Time to cut…

Henry Mollison, the man who lost his memory died a year ago and now his mind, which has been studied a lot in his life, continues to contribute to science, will be cut into slices to study him

Henry Mollison's brain is about to be cut out—for the second time. Mollison became profoundly amnesiac after a surgeon removed two pieces of the temporal lobes of his brain (the cut area is marked in red) in 1953 to treat his severe epilepsy. The experimental surgery helped stop the epileptic seizures, but left Mollison effectively without the ability to form new memories. Until the day of his death, a year ago, Mollison collaborated with psychologists and neurologists, who through him gained many insights into the nature of human memory. Upon his death, Mollison donated his brain to science. On December 2.12.09, 70, the first anniversary of his death, neurologist Jacopo Enz from the University of California, San Diego, will begin the process of cutting Mollison's brain into paper-thin slices (30 microns) - a delicate operation lasting XNUMX hours. This complex cutting process is the first step in creating a digital atlas of one of the most studied human brains of all time.

Neurologist Jacopo Enz plans to create a digital atlas of Mollison's brain (which will be freely available online) as the start of an open brain library, which will in the future include a collection of brains, including brains with Alzheimer's disease and other neurological diseases as well as healthy brains of different ages.
EnterEnz's website which includes much information about the research conducted on Mollison's mind. In the video recording section of the surgery it is said that the brain was cut into 2401 thin slices.

Sources:
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/science-shots/
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/324/5935/1634
http://thebrainobservatory.ucsd.edu/hmblog/
Adapted from Science News - November 09