Category: Tips

Photon counting, addendum

Let me add some clarification to the hybrid PMT post.

The actual signal that comes off of a PMT in response to a photon is a pulse of current….



More Spectra, Please

George McNamara is planning on updating the massive PubSpectra (previously mentioned here).

He’s currently soliciting submissions. Do you have any to contribute?

(link)



Books online for free from the NIH

Within the PubMed architecture, there are a lot of resources, visible on the pulldown list next to the search field. If you browse down a bit, you’ll see “Books”. (direct link)

These are HTML-formatted…



OSX: Spotlight problem

Quick OSX tip: if you’re finding that your OSX system is quite busy even though you haven’t asked anything of it, check to see if the processes “mds” and “mdworker” are chewing up CPU cycles (view active processes in Activity Monitor).

If so,…



DIY Picospritzer

I was in Tokyo recently and stopped by my friend Taro Ishikawa’s lab (of TaroTools fame). He and Misa are doing very well. They have exciting work underway and are expanding their…



GECOs – New proteins for calcium imaging

Post by Christian Wilms

Call me old-fashioned, but I’m a big fan of small organic calcium indicators (e.g., Oregon Green BAPTA 1). Yes, genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) have many…



Rename variables in MATLAB

MATLAB version R2011b has just been released. The new format for error messages is not as mind blowing as you might have heard. However, there’s one cute little…



Project enclosures

Here are some ideas for project enclosures. The stock enclosures from Mouser, Digikey, and others are generally serviceable, but are rarely the perfect size. In addition, making the required cutouts can be inconvenient. Here are a couple of alternatives.



Viewing CAD files online

When I’m in a tight spot and don’t have CAD software handy, there are a couple of sites I use to view CAD files online.



Tell the NIH what to spend money on

There’s an RFI (request for information) out now for the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience (the structure that cuts across different institutes that all support neuroscience: NINDS, NIMH, NEI, etc.). These RFIs…



Rapid prototyping is rapidly maturing

In the past year, since Labrigger’s …



Structured Illumination, pt. 2

This is a long post. If you’re in a rush, then just read these first two paragraphs.

One of the early posts on this blog was about …



2p cross sections for fluorescent proteins

On the off chance that you missed it, Drobizhev et al. published a bunch of 2p cross sections for fluorescent proteins.

Earlier:
2p cross sections
More…



Test slides

Let me tell you a little story.

The place is the CONFOCALMICROSCOPY listserv.
The time is 1997.

A query asks how to mount fluorescent beads from Molecular Probes in order to image…



OpenOptogenetics

When Karl Deisseroth started publishing his work on Channelrhodopsin-2, he set up a website to share the resources, including plasmid information, protocols for expression systems, and hardware details. His site, optogenetics.org, is…