Matthias Haberl: Neuronal ultrastructure and its physiological relevance revealed with volumetric electron microscopy and deep neural networks

Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Neuronal communication through action potentials or receptor activation leads to dynamic changes of intracellular calcium concentration. Intracellular calcium is a critical signaling messenger and its transient increase is known to regulate several forms of synaptic plasticity and gene activity which underlie learning and memory formation. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of neurons is a highly complex three-dimensional structure spread throughout soma, axons and dendrites and is critical for calcium storage and release. We used volumetric electron microscopy to perform large-scale reconstructions of the intracellular ultrastructure of cerebellar Purkinje cells and identified motifs in the ER ultrastructure that can severely alter the intracellular signaling in neurons.

To this end we developed a deep learning-based image analysis software package, to facilitate the analysis of multi-terabyte microscopy datasets. To improve community access to cutting edge deep learning tools, we are advancing solutions of scientific software deployment through an integrated solution of containerized installations, cloud formation templates, and free software utilization on a GPU cluster through a web portal. We expect those principles will be generally applicable to foster long-term reproducibility of scientific software development.

 

Guests are welcome!

 

Organized by

BCCN Berlin / Margret Franke / Lisa Velenosi

 

Matthias Haberl is a new member of the BCCN Berlin.