Have you seen April’s cover image of Trends in Cognitive Sciences?
The cover features our paper “Brain connectomics: time for a molecular imaging perspective?” arguing for the need to integrate molecular imaging into the framework of brain connectivity.
As chemical synapses represent the predominant mode of signal transduction in the human brain, targeting the molecular level of neural communication represents a necessary step for advancing brain connectomics. At the macroscale, this can be achieved using molecular imaging. The authors argue that the estimation of brain connectivity using molecular imaging, so-called molecular connectivity, represents a useful approach to characterize the brain connectome by providing unique information inaccessible to MRI-based and electrophysiological techniques. The cover illustrates the key idea that integration of molecular imaging into the framework of brain connectivity is essential for advancing our understanding of the brain connectome. Brain connections are colorcoded, with colors symbolizing the biochemical substrate (i.e., classes of receptors and transporters) behind interregional communication.
The opinion paper is available here.