# Jan Funke **Entity class:** Computational-connectomics researcher **Collection:** [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]] **Canonical source articles:** [[articles/The Organic-Synthetic Brain Atlas|The Organic-Synthetic Brain Atlas]] · [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]] ## Definition **Jan Funke** develops methods for automated analysis of microscopy datasets too large for manual inspection. His Janelia research lineage includes scalable neuron segmentation and [[wiki/Local Shape Descriptors|Local Shape Descriptors]], through which [[wiki/Arlo Sheridan|Arlo Sheridan]] entered PRISM's computational ancestry. Funke is credited with PRISM conceptualization; the formal contribution statement assigns hands-on barcode segmentation and automatic proofreading to Sheridan and [[wiki/William Patton|William Patton]]. ## Relationships - **Institutional lineage:** [[wiki/Janelia Research Campus|Janelia Research Campus]]. - **Method lineage:** [[wiki/Local Shape Descriptors|Local Shape Descriptors]] and [[wiki/Machine Learning Segmentation|machine-learning segmentation]]. - **Conceptual contribution:** [[wiki/PRISM (E11 Bio)|PRISM (E11 Bio)]]. - **Role boundary:** conceptual authorship is not substituted for the direct work assigned to Sheridan and Patton. - **Collection route:** [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]]. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts <!-- BEGIN SIMPLE REMINDER SEED 2026-09-11 --> > "What most of the neuroscience community has seen from this work is the predictions. They were happy to use it, but for us it was very important to make sure it was actually working." > **— Jan Funke**, *HHMI/Janelia research story* [[reminders/Connectomics/Predictions Were Not Enough—the Neural Network Had to Be Understood by Jan Funke|Predictions Were Not Enough—the Neural Network Had to Be Understood by Jan Funke]] > "And that seemed a bit impossible because humans can't do it." > **— Jan Funke**, *Interview on machine learning inference from microscopy* *Verification Status: Editorially quarantined — `And that` omits the task Funke called impossible. Recover a complete, self-contained passage before promotion.* [[reminders/unverified/The Brain-Mapping Task Humans Cannot Do Alone by Jan Funke|The Brain-Mapping Task Humans Cannot Do Alone by Jan Funke]] <!-- END SIMPLE REMINDER SEED 2026-09-11 --> ## Sources - [Janelia — AI at Janelia](https://www.janelia.org/ai-at-janelia) - [Local Shape Descriptors](https://localshapedescriptors.github.io/) - [PubMed Central — PRISM author contributions](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12485930/)