Project HM Articles

We believe that the enormous attention that was devoted to patient H.M. when he was living and generously served as a keen research subject ought to be matched by a similarly involved study of his brain.

Histological sections are going to be stored cryogenically in serial order. We have set the goal to acquire an image of the specimen’s blockface before each section is collected. To that effect, in order to eliminate the possibility of human error during the very long procedure, we have made image acquisition completely automatic.

As the brain of Patient H.M. was cut, histological slices were being collected in serial order in 36-well compartment boxes containing 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution. The next step is to store all tissue slices long-term in the freezer in a solution that will preserve the morphology and molecular milieu of the tissue.

The Brain Observatory used several web cameras to invite the general public to participate in an extraordinary scientific endeavor. Researchers voyaged through the brain of the most famous medical patient in the history of science, Patient H. M., acquiring anatomical images and collecting 2401 paper-thin tissue sections during a 53-hour procedure.