The Acoustics of the Brain: Random-access 3D Microscopy in Neuroscience
13
Jan
To see the functioning of the brain in living animals on a grander scale, to understand physiological processes, and, ultimately, neurological diseases, neuroscientists need an imaging technique that will allow them to follow the activity of neuronal networks, dispersed in a 3D space, with good spatial and temporal resolution. Conventional 2-photon imaging systems operate mainly in 2D. However, Femtonics’s innovation, an acousto-optic (AO) technology-based 2-photon microscope called the FEMTO3D Atlas provides real-time 3D imaging and photostimulation, following the activity of thousands of neurons simultaneously, in large 3D brain regions.
In this interview conducted at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual conference in 2019 in Chicago, Dr. Máté Marosi, Senior Scientist and Dr. Zsolt Iván, Head of Sales and Marketing at Femtonics discuss the use of AO microscopes to study neural networks in the brain, from cell bodies to dendrites to tiny spines. They explain how their flagship microscope, mentioned above, utilizes the AO technology, and give an overview of its software’s plethora of scanning modes, all useful for various types of research projects in the field of neuroscience.