

We Shall Finally Map The Brain - EP 36 Andrew Payne
Oct 1, 2025
Andrew Payne, Co-founder and CEO of E11 Bio, specializes in innovative techniques for brain mapping. He discusses the transformative potential of connectomes—detailed wiring diagrams of brains—revealing their promise for understanding neural circuitry and treating disorders. Payne outlines the technical hurdles in capturing these complex connections and shares E11's groundbreaking methods, including a barcoding system for neurons. He emphasizes the urgency of this work, driven by personal experiences with chronic pain and the hope for future therapeutic applications.
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Origins In Boyden, Church, And Feynman
- Andrew Payne studied under Ed Boyden and George Church, shaping his interdisciplinary approach.
- His early interest in building microscopes came from reading Feynman and personal experiences with chronic pain.
Tracing Is The Cost Bottleneck
- Tracing neurons through EM images is the dominant cost and bottleneck in connectomics.
- Reducing tracing cost by 100x is required to make mapping mammalian brains tractable.
Many Connectomes Unlock Biology
- Connectomics' greatest value mirrors genomics: many cheap datasets reveal variation and disease associations.
- Lowering cost per connectome unlocks discovery across diseases, development, and therapeutics.