Brain researchers, like geographers, need maps and coordinate systems to navigate the brain and communicate their observations to each other. On a map of the brain, we can superimpose types of neurons, neurotransmitters, enzymes, connectivity, and functional data.

For more than 30 years world-renowned brain cartographer Scientia Professor George Paxinos AO has been relentlessly focused on mapping the brain – not only in humans, but rodents, primates and even birds. These exhaustive definitions are then collected together in atlases illustrating regions and tracts of the whole brain, allowing researchers to generate models of disease and analyse behaviour, and enabling neurosurgeons to ensure accurate and precise incisions.

Research focus areas

• Structure and function of the human brain and brainstem

• Structure and function of animal brains and brainstems

Why this research matters

This work has led to the discovery of 94 hitherto unknown regions since the creation of the first brain atlas more than 30 years ago. Professor Paxinos’ atlases are used internationally as the standard guides for scientific work, as well as by neurosurgeons to target small deep lying structures in the brain.