The Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle put on the internet a map of the mouse spinal cord. The release happened on July 16 and includes 4,000 sets of digital images of spinal cords from adults to juvenile mice. Researchers have worked months in creating the online atlas. The major part of the 2D map is ready and it includes nearly 2,000 genes.

The online map shows which genes participate in the spinal cord activity and it also clarifies functions for each gene. This has been created to help scientists to discover which gene participates in diseases of central nervous system. Knowing this it will be much easier to discover how to treat the diseases.

According to researchers, mice and humans have 90% of same genes, so the researches made on mice could be easily used for humans too. Researchers at Allen Institute will finish the spinal cord map next year and it will approximately cost $2.3 million.

Besides the spinal cord map, researchers want to make a human brain map which might cost nearly $50 million and will last about 4 years to have it ready. The mouse brain map released in 2066 cost more than $41 million.

Scientists who explore the nerves that give rise to crippling aliments like Lou Gehrig’s disease now have an atlas to guide them. Nearly 20,000 active genes displayed in the brain and spine offer researchers their first look at normal gene activity in the spine and brain. Scientists will also be able to look how the active genes produce proteins that make the brain healthy and work on spinal tissues.