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Category Archives: Microscopy
Large-scale calcium imaging & noise levels
Calcium imaging based on two-photon scanning microscopy is a standard method to record the activity of neurons in the living brain. Due to the point-scanning approach, sampling speed is limited and the dwell time on a single neuron reduces with … Continue reading
Posted in Calcium Imaging, Data analysis, Imaging, Microscopy, Neuronal activity
Tagged Calcium Imaging, Data analysis, Microscopy, photons, Scanning
6 Comments
5 reasons why to use Cascade for spike inference
Our paper on A database and deep learning toolbox for noise-optimized, generalized spike inference from calcium imaging is out now in Nature Neuroscience. It consists of a large and diverse ground truth database with simultaneous calcium imaging and juxtacellular recordings … Continue reading
Fast scanning, triplet states and photon yield
In point-scanning microscopy like two-photon or confocal microscopy, a focused laser beam is scanned across the field of view and thereby sequentially recovers an image of the object. In this blog post, I will discuss the idea that scanning faster … Continue reading
Posted in Calcium Imaging, Imaging, Microscopy, Neuronal activity
Tagged Calcium Imaging, Microscopy, photons, Scanning, zebrafish
1 Comment
Heating up the objective for two-photon imaging
To image neurons in vivo with a large field of view, a large objective is necessary. This big piece of metal and glass is in indirect contact with the brain surface, with only water and maybe a cover slip in … Continue reading
Posted in Calcium Imaging, Imaging, Microscopy
3 Comments
Temporal dispersion of spike rates from deconvolved calcium imaging data
On Twitter, Richie Hakim asked whether the toolbox Cascade for spike inference (preprint, Github) induces temporal dispersion of the predicted spiking activity compared to ground truth. This kind of temporal dispersion had been observed in a study from last year … Continue reading
Interview with Bruno Pichler
Bruno Pichler studied medicine, obtained a PhD in neuroscience, worked in the labs of Arthur Konnerth, Tom Mrsic-Flogel and Troy Margrie, and was R&D manager at Scientifica, before founding his own company, INSS, “to provide the international neuroscience community with … Continue reading
Posted in Calcium Imaging, Data analysis, Imaging, Microscopy
Tagged interview, Microscopy, Two-photon
2 Comments
Simultaneous calcium imaging and extracellular recording from the same neuron
Calcium imaging is a powerful method to record from many neurons simultaneously. But what do the recorded signals really mean? This question can only be properly addressed by experiments which record both calcium signals and action potentials from the same … Continue reading
Alignment tools
This blog posts covers some tools and techniques that I’m typically using to align two-photon microscopes. If you’re an expert, you will probably find nothing new, but if you haven’t been doing this for years, this might offer you some … Continue reading
Posted in Imaging, Microscopy
Tagged Alignment, laser scanning microscopy, Microscopy, Optics, Two-photon
4 Comments
A practical guide for adaptive optics
There is no standard curriculum to learn practical procedures about microscopy: how to align a setup, how to identify misalignments, how to identify broken parts, where to buy components, how to check their performance, and much more. How to learn … Continue reading
Review: An artificial ground truth for calcium imaging
Selected paper: Charles, Song, Tank et al., Neural Anatomy and Optical Microscopy Simulation (NAOMi) for evaluating calcium imaging methods, bioRxiv (2019). What is the paper about? Calcium imaging is a central method to observe neuronal activity in the brain of … Continue reading
Posted in Calcium Imaging, Data analysis, Imaging, Microscopy, Neuronal activity, Reviews
Tagged Data analysis, Microscopy, photons, PSF, Scanning
2 Comments
A blog about neurophysiology 