From probing neurons to grabbing microscope slides, cutting-edge equipment is helping neuroscientists advance research faster<\/p>\n
Cliff Slaughterbeck, Ph.D., is showing off some of his babies.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody sells this whole thing off the shelf,\u201d he said, gesturing at a microscope housed in a large black box, one of eight identical rigs set up in the Allen Institute\u2019s electrophysiology lab, where neuroscientists use impossibly thin electrodes to listen in on neurons\u2019 electrical chatter. The rigs combine commercial microscopes with several in-house-made pieces and software programs that adapt the scope to the specialized experiments run in this lab.<\/p>\n
A specialized microscope ‘rig’ allows neuroscientists to record electrical properties from and map connections between up to eight neurons simultaneously.<\/p>\n
A specialized microscope \u2018rig\u2019 allows neuroscientists to record electrical properties from and map connections between up to eight neurons simultaneously.<\/p>\n
In the 1990s, Slaughterbeck, a former physicist, built a special kind of microscope to study the surface of ice. Now, he\u2019s a principal engineer on the Allen Institute\u2019s engineering team, working on equipment and software that allow the Institute\u2019s scientists to carry out their work.<\/p>\n
On a recent Monday, Slaughterbeck took me and Allen Institute Digital Media Specialist Madeline Burchard on a whirlwind tour of some of the machines that neuroscientists are using to solve the mysteries of the brain.<\/p>\n
From a special microscope that lets scientists record electrical activity from up to eight neurons at once to a new high-tech brain slicer under development, these contraptions allow their users to get more data, faster. For 2023\u2019s Brain Awareness Week, we learned the ins and outs of four of these mechanical Allen Institute team members.<\/p>\n
Meet the machines.<\/p>\n