Sources & approach
Understanding the atlas.
CNS Atlas is a neuroanatomy teaching project published by Resonant Labs. It helps medical students, residents, and educators explore relationships between anatomy, function, pathways, and clinical concepts.
This is an educational model. It is not a validated diagnostic system, patient-specific simulation, or treatment guide. Use it alongside course materials and the original literature.
What the model represents
The atlas combines anatomical surface meshes with a curated knowledge graph. A connection can describe anatomical membership, a projection, a function, a mechanism, or an association. These relationships are different kinds of information; a connection is not necessarily a physical tract or a causal claim.
Positions and visual overlays support orientation and teaching. Displayed connections, vascular illustrations, tract animations, and functional highlights are schematic. They are not an individual person's scan or measured neural activity. The connection viewer’s section controls cut its surface model. The separate MRI section viewer displays a real averaged anatomical reference volume.
Anatomical surface sources
- Cortex: the bundled MNI152 / FreeSurfer-derived cortical surface. See the FreeSurfer project for background on cortical surface reconstruction.
- Cerebellum: SUIT surface, credited to Diedrichsen (2006) in the original atlas. The supplied model credits specify CC BY-NC. See the SUIT project.
- Brainstem: PittBrains3D, credited to Fanselow & Laporta (2024). The supplied model credits specify CC BY-SA 4.0.
These credits describe the anatomical geometry. They do not imply that the source projects endorse the atlas's graph relationships or clinical teaching content.
MRI reference anatomy
MRI sections use the MNI ICBM152 nonlinear 2009c symmetric T1 template and its matched CerebrA labels. These are averaged reference images, not an individual patient’s scan. Their 1 mm grids and RAS coordinates match; no new segmentation or registration is introduced. See the MNI source and CerebrA project.
The boundaries identify whole structures. Individual thalamic and brainstem nuclei are not resolved. The inferior extent of the brainstem is limited by the source volume. The MRI volume and separately assembled 3D surfaces are not registered to one another. The inherited 3D brainstem alignment remains unverified; use the MRI sections for anatomical location and orientation.
Distribution terms are retained with the viewer: MNI permission notice and CerebrA dataset CC0 license. Surface licenses above remain separate; the cerebellar surface carries a noncommercial restriction.
Evidence labels and citations
Evidence labels describe the atlas's grading of a relationship. They do not report the probability that a person has a condition, and they are not the result of a validated prediction model.
The graph uses five labels: established, probable, emerging, hypothesis, and controversial. A label is an editorial assertion within this dataset. A linked citation lets you inspect the supporting publication; the absence of a citation must not be treated as independent verification.
| Bundled dataset | Coverage |
|---|---|
| Structures and other entities | 733 |
| Relationships | 1,914 |
| Relationships with attached citations | 212 (11.1%) |
| Relationships without attached citations | 1,702 |
Citation coverage is incomplete. These counts describe the citations attached to the bundled graph, not a judgment that every cited claim is correct or that every uncited claim is wrong. When a study sheet contains references, they are the references available for that selection.
Editorial status
This release's presentation and relationship-direction labels were updated on 9 September 2026. An incorrect, uncited connection asserting a microglial origin for primary CNS lymphoma was removed after checking the National Cancer Institute's reference. Ambiguously directed legacy links use neutral association wording.
These targeted corrections are not a full clinical review. A named expert review, a complete claim-by-claim citation audit, and a documented grading methodology are not yet recorded for the full dataset.
The atlas therefore remains a learning companion. Clinical examples illustrate anatomical reasoning; they should not be used to evaluate a real patient's symptoms or to choose care.
How to study with it
Begin with a guided lesson. Locate each structure, follow the relationship being taught, and answer the recall prompt before moving on. Use Foundations for concise descriptions or Detailed for additional terminology. Use the 3D studio to isolate a whole component, MRI sections to study its internal location, and Connections to search the full graph.
Choose a lesson