The Fall 2022 Biology Seminar Series commences with a talk from Blake Madruga, "Development of Open-Source, High Performance Miniature Multiphoton Microscopy Systems for Freely Behaving Animals."
Working in Dr. Peyman Golshani's lab at UCLA and nearing the completion of his PhD, Blake Madruga is currently designing, building, and using, novel compact multiphoton microscope systems that can be worn by freely behaving mice to image neural activity as they navigate, intract, and perform tasks. This system addresses the studies that have shown decreased or modified neural activity in mice participating in otherwise unnatural head-fixed or virtual reality based behaviours. This is a new technology designed to avoid those limitations and to advance studies of neural circuitry in freely-moving model organisms.
