A rat uses its whiskers to get information about its environment. As it scurries along the subway tracks, or burrows into a dumpster, its whiskers send signals to ascending parts of its brain that let it know for example, whether it is safe to jump over that gap or not. Scientists at the Max Planck Florida Institute are studying the functional responses of neurons in the...
Read MoreDr. Henry Markram has modeled a million neurons and a billion synapses since launching The Blue Brain Project six years ago, he said in a recent interview in Science. His ultimate goal is to create a detailed supercomputer model of the brain complete with every last pathway. The first step, the Switzerland based neuroscientist and longtime MBF Bioscience customer says, is to develop an automated...
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Using Neurolucida, microscopy, and mice genetically engineered to express a random amount of red, yellow, and blue fluorescent proteins, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology researcher Hermina Nedelescu has created a fascinating and hypnotic movie of neurons. Nedelescu and colleagues at the Institute's Computational Neuroscience Unit used Neurolucida and its Virtual Tissue 3D Extension Module and Montaging tools to acquire and stitch together multiple images of Purkinje cells—large neurons that...
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A willowy pair of pyramidal cells engage in an intricate dance with a dense mass of basket cells on the cover of the September 14, 2011 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. This exquisite image illustrates recent work by Columbia University researchers Dr. Adam M. Packer and Dr. Rafael Yuste, who used Neurolucida to study circuit connectivity in the mammalian neocortex. According to the paper "Successfully filled...
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Helmet, neck roll, shoulder pads, thigh pads, knee pads, mouth guard...
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No two trees are exactly alike, in the forest or in the brain. Though despite the diversity of dendritic arborizations, when it comes to branching out different types of neurons do have a couple things in common, say researchers at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Okazaki, Japan. Led by longtime MBF Bioscience customer Dr. Yoshiyuki Kubota, the research team identified two organizational principles common...
Read More[caption id="attachment_1338" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Dr. William Seeley"][/caption] MBF Bioscience congratulates our customer Dr. William Seeley on his 2011 MacArthur Foundation Fellows award. Dr. Seeley is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of California San Francisco Memory and Aging Center. His research area is regional vulnerability in dementia—why certain dementias attack specific neurons. Dr. Seeley leads the Selective Vulnerability Research Lab at USSF. Read about the John D....
Read MoreMBF Bioscience congratulates our friend and collaborator Dr. Patrick Hof for his appointment as the new editor-in-chief of The Journal of Comparative Neurology. Dr. Hof is the Irving and Dorothy Regenstreif Professor of Neuroscience and the Vice-Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He also directs the Center of Excellence on Brain Aging of the Friedman Brain...
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Talk of zebrafish and Spaceballs probes make Dr. Daniel Peterson’s microscopy and stereology courses sound intriguing. But Dr. Peterson says it’s the hands-on instruction that students enjoy most about the biannual workshops he teaches in Chicago. From August 15-19, 2011, the Associate Professor and Executive Director at the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at The Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, welcomes students to Chicago’s Club Quarters for five days of instruction on all aspects of state-of-the-art microscopy, stereology, and histological analysis.
He spoke to us about the atmosphere in the classroom, what kinds of students take his course, and what aspects of the workshops participants get most excited about.
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Journeying along axons, microscopic powerhouses known as mitochondria provide cells with the energy they need to function. When something goes wrong with the axonal transport and mitochondria isn't delivered, the system fails, and the cell body dies. Scientists in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis study the cellular bases of neurological disorders. Their recent research focuses...
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