Big Ideas: How see-through brains could transform neuroscience | Guosong Hong

What if we could make the brain see-through? 

It sounds like science fiction, but it could revolutionize how we study the brain. 

Today on the show, we're talking with Guosong Hong, a faculty scholar here at the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute who has a unique reputation for developing creative techniques that literally shed light on the brain—from using fluorescent nanomaterials and focused ultrasound to create a virtual flashlight inside the skull, to discovering a common food dye that temporarily makes skin, muscle, and even parts of the brain transparent. 

Now, Guosong and colleagues are taking this work to the next level through a Wu Tsai Neuro Big Ideas grant, genetically engineering mice to have see-through brains from birth. 

Learn More

• Q&A: 'To see is to believe'  (Wu Tsai Neuro, 2026)
• Big Ideas in Neuroscience tackle brain science of everyday life and more (Wu Tsai Neuro, 2026)
• Researchers turn mouse scalp transparent to image brain development (Stanford Report, 2026)
• The future of transparent tissue (Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything Podcast, 2025)
• Non-invasive brain stimulation opens new ways to study and treat the brain (Wu Tsai Neuro, 2025)
• Researchers make mouse skin transparent using a common food dye (Stanford Report, 2024)

Note: Episode transcript will be uploaded within 24-48 hours of publication

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