We are delighted to announce that our article on our new probabilistic atlas “NextBrain” has been published in Nature! This has been a *very* long project (~10 years).
NextBrain is a essentially brain atlas built from 3D histology that enables segmentation of 3D brain scans (MRI, Hip-CT, even photos!) into hundreds of regions.
Links:
Main project website
Open access paper
Segmentation tool (distributed with FreeSurfer)
Raw data
Source code for 3D reconstruction
Source code of segmentation tool
Funders / institutions / collaborators:
This work was primarily funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and is a collaboration with UCL Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering , UK Dementia Research Institute , Queen Square Brain Bank and UCL Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC) at UCL, the The Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Mass General Department of Neurology, ViCOROB at the Universidad de Girona, CUBRIC at Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd , the University of Iowa, and Brunel University of London. Collaborators include Adrià Casamitjana Díaz, Matteo Mancini, Brian L. Edlow, M.D., Lilla Zollei, David Thomas, Martina Bocchetta, Dorit Kliemann, Roberto Annunziata, PhD, Juri Althonaya, Eleanor Robinston, Shauna Crampsie, Emily Blackburn, Benjamin Billot, Alessia Atzeni, Oula Puonti, Yaël Balbastre, Peter Schmidt, James Hughes, Jean Augustinack, Catherine Strand, Janice Holton, and Zane Jaunmuktane. Thanks for all the hard work in this crazy long project!!!!
News/press
Press (English):
https://www.ft.com/content/c370aca1-d00f-447a-9679-b4275ba40688
Press (Español):
https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2025/11/16/69176566e4d4d83d388b45a2.html
https://www.expansion.com/economia/financial-times/2025/11/17/691b3b44468aeb67498b459d.html
https://www.abc.es/salud/enfermedades/atlas-detallado-cerebro-revela-surgen-trastornos-neurologicos-20251105170000-nt.html
(se puede leer gratis aquí: https://www.pressreader.com/spain/abc-1a-edicion/20251106/281998973712094?srsltid=AfmBOopzFbbI7GJNROSQUBTQqhiR7Sovhp4Ru0XvqyRiefG8TsYwWxVD)
https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/lavozdelasalud/enfermedades/2025/11/05/nuevo-atlas-cerebro-ofrece-nuevos-datos-entender-origen-trastornos-autismo-esquizofrenia/00031762358405610359794.htm
Press (Greek):
https://www.tovima.gr/print/science/to-pio-leptomeres-pazl-tou-anthropinou-egkefalou
Websites / Blogs et al:
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-brain-atlas-unprecedented-mri-scans.html
https://interhospi.com/new-nextbrain-atlas-enables-unprecedented-granularity-in-human-brain-imaging-analysis/
https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/ai-assisted-brain-atlas-analyzes-mri-scans-in-unprecedented-detail-406592
https://neurosciencenews.com/ai-3d-brain-map-29894/
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20251105/New-AI-assisted-atlas-tcan-help-visualize-the-human-brain-in-unprecedented-detail.aspx
https://www.geneonline.com/nextbrain-developed-to-improve-mri-segmentation-with-probabilistic-histological-data/
https://bioengineer.org/probabilistic-brain-atlas-enhances-mri-segmentation/
https://www.miragenews.com/new-brain-atlas-reveals-unseen-mri-detail-1564580/
https://healthcare-in-europe.com/en/news/ai-brain-atlas-detail-mri.html
https://thefreesheet.com/2025/11/06/ai-assisted-brain-atlas-maps-333-regions-for-living-patient-mri-analysis/
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1104525
https://www.healthcare-management.uk/ai-assisted-brain-atlas-offers-unprecedented-mri-scans
https://www.rapamycin.news/t/brain-atlas-reveals-genetic-risks-for-cancer-and-mental-illness-ft/22100
https://dig.watch/updates/ai-brain-atlas-reveals-unprecedented-detail-in-mri-scans
University news:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/nov/new-brain-atlas-offers-unprecedented-detail-mri-scans
https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/2977721-new-brain-atlas-offers-unprecedented-detail-in-mri-scans
https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2025/12/nextbrain-an-ai-powered-brain-atlas
En Español:
https://www.infosalus.com/salud-investigacion/noticia-nuevo-mapa-cerebro-humano-permite-ver-estructuras-invisibles-podria-adelantar-deteccion-alzheimer-20251106070749.html
https://www.webconsultas.com/noticias/tercera-edad/desarrollan-un-atlas-cerebral-que-permite-analizar-el-cerebro-humano-completo?amp
https://www.enteratenoticias.com.ar/actualidad/inteligencia-artificial-atlas-cerebro-nextbrain-ucl/
https://tn.com.ar/salud/noticias/2025/11/07/con-inteligencia-artificial-desarrollaron-un-atlas-del-cerebro-con-un-nivel-de-precision-sin-precedentes/
https://www.elimparcial.es/noticia/289757/sociedad/un-atlas-asistido-por-ia-representa-el-cerebro-humano-con-un-detalle-sin-precedentes.html
