Bakken, T.E. et al. Nature 535, 367–375 (2016).

The intricacies of brain development are impossible to study in humans, but nonhuman primates such as macaques can serve as proxies. Bakken et al. undertook a detailed study of monkey brain development at the transcriptome level. The researchers combined magnetic resonance imaging, histology, in situ hybridization of select marker genes, and microarray-based transcriptional profiling of laser-captured single cells to assemble a transcriptional atlas of the macaque brain from embryonic and postnatal development to early adulthood. This resource can serve as a reference for in vitro studies of neural development or for studies into brain dysfunction. Technological advances in single-cell studies are expected to further enrich this resource.