Contents 1. Introduction
An important goal of neurobiological research is to decipher the patterns of neuronal connections that govern vertebrate behavior. Medical imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provide 3D measurements of the brain with resolutions on the order of 1 mm. This resolution provides macroscopic information about brain organization, but does not allow analysis of individual neurons. Confocal light microscopy provides 3D measurements with a resolution on the order of 1 micron, which is still insufficient to reconstruct synaptic connections of individual neurons. Understanding brain function at the cellular level requires a detailed analysis of connectivity of individual neurons in regions that consist of densely packed cells and processes. Electron microscopy, which can provide resolutions on the order of 1 nanometer, remains the primary tool for resolving neurons, their sub-cellular 3D structures, and their connections. However, compared to the vast amount of research in medical imaging modalities such as MRI and CT, the number of scientific papers on electron microscopy applications in the image processing community has been very limited.
