Building the next generation of miniature microscopes

Special Seminar: Building the next generation of miniature microscopesDaniel B. Aharoni, Ph.D. | Department of Neurology, UCLA
Abstract:  One of the biggest challenges in neuroscience is to understand how neural circuits in the brain process, encode, store, and retrieve information. Meeting this challenge requires tools capable of recording and manipulating the activity of intact neural networks in freely behaving animals. Head-mounted miniature fluorescence microscopes are among the most promising of these tools. Taking advantage the past decade of advancements in fluorescent neural activity reports, these microscopes use wide-field single photon excitation to image activity across large populations of neurons in freely behaving animals. They are capable of imaging the same neural population across months and in a wide range of different brain regions.
Initiated four years ago, the Miniscope Project –an open-source collaborative effort– aims at accelerating innovation of miniature microscope technology while also extending access to this technology to the entire neuroscience community. Built from the ground up, we have developed a robust, flexible, and affordable open-source imaging platform and online resource, miniscope.org. Through online guides and in-person workshops, over 350 labs across 18 countries have begun building and using our system. Currently, we are working on advancements ranging from optogenetic stimulation and wire-free operation to simultaneous optical and ephys recording. Through continued optimization and innovation, miniature microscopes will likely play a critical role in extending the reach of neuroscience research and creating new avenues of scientific inquiry.
 
Presented by the Neuroscience Division
 
Thursday, April 12 2018, 10 :00
Dobell Pavilion – Bowerman (B-1127)
Douglas Institute
6875 LaSalle Blvd
Verdun, QC
H4H 1R3
 
Un café sera servi avant le séminaire / Coffee will be served prior to the seminar.