Viral tracers are the primary tool for mapping neural connectivity. The workflow:
- Injection — stereotaxic delivery of viral vector to a target brain region
- Expression — wait days to weeks for fluorescent reporter expression
- Sectioning — serial cryosection or vibratome slicing of the brain
- Scanning — PanoBrain images each section with automated fluorescence acquisition
- Analysis — quantify labeled cells per brain region to map projection targets