# Error when attempting differential search in Mouse Brain Atlas **URL:** \ **Category:** Technical\ **Tags:** atlas-mouse-brain-adult\ **Created:** [June 4, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://community.brain-map.org/t/error-when-attempting-differential-search-in-mouse-brain-atlas/4456 "2025-06-04T21:43:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zahraa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3be4f8/32.png) [@Zahraa](https://community.brain-map.org/u/Zahraa)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://community.brain-map.org/t/error-when-attempting-differential-search-in-mouse-brain-atlas/4456/1 "2025-06-04T21:43:20Z")
Hi. I’m trying to conduct a differential search with the target being the Primary Visual Area Layer 2/3 and the contrast structure being the Isocortex (by clicking on the suggested search prompt), but I keep coming up against this error message: “Your search could not be completed (Error initializing session for a differential search: ) Please try again.” I was able to successfully do this search a couple of weeks ago, but since then I’ve been receiving the same error message for more than 10 days straight. Any clue? ---
**Author:** ![jeremyinseattle](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/community.brain-map.org/jeremyinseattle/32/50_2.png) [@jeremyinseattle](https://community.brain-map.org/u/jeremyinseattle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://community.brain-map.org/t/error-when-attempting-differential-search-in-mouse-brain-atlas/4456/2 "2025-06-04T21:49:40Z")
Could you please try the search again and then share in this thread the URL that gives you the error message above? This could help figure out the problem. It would also be useful to know which web browser you are using in case it is a browser-specific issue. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Zahraa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3be4f8/32.png) [@Zahraa](https://community.brain-map.org/u/Zahraa)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 9:58pm UTC](https://community.brain-map.org/t/error-when-attempting-differential-search-in-mouse-brain-atlas/4456/3 "2025-06-04T21:58:13Z")
I went to the following URL: > **[ISH Data :: Allen Brain Atlas: Mouse Brain](https://mouse.brain-map.org/)** Then I chose the suggested search Cerebral cortex, layer 2-3 which took me to this URL: > **[ISH Data :: Allen Brain Atlas: Mouse Brain](https://mouse.brain-map.org/search/show?search_type=differential&domain2=667,943,962,346,838,201,113,657,854,670,806,556,180,1106,600,251,643,755,905,1066,973,821,269,41,211,296,304,412,582,288,328,163,694,965,434,430,241,1127,888,427&domain1=315&domain1_threshold=1,50&image_set=P56coronal)** And I’ve tried it both with firefox and chrome. No luck 😕 ---
**Author:** ![jeremyinseattle](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/community.brain-map.org/jeremyinseattle/32/50_2.png) [@jeremyinseattle](https://community.brain-map.org/u/jeremyinseattle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://community.brain-map.org/t/error-when-attempting-differential-search-in-mouse-brain-atlas/4456/4 "2025-06-04T22:03:11Z")
Thanks for the added information. There appears to be an issue with all differential search. I’ll pass this along and post here when we have a solution. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Zahraa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3be4f8/32.png) [@Zahraa](https://community.brain-map.org/u/Zahraa)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://community.brain-map.org/t/error-when-attempting-differential-search-in-mouse-brain-atlas/4456/5 "2025-06-04T22:10:44Z")
That’s great. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![jeremyinseattle](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/community.brain-map.org/jeremyinseattle/32/50_2.png) [@jeremyinseattle](https://community.brain-map.org/u/jeremyinseattle)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://community.brain-map.org/t/error-when-attempting-differential-search-in-mouse-brain-atlas/4456/6 "2025-06-05T15:04:12Z")
This should be working now. If you run into any issues again, please re-post! ---
**Author:** ![Zahraa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3be4f8/32.png) [@Zahraa](https://community.brain-map.org/u/Zahraa)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:25pm UTC](https://community.brain-map.org/t/error-when-attempting-differential-search-in-mouse-brain-atlas/4456/7 "2025-06-06T12:25:59Z")
Much appreciated. Thank you!