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

Alan Evans appointed to the Order of Canada

date: July 03, 2025

Congratulations to Alan Evans and his appointment to the Order of Canada.

Featured Video from 8th BigBrain Workshop

date: June 16, 2025

Find out more about BigBrain applications by watching "Exploring the links between the localization of cortical areas and the variability of folding patterns" by ZhongYi Sun from the 8th BigBrain Workshop.

watch video

BigBrain Project Channel

date: May 8, 2025

Please visit the BigBrain Project channel on Youtube. There you will find a library of recordings from events as well as demonstrations of the tools.

go to channel

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.

Abstract submissions are now open.

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.

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

Visiting Scholar: Andrija Štajduhar

date: Jan 16 2025

Andrija Štajduhar visited the lab of Alan Evans in Montreal for two months to collaborate on ‘Advancing neuron-centric analysis of human cortical cytoarchitecture’

Featured Paper: Self-supervised representation learning for nerve fiber distribution patterns in 3D-PLI

date: Nov 26, 2024

Quantifiable and interpretable descriptors of nerve fiber architecture at microscopic resolution provide an important foundation for a deeper understanding of human brain architecture.

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.

Martha Crago

Vice-Principal (Research + Innovation) McGill University

With HIBALL the partnership between two world-leading research institutions in computational neuroscience will provide an important platform for the scientists to conduct innovative, interdisciplinary, and complementary research in a rich and collaborative setting.

Yoshua Bengio

Mila Scientific Director, Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute

HIBALL assembles a team with world-leading expertise in neuroimaging, artificial intelligence, neuroscience and neuroinformatics, which complements well the team at Mila. The active participation of several PIs with ties to Mila is very exciting, and we anticipate this lab will further expand the collaboration between neuroscience and AI experts in the Montreal ecosystem, leading to cutting-edge discoveries in both fields.

Viktor Jirsa

Directeur de Recherche, CNRS

HIBALL can build on a remarkable expertise and international reputation and will lead to high impact contributions in Human Brain Atlasing, Neuroinformatics, and Machine Learning.