Working with colleagues, Itamar Kahn, PhD, recently investigated what makes one mouse brain different from another. The researchers found that, like human beings, each animal had specific patterns of activity: a neural fingerprint that could be used to identify it. As in humans, this individual variation appeared in brain networks associated with memory, decision-making and flexible behavior. The researchers made this discovery using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which employs a strong magnetic field to indirectly measure brain activity. Their results create a bridge for using precision fMRI in mice to further personalized medicine in humans.
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