UCLA Miniscope

Type: Optics / Microscopy,

Keywords: Miniscope, Miniaturized microscope, Neural recording, Electrophysiology, BRAIN Initiative

New miniaturized open source microscopes integrated with electrophysiology.

I lead the development of the open source UCLA Miniscope project. We develop the most widely used miniature microscope for neural recording in freely behaving animals. Our system is currently in about 500 labs and we look to continue expanding access to transformative tools. New miniaturized microscopes: wireless, large field-of-view, integrated with electrophysiology. We disseminate our tools on miniscope.org

* Build miniaturized microscopes with integrated circuitry for calcium imaging and electrophysiology in a single device
* Developing a new generation of light field miniaturized microscopes to allow for volumetric imaging
* Open source
* Widely used
* Wireless
* Large field-of-view
* Integrated with electrophysiology
* Miniature microscope
* Miniscope V4 – the newest generation of the UCLA Miniscope platform
* >1mm diameter field of view
* ~1mm working distance
* +/-200um electronic focal adjustment
* All achromatic optics
* 2.6 grams
* 22mm tall
* Absolute head orientation sensor
* Requires ~1/5th the excitation power of previous systems
* No more soldering!
* Still uses only a single coaxial cable (down to 0.3mm in diameter) for power, communication, and data
* New DAQ software

* Used for neural recording in freely behaving animals
* To understand how the brain links memories across time
* How spatial coding breaks down in epilepsy
* Imaging Cortical Dynamics in GCaMP Transgenic Rats with a Head-Mounted Widefield Macroscope
* Head-mounted miniaturized light-field microscope (MiniLFM) capable of capturing neuronal network activity within a volume of 700 × 600 × 360 µm3 at 16 Hz in the hippocampus of freely moving mice

* Using this system, we have successfully imaged Hippocampal CA1, Subiculum, Dorsal Striatum, Parietal Cortex, Prefrontal Cortex, and Visual Cortex using 0.5mm, 1mm, 1.8mm, and 2mm diameter GRIN lenses from either Grintech or GoFoton

* Open-source and customizable
* Affordable and understandable technology
* Large community of users

* Can not be used on small model organisms as Drosophila

* Cai et al. 2016, A shared neural ensemble links distinct contextual memories encoded close in time, Nature 534, 115–118
* Shuman et al. 2020, Breakdown of spatial coding and interneuron synchronization in epileptic mice, Nature Neuroscience 23: 229–238
* Scott et al. 2018, Imaging Cortical Dynamics in GCaMP Transgenic Rats with a Head-Mounted Widefield Macroscope, Neurosource 100: 1045-1058
* Skocek et al. 2018, High-speed volumetric imaging of neuronal activity in freely moving rodents, Nature Methods 15, 429–432

* http://miniscope.org/index.php/Main_Page
* https://github.com/Aharoni-Lab/Miniscope-v4/wiki
* http://miniscope.org/neuronex/
* https://neuronex.org/projects/10

* https://www.nature.com/articles/nature17955
* https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-019-0559-0
* https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(18)30852-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0896627318308523%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
* http://miniscope.org/neuronex/publications/

CONTACT NAME, POSITION

Daniel Aharoni (Assistant Professor)
Peyman Golshani (Professor)

ORGANIZATION

UCLA

CONTACT INFORMATION
WEBSITE(S)

FUNDING SOURCE(S)

2 U01s and a NeuroNex Tech Hub, NSF NeuroNex Grant to UCLA (DBI-1707408), U01 Brain Initiative grant to Basso and Golshani