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The Neuroscience domain stands out from the field of sciences for its dependence on the study and characterization of complex, intertwining structures. Understanding the complexity of the brain has led to widespread advances in the structure of large-scale computing resources and the design of artificially intelligent analysis systems. However, the scale of problems and data generated continues to grow and outpace the standards and practices of neuroscience. In this paper, we present an automated neuroscience reconstruction framework, called NeuroKube, for large-scale processing and labeling of neuroimage volumes. Automated labels are generated through a machine-learning (ML) workflow, with data-intensive steps feeding through multiple GPU stages and distributed data locations leveraging autoscalable cloud-native deployments on a multi-institution Kubernetes system. Leading-edge hardwareand storage empower multiple stages of machine-learning, GPU accelerated solutions. This demonstrates an abstract approach to allocating the resources and algorithms needed to elucidate the highly complex structures of the brain. We summarize an integrated gateway architecture, and a scalable workflowdriven segmentation and reconstruction environment that brings together image big data with state-of-the-art, extensible machinelearning methods. 

The biophysical properties of sensory neurons are influenced by their morphometric and morphological features, whose precise measurements require high-quality volume electron microscopy (EM). However, systematic surveys of these nanoscale characteristics for identified neurons are scarce. Here, we characterize the morphology of Drosophila olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) across the majority of genetically identified sensory hairs.By analyzing serial block-face electron microscopy (SBEM) images of cryo fixed antennal tissues, we compile an extensive morphometric dataset based on 122reconstructed 3D models of 33 identifiedORN types.In addition, we observe multiple novel features—including extracellular vacuoles within sensillum lumen, intricate dendritic branching,mitochondria enrichment in select ORNs, novel sensillum types, and empty sensilla containing no neurons—which raise new questions pertinent to cell biology and sensory neurobiology.Our systematic survey is critical for future investigations into how the size and shape of sensory neurons influence their responses, sensitivity and circuit function.