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Tag Archives: Scanning
Dirigo: a future Python alternative to Scanimage?
Over the last 20 years, many microscopes that are capable of resonant scanning two-photon microscopy have converged on using ScanImage, a powerful software package with many strengths but also two downsides: First, it is no longer open-source, and second, it … Continue reading
Posted in Calcium Imaging, Imaging, Microscopy, neuroscience
Tagged Calcium Imaging, Microscopy, photons, Scanning, technology
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Protocols to check the performance of your multiphoton microscope
In an exceptionally useful paper, Lees et al. provide a set of protocols for checking the performance of your multiphoton microscope: Standardized measurements for monitoring and comparing multiphoton microscope systems (link to preprint). The paper covers the following procedures: Check … Continue reading
A resource paper for building two-photon microscopes
The article discusses the challenges in learning to build microscopes, highlighting a manuscript by Schottdorf et al. that offers practical assembly instructions and rationale based on years of successful use. It emphasizes useful insights, such as design suggestions, performance compromises, and comprehensive documentation on GitHub, making it a valuable resource for researchers. Continue reading
Posted in Calcium Imaging, Imaging, Microscopy, neuroscience
Tagged Calcium Imaging, Microscopy, neuroscience, papers, photons, Scanning, science
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Why your two-photon images are noisier than you expect
A gallery of calcium imaging recordings of neurons and astrocytes with single noisy frames on the left and averaged beautiful noise-free images on the right side. Continue reading
Posted in Calcium Imaging, Data analysis, hippocampus, Imaging, Microscopy, Neuronal activity, neuroscience, zebrafish
Tagged Calcium Imaging, Data analysis, Microscopy, photons, Scanning, zebrafish
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Improving the resonant scanner’s sync signal using a phase locked loop (PLL)
Calcium imaging with two-photon point scanning is the technique to chronically record from identified neurons in the living brain of animals. The central piece of two-photon point scanning microscopes is a scan engine. This can be a complex optical device … Continue reading
Posted in Calcium Imaging, Imaging, Microscopy, neuroscience
Tagged Microscopy, photons, Scanning
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Interesting papers on online motion correction for calcium imaging
In a living animal, the brain is moving up and down in the skull. This brain motion can be due to breathing, heartbeat, tongue movements, but also due to changes of posture or running. For each brain region and posture, … Continue reading
Posted in Calcium Imaging, Data analysis, Imaging, machine learning, Microscopy, Neuronal activity, neuroscience
Tagged Calcium Imaging, Data analysis, Microscopy, photons, Scanning
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“Laser Scanners” by William Benner
William Benner is a scanner enthusiast and the president of the company Pangolin. His company sells equipment mostly for laser shows but also for other applications. Some years ago, he wrote a book on “Laser Scanners”, which is available through … Continue reading
Simple geometrical optics to understand and design point-scanning microscopes
Custom-built microscopes have become more and more sophisticated over the last years to provide a larger FOV, better resolution through some flavor of adaptive optics or simply more neurons simultaneously. Professional optical engineers are hired to design the ideal lens … Continue reading
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
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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
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A blog about neurophysiology 