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How to do science according to Ardem Patapoutian
Ardem Patapoutian is a neuroscientist who works on the molecular basis of sensation via mechanosensitive ion channels. In 2021, he was one of the recipients of the Nobel prize, at a relatively young age. He has since used his influence … Continue reading
Posted in neuroscience, Uncategorized
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On the night train to FENS in Vienna
The FENS is the biggest neuroscientific conference in Europe. It is 5 days long and is attended by 5’000-10’000 participants. This year, the conference took place in Austria’s capital, Vienna, roughly 600 km from my current workplace in Zürich. Of … Continue reading
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A collaborative review on error signals in predictive processing
Predictive processing is one of the most influential ideas from computational neuroscience for the experimental neurosciences. However, definitions of predictive processing vary broadly, to the extent that “predictive coding” is used sometimes in a very narrow sense (there are specific … Continue reading
Research and Intuition
So far I was very fortunate with my scientific long-term mentors and supervisors: both of them are kind, open, creative and stunningly intelligent. I could not wish for more. However, when asked about a role model, I would mention a … Continue reading
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The spikefinder dataset
Recently, I mentioned a public competition for spike detection – spikefinder.codeneuro.org. I decided to spend a day two days and have a closer look at the datasets, especially the training datasets that provide both simultaneously recorded calcium and spike trains for single neurons. In … Continue reading
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The crow as an animal model for neuroscience
Close to my apartment in the outskirts of Basel, green fields and some small woods lie basically in front of my house door. This is also where some flocks of crows gather around, partly searching the fields for food, partly … Continue reading
Posted in electrophysiology, Imaging, Neuronal activity, Uncategorized
Tagged consciousness, electrophysiology, zebrafish
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Reglo ICC serial port control via Matlab
For my experiments with zebrafish, I typically generate dynamic odor landscapes for the fish / fish brain explant by varying the speed of the wheels of an Ismatec peristaltic pump, thereby changing the concentration of the applied stimuli over time. Recently, I bought one of their digital … Continue reading
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Tagged Cole-Parmer, Ismatec, Matlab, Reglo ICC, serial port, USB
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Aphantasia
A couple of days ago, during a hiking tour close to Luzern, I met a medical doctor from Israel who decided to join me for my hike for the rest of the day. After some time, when I made fun of … Continue reading
EODs for kHz imaging
J. Schneider et al., and S. Hell recently published a paper on STED microscopy, using EODs (electro-optical deflectors) to scan 512 x 512 pixels at frame rates of 1000 Hz. Compared to AODs, EODs offer the costumer-friendly advantage of not dispersing … Continue reading
A pockels cell with a broken crystal
In a 2P microscope, pockels cells are employed for fast control of the laser beam intensity. I use it for both switching off the laser beam during turnarounds of the resonant scanner, between two frames if they are not immediately one after … Continue reading
A blog about neurophysiology 