Neuroscience: News and Discussions.
↑
10
↓
Robots that reveal the inner workings of brain cells (web.mit.edu)
submitted 11y ago by neondemon
brainguy 3 points
If only they could make it load florescent dyes into single cells in fixed tissues then I could save hours and hours of my life...
suhasabk 4 points
Hey. this is the lead author of the paper. To answer your question, yes, we can fill the cells with biocytin. Typically takes 10-15 minutes for the dye to diffuse into the cell, before we run a subroutine, that retracts the pipette at the speed which forms the outside out patch. We haven't yet worked out the automated of the histology itself, but the allen brain institute uses automated histology machines to do that already. Also look at some of the work done by Sakmann's group, who are also working on something similar.
brainguy 3 points
It's crazy that this interaction is happening, oh the internet. Thanks for the update, I'm going to seriously try and convince people at my university to investigate this technology!
shiftyeyedgoat 2 points
The identification might still be human necessitated, but the dye-loading is apparently a possibility:
>The researchers also showed that their method can be used to determine the shape of the cell by injecting a dye; they are now working on extracting a cell’s contents to read its genetic profile.
>The researchers also showed that their method can be used to determine the shape of the cell by injecting a dye; they are now working on extracting a cell’s contents to read its genetic profile.
brainguy 2 points
You caught me skimming! I'm glad you did because, I guess it can load the cells, the question then, for me, is can it find the cortical pyramidal neurons in my ROI? I mean a huge percentage of DAPI+ cells in the rodent PFC are pyramidal neurons so perhaps this can do automated cell loading... I can only dream.
shiftyeyedgoat 1 points
Depends entirely on the classifications.
As a robotic automated patch-clamp, it has the ability to detect adequate cells (apparently at a 90% accuracy for cell vs. non-cell), and voltages (up to 40% of the time). It additionally has the ability to inject dye for the potential of gauging neuron size/shape, but must not be at a statistically relevant category just yet as they only mention it in passing.
If you could come up with a classification profile that a machine could test for, you could hone in on accuracy and automate the process. Of course, this is all much, much easier said than done...
As a robotic automated patch-clamp, it has the ability to detect adequate cells (apparently at a 90% accuracy for cell vs. non-cell), and voltages (up to 40% of the time). It additionally has the ability to inject dye for the potential of gauging neuron size/shape, but must not be at a statistically relevant category just yet as they only mention it in passing.
If you could come up with a classification profile that a machine could test for, you could hone in on accuracy and automate the process. Of course, this is all much, much easier said than done...
brainguy 1 points
I do it all manually. Get animals, do experimental manipulation, sack and fix tissue. Then I inject with Lucifer yellow using essentially an electrophyisiology set up (pulled micropipet, manipulater, microscope, current generator). Then I do manual/semi-automated analysis of neuronal branching with this software and also do confocal z-stacks and dendritic spine analysis with this. If I could automate any part of this process that would be incredible. I'm going to bring it up with people that control the $. Seriously, thanks again for catching me skimming article while I was in lab.
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.