Brain Wiring at Molecular Scale and The Connectomics Revolution | Dr. Sven Truckenbrodt
Notas do episódio
How can we map the brain’s wiring at molecular resolution, and what are the realistic promises and limits of connectomics?
In this episode of Neuroscience and Beyond, we speak with Dr. Sven Truckenbrodt, group leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, UK), where his lab investigates #brain wiring at the molecular level. With previous research experience at ISTA Austria and E11 Bio, he works at the intersection of #ExpansionMicroscopy, molecular labeling, and scalable circuit reconstruction.
Beyond defining #connectomics, this conversation explores the technical, conceptual, and organizational challenges of mapping #NeuralCircuits at scale.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Why synapses operate at the nanometer scale, and why this pushes imaging technology to its limits
- How physical tissue expansion bypasses the diffraction limit of light #microscopy
- Why whole-brain connectomes are rare “hero datasets” and what prevents comparative connectomics
- How combinatorial neuronal barcoding could reduce manual proofreading in circuit reconstruction
- Why new research models like Focused Research Organizations aim to close the gap between #academia and #industry.
Timestamps
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:00 Dr. Sven Truckenbrodt’s research focus
00:02:20 How Small Is a Synapse?
00:05:20 How Can We See Synapses?
00:08:00 What Can Connectomics Realistically Reveal?
00:13:00 Connectomics With Electron Microscopy vs. Light Microscopy
00:16:00 Expansion Microscopy
00:18:48 What Is Neuronal Barcoding?
00:26:00 Are Glia Part of Connectomics?
00:29:15 Does Expansion Microscopy Introduce Artifacts?
00:32:00 What Is E11 Bio and a Focused Research Organization?
00:38:45 From ISTA to Cambridge - Building a Lab
00:44:48 What Are Connectopathies?
00:54:00 Advices to Graduate Students
Read the most recent preprint here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.26.678648v1
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us for exciting neuroscience content. Watch our new episode to explore how connectomics, expansion microscopy, and neuronal barcoding are reshaping our ability to map the brain at molecular resolution.
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Supported by the International Max Planck Research School for Neurosciences in #Göttingen, the European Neuroscience Institute, Cluster of Excellence Multiscale Bioimaging, as well as SFB1286
Neuroscience and Beyond team:
Svilen Georgiev
Kristina Jevdokimenko
Ahsen Konaç Sayıcı
Laura van Agen