Here’s another project delayed by COVID-19 that we’re finally starting. Tech Hotel is a grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) that focuses on technological advances and knowledge transfer. Two researchers from the Donders Institute – Tansu Celikel and Joanes Grandjean – set out to push the limits of protein imaging. More specifically, their aim is to achieve “in-vivo whole-brain quantitative protein expression mapping”. A further step will be to control these proteins’ activity, as they are modified to react in response to magnetic stimulation.
Our role will be to help design, manufacture and validate an imaging system for whisker movement tracking. The challenge is that it will operate inside an MRI machine bore. Due to the strong magnetic field, all components need to be made of non-magnetic materials such as plastics or glass.
We’re proud to be part of this innovative project and are looking forward to developing these tools over the next year.
A recent system for calcium imaging inside an MRI machine (Lake et al. 2020, Nature Methods)
