microscopic atlas of H.M.'s brain which was donated to science post-mortem. The tools-embedded atlas will support the creation of teaching curricula that will expose students to raw neuroimaging data from multiple modalities, cutting edge brain mapping algorithms, web-based exploration tools, all within the clinical and biographical context of H.M. as an individual. The cyber infrastructure created through this project is expected to enable discovery neuroscience by participants world wide. Specifically, Dr. Annese and his research team will (1) provide a dedicated support infrastructure to maintain and manage the web atlas for H.M.'s brain; (2) significantly increase the accuracy of the atlas by increasing the number of digitized histological slices to achieve 1 mm per slice interval (from 3mm interval); (3) acquire and deliver image stacks to enable remote quantitative studies; (4) implement new web tools to enable the handling of remote request and curation of results from different laboratories; (5) convert the images into formats that can be 3-D printed using consumer products. Such cyber infrastructure will make the valuable H.M. data available for new retrospective studies that may further change our current view of how memory is established in the human brain and enable quantitative analyses at the cellular level using a 'virtual microscope'. The resulting atlas will be used by researchers worldwide to re-interpret, based on clear anatomical evidence, the results from hundreds of neuropsychological exams conducted when H.M. was alive.