Abstract
Prion diseases are transmissible neurodegenerative conditions that are caused by misfolded forms of the prion protein. While the deposition of aggregates of aberrantly folded prion protein is a hallmark of prion pathogenesis, little information is available on early micro-anatomical damage in association with prion deposits. Recent advances in whole brain imaging of small animals with light sheet microscopy and in computational biomedical image analysis using deep learning provide unprecedented opportunities to investigate the time course of neurodegeneration. This collaborative project brings together extensive expertise in deep learning for imaging and prion pathogenesis and further benefits from in-house service in animal experimentation.
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