What Do You Need to Perform In Vivo Calcium Imaging?

If someone were to describe in vivo calcium imaging to you, it might sound quite simple. When you dig deeper, you start to appreciate the complexity associated with the biology and equipment to perform calcium imaging in freely-behaving animals. You're probably asking, what are the necessary...

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What is In Vivo Calcium Imaging?

The brain contains over a billion neurons, each with complex networks of connections throughout the brain. Patterns of neural activity are believed to generate specific aspects of behaviour and cognition, but how? In order to decode patterns of neural activity, neuroscientists need to visualize hundreds of neurons...

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What’s Happening at SFN 2019?

SFN 2019 in Chicago is approaching fast! Of course, there are lots of great talks and posters related to imaging and optogenetics. You can find Mightex at booth 1755 at SFN 2019 with equipment for all your imaging and optogenetics experiments.

New Products from Mightex at SFN 2019

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Congrats to CAN Travel Grant Winners: Kim Gruver & Azam Asgarihafshejani

Congratulations to our CAN 2019 Travel Grant winners Kim Gruver (McGill University) from Dr. Alanna Watt's lab and Azam Asgarihafshejani (Universite de Montreal) from Dr. Jean-Claude Lacaille's Lab. Both Kim and Azam presented their research at CAN 2019 that involved using Mightex's Polygon400. Kim’s (pictured on the left below) research utilizes...

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How It Works: Decoding Network Activity in the Prefrontal Cortex with Single-Cell Resolution Optogenetics

Working memory enables us to both temporarily hold information in our minds for further cognitive processing and direct future behaviour. Previous studies in rodents demonstrate that subsets of neurons in the prefrontal cortex that are active during a cue remain active in the delay period, even in the absence of...

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Introducing the Polygon1000 Pattern Illuminator

Mightex is proud to introduce the next generation of Polygon for patterned illumination, the Polygon1000. The Polygon1000 provides the same features and reliability as Mightex’s market-leading Polygon400 (currently used in 300+ labs worldwide and published with in 35+ publications), and improved design for more intricate photostimulation experiments. Key Features: 1. Higher pixel...

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How It Works: Grid-Scanning Optogenetic Stimulation to Study Plasticity in Cortical Neurons

The ability to change the strength of connections between neurons, known as synaptic plasticity, has been shown to be extremely important for learning and memory within the brain. One proposed mechanism for how this ability manifests is known as hetereosynaptic plasticity, whereby changes in synaptic strength occurs at a synapse...

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Come Visit Mightex at SFN 2018 in San Diego, California (Booth #3130)!

SFN 2018 (November 11-14th) in San Diego, California is approaching fast and Mightex will be attending (booth #3130). Mightex will have live demos of their Polygon400 patterned illuminator for cellular-resolution optogenetic stimulation, as well as their OASIS Implant for freely-behaving cellular-resolution optogenetics and calcium imaging. There will be plenty of interesting...

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Congrats to Travel Grant Winner: Matthew Tran from the University of Toronto!

Congratulations to our recent Travel Grant winner Matthew Tran (University of Toronto) from Dr. Blake Richard's lab! Matthew presented his research using the Polygon400 this year at FENS 2018 in Berlin Germany. You can read more about Matthew's work here and how he uses the Polygon400 Pattern...

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How It Works: Patterned illumination to Study Protein Phase Separation in Living Cells with Optogenetics

Asymmetric distribution of determinants is an important mechanism for patterning cells and embryos throughout development. Whether it is the polarized localization of PAR proteins, or RNA and protein granules, the spatial anisotropy of specific molecules within cells can lead to different cell behaviours and cell fate determination. Many biochemical networks...

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Congrats to Video/Photo Award Winner: Elliot Dine from Princeton University!

Congratulations to our recent Video/Photo award winner Elliot Dine (Princeton University) from Dr. Jared Toettcher's lab! You can find out more about Elliot's work below and how he uses the Polygon400 Pattern Illuminator in his research. You can read more about this work in their recently published paper in Cell...

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How it Works: Targeted Optogenetic Stimulation of Cholingeric Fibers in the Hippocampus

The basal forebrain is the one of the main sites of acetylcholine (ACh) production, projecting to various regions throughout the brain. The cholinergic system has been shown to contribute to important cognitive processes, such as attention and memory. Previous findings suggest that basal forebrain projections form non-synaptic connections...

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