Mission

Unifying large-scale connectomics datasets across species and modalities to discover, compare, and understand neural circuits

About

NeuroMaps was founded by Stephan Gerhard, whose journey in connectomics spans over fifteen years. Starting with contributions to MRI-based connectomics tools (Gerhard et al. 2011, Daducci et al. 2012) at EPF Lausanne, Stephan transitioned to electron microscopy-based connectomics during his PhD at the Institute of Neuroinformatics in Zurich and as visiting student at Janelia Research campus. He was a major initial contributor to CATMAID — a collaborative annotation toolkit that became instrumental in enabling large-scale connectomics research in Drosophila larva and adult datasets, and other species (see publication list). He published the first comparative connectomics study comparing nociceptive circuitry in Drosophila larva across individuals and developmental stages (Gerhard et al. 2017). In his postdoctoral work at Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, he was working on zebrafish connectomics, optimizing the connectomics reconstruction pipeline for an adult olfactory bulb dataset.

Since 2019, Stephan and collaborators have been offering connectomics data services and consulting to leading neuroscience labs worldwide. This broad experience across species, research communities and stages in the connectomics pipeline led to the creation of NeuroMaps - a platform designed to unify and democratize access to connectomics datasets.

“It has been a privilege to be part of the connectomics community, contributing to the collective effort to unravel the mysteries of nervous systems. I am driven by a desire to facilitate access to connectomics data and building novel tools, empowering researchers worldwide to explore the nervous system's intricate wiring and help to unlock its secrets. One day, we may understand the underlying fabric of experience itself, and I am excited to be part of this journey of discovery.”

Stephan Gerhard, PhD, Founder