SCIENTISTS from a Hampshire university have developed a revolutionary technique to mark individual brain cells helping us to understand how the brain works.

Experts at the University of Southampton have worked out how to label the billions of cells which make up grey matter by using colour.

Being able to distinguish individual cells and to be able to apply changes to them is crucial to understanding more about the complex organ.

Now with the new marking technique, known as multicolour RGB tracking, it is hoped that neuroscientists can advance their research.

The technique allows single cells to be encoded with a colour mark generated by a random combination of red, green and blue.

This approach allows researchers to colour code cells that would otherwise not be visible and indistinguishable from each other.

Once the cell has been marked, the mark integrates into the DNA and will be expressed forever in that cell, as well as in any daughter cells.

Dr Diego Gomez-Nicola, a lecturer and fellow in the Centre for Biological Sciences at the University of Southampton, led the research.

He said: “We predict that the use of multicolour RGB tracking will have an impact on how neuroscientists around the world design their experiments.

“It will allow them to answer questions they were unable to tackle before and contribute to the progress of understanding how our brain works.”