Youtube X linkedin Email Top

Creating the next generation of highly detailed human brain models by building on the BigBrain - the first openly accessible, microscopic resolution 3D model of the human brain.

News About the BigBrain

9th BigBrain Workshop
date: Mar 20, 2025
You are cordially invited to attend the 9th BigBrain Workshop, taking place in Berlin, Germany, on October 28 and 29, 2025.
read more
Featured Paper: Integrating brainstem and cortical functional architectures
date: Jan 31, 2025
In this study (“Integrating brainstem and cortical functional architectures”), we sought out to understand the functional interplay between the cortex and brainstem in awake humans.
read more
Katrin Amunt's receives honorary doctorate from the University of Maastricht
date: Jan 31, 2025
“Charting the human brain” Katrin Amunts receives honorary doctorate for groundbreaking research
read more

About the BigBrain

Full dataset over 1TB

Scans at 20μm resolution

Multiple formats

An expanding brain atlas

A thriving community

What People Say About the BigBrain

Why create the BigBrain

A message from Dr. Zilles

the major advantage of the BigBrain for our work is that the image data of the human brain are registered as a 3D volume at very high spatial resolution. Since the human brain is folded, any part of the cortical ribbon may be subjected to the geometrical effects of this folding, i.e. the cortex is obliquely or even tangentially sectioned at various sites in a 2D representation, e.g. in images of single microtome sections. This effect hampers the measurement of any cortical structure which is bound to the 3D columnar architecture of the cortex. In contrast, the BigBrain allows analyses in 3D, and thus has opened the door to many studies which would not be possible in 2D representations.