When Martin Thunemann was a kid, he had a chemistry toolkit in his parents’ basement. He would spend hours there in his subterranean lab, learning about acids and bases and exploring different types of reactions with child-size test tubes and beakers. Both of his parents were chemists themselves, but they never pushed him to follow […]
Here is a preview of the NPC supported projects for 2020-2021 that will appear in the upcoming annual report. Structural Microscopy Serial Sectioning OCT Functional Microscopy Large Scale Fiber Photometry Multimodal Approaches iPSC-Derived Brain Organoids Applications Beyond Neuroscience Ex vivo Lung Imaging Proof-of-principle Optical Imaging Technology Imaging Neuronal Dynamics across Multiple Brain Areas with […]
When Lei Tian, PhD, joined Boston University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering department in 2016, he never imagined his work would take him into the neurosciences. But when the Neurophotonics Center at BU launched the following year, bringing together a multidisciplinary team from all four corners of the university, he couldn’t help but get involved. “When […]
The Need: How a healthy brain works and what can be done to prevent and treat acquired and developmental brain disorders is one of the primary aims of contemporary neuroscience research and a major focus of the BRAIN Initiative. The only way to catalyze such innovative scientific breakthroughs is to integrate multi-disciplinary teams that can […]
Despite significant advances in imaging that have allowed researchers to peer ever deeper into the body, fundamental questions remain about human brain anatomy. Not least: How many cytoarchitectural areas are there (that is, parcellations of the brain based on the properties of individual cells)? What cell types can be found in these areas? To what […]
With a background in physics and biophysics, Dr. Gabel was attracted to the powerful simplicity of C. elegans and similar model systems, to which the Gabel lab brings expertise in high-resolution laser ablation and fluorescence microscopy to study neuronal damage, regeneration and function. Along with his collaborators, Dr. Gabel has recently developed techniques to measure neuronal activity in C. elegans within medically relevant context such as physical damage, age related decline and exposure to anesthetics.
In just over a year, Kıvılcım Kılıç has established herself as an indispensable member of the Neurophotonics Center at Boston University, providing expertise in both physiology and neuroscience, interfacing with establishing connections between other investigators, and frequently pampering researchers with her homemade desserts. As if that weren’t enough, her passion for art in science has led to her creating medical illustrations to be published in prestigious academic journals. But how did she come to possess such wildly diverse talents, and how is she able to wield them so effectively?
3D printing has advanced rapidly in recent years. In the following pages, researchers in the Neurophotonics Center at Boston University describe several projects that are benefitting from use of the technology, progressing in ways that otherwise might not have been possible.
Led by Alberto Cruz-Martín, Assistant Professor of Biology, the Cruz-Martin Lab is seeking a better understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that guide the development of synaptic connections in the neocortex. The lab launched in 2015, when Alberto joined the faculty at BU…
Chen’s path to his current position in the Neurophotonics Center was a winding and altogether fascinating one…