Raw materials
Posted in Tips
If you need a chunk of metal for a custom piece for your rig, what are the options? The best way to go is to buy a part that is close to what you need…
Thorlabs scope building blocks
Posted in Hardware
At the SfN meeting in San Diego this year, I met Jeff Brooker from Thorlabs. Jeff and his team of about 17 people have a history of working together in industry on photonics. They have designed…
Software for custom 2p scopes
Posted in Software
If you build your own two photon scope, you’ll need software. I mainly use the MATLAB-based ScanImage. Vijay Iyer (Janelia Farm) has really made it a slick, stable program. It cosmetically resembles…
Fiber optic termination
Posted in Tips
Fiber optics must be terminated properly in order to permit high transmission. If you’re making your own, get a proper fiber cleaver and a set of polishing sheets. Here are…
sCMOS vs. EMCCD
Posted in Hardware
In the last post, commenter Christophe asked about sCMOS cameras. He was interested in higher light level applications, but for the sake of comparison, here’s a picture of their low light performance, compared to an interline CCD and a back-illuminated EMCCD (pdf).
Cameras for ultra low light levels
Posted in Hardware
Many image sensors are built backwards, just like the retina. The actual photon detectors are buried behind a mesh of circuitry. Back-illuminated sensors, where the detectors are put…
More 2p Cross Sections
Posted in Tips
Here are some 2p cross sections for Alexa dyes from Invitrogen. Dye manufacturers are getting better about sharing 2p cross sections, but they still rely on out side people to do the measurements. In this case, Warren Zipfel from Cornell.
Speaking of…
Two-Photon Cross Sections
Posted in Tips
It’s difficult to track down 2p absorption cross sections for dyes and proteins. Doing it right requires…
PMTs for 2-photon imaging
Posted in Hardware
On the topic of custom two-photon imaging rigs, what kind of PMTs do you want to go with? Naturally, you’ll order yours to be hand selected for high quantum efficiency…
Arduino – a simple microcontroller
Posted in Hardware
Arduino is a popular, cheap (around 25 USD), and open source microcontroller platform. We use them all over the lab. Students can learn to program them very quickly, they’re versatile, and there…
CAD-based optomechanics mock-ups
I use SolidWorks to design custom parts for my rigs. Many times, these parts mate with existing Thorlabs parts. Fortunately, Thorlabs offers SolidWorks files that can be directly…
NIH grants: Score correlations
Posted in Uncategorized
NIH grants are scored on five dimensions:
1. Significance
2. Investigator
3. Innovation
4. Approach
5. Environment
(link)
What are the correlations between these different dimensions and ultimate grant funding success?
Here’s a table of all the NIH institutions, and the correlation coefficients for these scoring dimensions and ultimate funding success.
RSS feeds for any web page
Posted in Tips
I follow quite a number of RSS feeds, but there are some news sites that don’t have them. In order to keep up to date, use Page2RSS.
For example, if Nature Neuroscience didn’t have an RSS feed for their Advanced Online…
Optomechanics for a custom 2p uncaging rig
Posted in Hardware
Post by Darcy Peterka (Columbia University/Yuste lab):
We do a bunch of multiple imaging/uncaging experiments with 2+ lasers, and got tired of constantly taking apart the camera/laser ports to switch lenses and dichroics. …
Citizen science article in NN
Posted in Uncategorized
Nature Neuroscience has a great article on citizen science in the September issue (link, subscription required).
In the article, they discuss that although the public already recognizes the value of publicly funded research,…
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