The analysis room

This is the main analysis room in the lab, where much of the data analysis is done. This room also houses our MicroBrightfield system for stereological investigation and reconstructing neural structures in 3D.

The dry lab

All our electrodes, microdrives and other components for electrophysiological devices are made in-house in the dry lab. This is where such tasks as soldering circuitboards, fabricating sensitive electrodes, and assembling larger pieces of equipment like components for behavioral mazes are done.

An example of a 31-channel microdrive we use for recording neural activity.

The wet lab

Our renovated wet lab has all the necessities for solution preparation, histology (freezing microtome) and immunohisto- chemistry.

Another view of the wet lab.

Electrophysiology room 1

This is the first of two rooms equiped with a 32-channel Plexon MAP system for recording single-unit and local field potentials, interfaced with floor projection mazes, which are controled by MedAssociates hardware and software. Each system includes a Plexon CinePlex Tracking System.

Electrophysiology room 2

This is our second room, which has all the same components, though it is set up for both wired and wireless recording, whereas the first is only configured for wireless recording.

The apparatus we use in both electrophysiology rooms allows visual stimuli to be back-projected onto the floor, enabling us to test attention, memory, and visual discrimination by precisely conrtoling the rat's visual surroundings. Here you see a rat engaged in a behavioral task. The larger objects on the floor (semicircle and arrowhead shape that the rat is standing next to) are being projected from underneath. The small, dark objects on each wall are the ports we use to dispense chocolate milk to the rat.

For more information on our research and methods, please take a look at our research page.