Read more about this project in a recent publication:

3D electron microscopy Q3 and volume-based bouton sorting reveal the selectivity of inputs onto geniculate relay cell and interneuron dendrite segments. Erin E. Maher, Alex C. Briegel Q4, Shahrozia Imtiaz, Michael A. Fox, Hudson Golino1 and Alev Erisir

The image datasets used in this project are publicly available here:  

A series of SBEM images displaying a relay dendrite segment that gives off a grape-like appendage.  The series represents a 2.5 micron thickness of the tissue. Every second image in the sequence, numbered 74 to 108, is organized in successive columns. The cross-sections of a relay cell dendrite are traced and pseudocolored blue. This dendrite gives off a thin stalk (around section 90), subsequently giving off three large swellings (or grapes). Each grape receives synapses from multiple boutons. For example, the grape in section 90 receives three synapses (red lines): one from a retinal terminal (pseudocolored light green), a second one from a large, dark mitochondria-containing, presumed inhibitory cell terminal (red), and a third one from a small-sized bouton that does not contain mitochondria. The latter bouton was classified as presumed brainstem origin.  The second grape, visible in sections 74 to 88, receives synapses from 4 boutons: two retinal terminals (light and dark green), and two medium-sized, presumed inhibitory terminals (orange and red). A third grape in sections 96 to 108 receives synapses from 3 retinal terminals (all light green) and one inhibitory bouton (red). Notice that this red bouton also receives synapses from two of these retinal boutons (in sections 102 and 104), thereby forming a complex triad involving the grape. Because the red bouton is both presynaptic and postsynaptic, it is classified as an F2 bouton, the dendritic appendage of a geniculate interneuron.