NeuroLines: A Subway Map Metaphor for Visualizing Nanoscale Neuronal Connectivity

作者：Al Awami Ali K^*; Beyer Johanna; Strobelt Hendrik; Kasthuri Narayanan; Lichtman Jeff W; Pfister Hanspeter; Hadwiger Markus

来源：IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2014, 20(12): 2369-2378.

DOI：10.1109/TVCG.2014.2346312

• Connectomics
• Neuroscience
• Data Abstraction
• Multi-Trees
• Focus plus Context

We present NeuroLines, a novel visualization technique designed for scalable detailed analysis of neuronal connectivity at the nanoscale level. The topology of 3D brain tissue data is abstracted into a multi-scale, relative distance-preserving subway map visualization that allows domain scientists to conduct an interactive analysis of neurons and their connectivity. Nanoscale connectomics aims at reverse-engineering the wiring of the brain. Reconstructing and analyzing the detailed connectivity of neurons and neurites (axons, dendrites) will be crucial for understanding the brain and its development and diseases. However, the enormous scale and complexity of nanoscale neuronal connectivity pose big challenges to existing visualization techniques in terms of scalability. NeuroLines offers a scalable visualization framework that can interactively render thousands of neurites, and that supports the detailed analysis of neuronal structures and their connectivity. We describe and analyze the design of NeuroLines based on two real-world use-cases of our collaborators in developmental neuroscience, and investigate its scalability to large-scale neuronal connectivity data.

• 出版日期2014-12
• 单位KAUST