About us

The Brain Networks Laboratory is affiliated with the Computer Science Division of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES). Directed by Dr. Yoonsuck Choe (formerly by Dr. Bruce H. McCormick), the laboratory is part of the Department of Computer Science at Texas A&M University and is located in the H.R. Bright Building on campus.


Mouse brain specimen: A mouse brain embedded in a plastic block (1cm3) is shown in the foreground of the diamond knife (orange colored tip above). [More images] [More nuggets]

The Brain Networks Lab houses the knife-edge scanning microscope (KESM), an innovative sectioning and imaging instrument for submicron-level (300nm) investigation of biological tissue volumes (such as entire mouse brains). Major research efforts are focused on the KESM, from volume data acquisition and 3D reconstruction to storage clusters and network connectivity analysis. The instrument, operating at 180MB/s data acquisition rates, enables complete scanning of a 1cm3 block of tissue (e.g., a mouse brain) in less than 100 hours, producing ~7 terabytes of data. Our research team has expertise ranging from neuroanatomy, microscopic instrumentation, image processing, 3D graphics, storage and clustering, pattern recognition, to computational neuroscience.

The predecessor of the laboratory, the Scientific Visualization Laboratory, was established in 1987 as a result of Dr. McCormick's participation as chair of the NSF panel that recommended a national program in scientific visualization. The laboratory was recently renamed to reflect its research focus today on brain mapping and cortical network modeling.

Links: People; Research projects; KESM specifications