Brain Slices

13 responses to “Brain Slices”

1. 

   biotron

   Nov 7, 2008 at 2:24 am

   very much like garlic, it seems…
   Bio-X : not my latest foray into video production *

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2. 

   Professor Fumolatro

   Nov 7, 2008 at 3:18 am

   Yum. Get me a spoon.

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3. 

   Todd Huffman

   Nov 7, 2008 at 5:10 am

   Yay brain slices!

   Mmmmm oxygen bubbler…

   What are they doing with it?

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4. 

   jurvetson

   Nov 7, 2008 at 5:20 am

   poking and probing… measuring spike trains and ion channels…

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5. 

   andrewhsu

   Nov 7, 2008 at 7:50 am

   Hey Steve, nice angle! I’m Andrew, the grad student that showed you this. Hope you enjoyed the tour.

   If you look closely at an individual slice, there’s a small darker region in the middle – that is the hippocampus, the structure in the brain important for short term memory!

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6. 

   Todd Huffman

   Nov 7, 2008 at 7:54 am

   Hi Andrew — Can you give us a link to a paper or website describing your work? That would be awesome.

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7. 

   TomiTapio

   Nov 7, 2008 at 12:15 pm

   OHNOES! This is the way to starting the Cybermen empire!

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8. 

   jurvetson

   Nov 7, 2008 at 5:07 pm

   it’s a race vs the robot uprising. Augment early & often I say…

   Andrew – glad you found this thread. Thanks! Todd is the fellow I mentioned doing interesting work in this area.

   I also was fascinated that the Director told me that the unifying theme for Bio-X is the study of complexity.

   Oh, and you might like the simulation work Paul Rhodes is doing down the street:

   

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9. 

   fanatical box

   Nov 7, 2008 at 11:41 pm

   You get to visit the most interesting of places!

   Andrew – I understand the hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to atrophy when low in oxygen, is that the main reason for the bubbler?

   Whenever I think of memory simulation now, I’m always reminded of this Memristive model of amoeba learning paper!

   Steve – Any idea when I can get my hands on some of those HP memristors? 🙂

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10. 

    Kaets Ebut

    Nov 8, 2008 at 4:11 am

    Does that come with a side of fava beans?

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11. 

    Vox Sciurorum

    Nov 8, 2008 at 9:57 am

    I read Donovan’s Brain. I know this is a bad idea.

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12. 

    Shamagu

    Nov 10, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    Hey, that’s my field! – used to poke the brain slices into the wee hours of the morning over at Stanford hospital. Mostly studied effects of volatile anesthetics on signaling in through the hippocampus, but dabbled with LTP/LTD, NMDA-mediated excitotoxicity, and GABA involvement in rhythm generation. Nice memories (har, har).

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13. 

    adhsu07

    Nov 13, 2008 at 11:05 pm

    Hey guys – sorry I’ve been neglecting this. Todd, please refer to our lab website: stanford.edu/group/shatzlab/

    Craig, the bubbler is bubbling "carbogen," a mixture of 95% oxygen and 5% carbon dioxide. The gas plays an critical role in keeping the tissue alive by providing the oxygen that would be delivered by blood in a living animal.

    Reply